Flappers and Philosophers: Library Edition

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: Fitzgerald has established that he _can_ write, and well in his other works. This one, however, leaves more than a little to be desired. Cartoonish brassy debs and Horatio Alger-style golden boys with island paradises mark the basic theme. Futher, Fitzgerald can't seem to finish a paragraph without some reference to "darkies" or some more insulting epitaph. I mean - Twain's references were bearable, because we have the feeling that he's on the right side. But Fitzgerald's omniscient narrator (read: Fitzgerald) is pretty objectionable in his characterizations. And then he makes the cardinal sin of being decidedly unclever with the story. Even Maugham is better.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, engrossing short stories
Review: Fitzgerald may not have been overly fond of his short stories, but his writing skill and insight shine through anyway. In The Ice Palace and Bernice Bobs her Hair and the Four Fists in particular, Fitzgerald captures individuals struggling with themselves. Who/what should they be, and why? While I wasn't too fond of the pirate story, as it lacked these elements, the other stories in the book show a depth of understanding and introspection that makes for a wonderful, thoughtful read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, engrossing short stories
Review: Fitzgerald may not have been overly fond of his short stories, but his writing skill and insight shine through anyway. In The Ice Palace and Bernice Bobs her Hair and the Four Fists in particular, Fitzgerald captures individuals struggling with themselves. Who/what should they be, and why? While I wasn't too fond of the pirate story, as it lacked these elements, the other stories in the book show a depth of understanding and introspection that makes for a wonderful, thoughtful read.

Rating:
Summary: Form and Finesse
Review: Fitzgerald's stories manage to unite his otherworldly grasp of the fluctuations in the human soul. He is a master at presenting its contrivances and vanities as things that happen to people. The tension in these tales rises with almost unconscious force. Red herrings of possible conclusions are whispered but almost in the style of a trickster. Someone always gets conned and someone unmasked- all within that now long-gone era that held a fullhouse of interesting details and premonitions of an ominous future. "Beatrice Bobs her Hair" always has something more to say about savage young ladies. It deserves its place, I think, in every highschool English curriculum. The spoiled rich girls inevitably fall madly in love- with the cads or the tricksters. It was interesting to read "Benediction" in this era of the priest scandals. How priests were seen by Fitzgerald, or perhaps how he conceived his alter ego- is apparent in his return to his natural self through the heroine's choice at the end. This writer always has a trick up his sleeve for the unpredictable conclusion.
I am surprised that there are not more raves over this collection, but perhaps that is the nature of the post modern era. I on the other hand -rave. Story, resolution, all those little formulas that separate the artist from the amateur in the impossible short story form. Fitzgerald, except for perhaps in Gatsby, never achieved such form and plotting in his novels. His youth too, can be sensed in the humorous and rather light-hearted manner by which he casts his characters and those obstacles that they encounter.

Rating:
Summary: Form and Finesse
Review: Fitzgerald's stories manage to unite his otherworldly grasp of the fluctuations in the human soul. He is a master at presenting its contrivances and vanities as things that happen to people. The tension in these tales rises with almost unconscious force. Red herrings of possible conclusions are whispered but almost in the style of a trickster. Someone always gets conned and someone unmasked- all within that now long-gone era that held a fullhouse of interesting details and premonitions of an ominous future. "Beatrice Bobs her Hair" always has something more to say about savage young ladies. It deserves its place, I think, in every highschool English curriculum. The spoiled rich girls inevitably fall madly in love- with the cads or the tricksters. It was interesting to read "Benediction" in this era of the priest scandals. How priests were seen by Fitzgerald, or perhaps how he conceived his alter ego- is apparent in his return to his natural self through the heroine's choice at the end. This writer always has a trick up his sleeve for the unpredictable conclusion.
I am surprised that there are not more raves over this collection, but perhaps that is the nature of the post modern era. I on the other hand -rave. Story, resolution, all those little formulas that separate the artist from the amateur in the impossible short story form. Fitzgerald, except for perhaps in Gatsby, never achieved such form and plotting in his novels. His youth too, can be sensed in the humorous and rather light-hearted manner by which he casts his characters and those obstacles that they encounter.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Not a bad set of stories. "The Offshore Pirate" was the best---its one of the sweetest stories I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Not a bad set of stories. "The Offshore Pirate" was the best---its one of the sweetest stories I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Annotation
Review: Originally published in 1920, this Replica Classic marks F. Scott Fitzgerald's entre into the world of the short story. Containing the complete and original collection of eight classic stories, Flappers and Philosophers reaches the depths of human feeling with an acuteness of insight that is the trademark of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Rating:
Summary: A book hard to put down.
Review: The book was great. It included some of Fitzgearld's best short works. It was hard to put down during a story. The emotions of the character are real for their time period.

Rating:
Summary: A good sampling of Fitzgerald
Review: This collection of short stories takes a candid look at America in the early 20th century. There isn't a stinker in the lot, but I think "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" is my favorite. Fitzgerald has a way of making his readers connect with unlikeable characters that seems almost magical.