Tender is the Night, F Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933, 315 pp
I read this for one of my reading groups and I was the only one who finished it. In fact, this group is now defunct. I am done with Fitzgerald. Not that I have read all of his novels but I've read three and with the possible exception of The Great Gatsby, he has let me down every time.
In The Beautiful and the Damned he at least wrote well. In Tender is the Night, I had no idea who was who or what was going on in the first 50 pages. I pressed on and found out that Dick Diver was the main character and a psychologist who married his schizophrenic patient. I mean, how dumb was that? Because: she was ridiculously rich, he lost his self-respect and his purpose in life and then due to his efforts, she eventually got well only to leave him.
I'm sorry but I really could not feel any pity for any of the characters and their collective tragedy seemed inevitable, due to many stupidities which could have been avoided. Someday I will read Zelda Fitzgerald's autobiography and biography to get the other side of the story. Fitzgerald's low opinions of mankind in general are only topped by his misogynist views of women in particular.
Judy, Best. Review. Ever! Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is. I've only read Gatsby, but I think I'll push his other works to the bottoms of any lists they may appear on.
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