Rating: 
Summary: VERY TOUCHING, VERY WELL DONE
Review: "It is seven thirty on an August evening. The windows in the living room of the gray house are wide open patiently exchanging the tainted inner atmosphere of liquor and smoke for the fresh drowsiness of the late hot dusk. There are dying flower scents upon the air, so thin, so fragile, as to hint already of as summer laid away in time." This is the story of a young couple Anthony and Gloria Patch living out their days to the hilt in New York City as they await the death of Anthony's grandfather, Adam Patch from whom they expect to inherit his massive fortune. Gloria is a spoilt child from Kansas City turned into a sophisticated and most beautiful woman. Gloria does not intend to lift a finger to do any domestic work in the home, no matter how slight; while Anthony who considers himself an aesthete, finds it quite hard to get his act together and instead of buckling down to some work, prefers instead to hang with his wife and their friends on nightly binges. They drink and eat in the classiest restaurants and hotels, rent the most expensive apartments, travel out to the West in the spring time driving plush cars, wearing top-of-the-line clothing and just generally living it up high on the hog, as they wait. Meet Maury Noble who is Anthony best friend who spends his time between New York and Philadelphia; Richard Caramel who has just completed a writing a book and looking for new ideas for a second one. Joseph Bloeckman from Munich who started out small in America and is now a big shot in Show Biz. Also the quiet Jewess Rachael Barnes and Muriel Kane who is young, flirtatious and sometimes a bit too talkative and Tana the Japanese housekeeper of the Patches. We are shown the Patches at their very best as the novel starts, with the world at their feet and loaded with cash with which they make very expensive choices. But, as we get further in, we see things begin to change gradually and we realize that those very choices will be their very downfall. It was quite a good read but it could be very heartbreaking at times as we put ourselves into the shoes of the main characters. All lovers of F. Scott Fitzgerald should read this book if you haven't done so already, and those of you who like reading about the ultra rich in the Roaring Twenties this one is for you. It is the kind of book that you feel you will want to read again. It is that good and I shall miss it. Heather Marshall 10/04/04
Rating: 
Summary: The life of a consistent aesthete
Review: "The Beautiful and Damned" vs. "The Great Gatsby"-obviously the verdict reached by the general reader and critic gives the laurels to the latter. But I don't think this book was meant for either, hence its low estimation in their minds. It was meant for readers who, like the book's hero (or what we might nowadays call antihero), Anthony Patch, see clearly: the emptiness of all endeavors in life not involving beauty. I was reminded in reading this work of Yeats' lines "What portion can the artist have who has awakened from the common dream but dissipation and despair."
The book is not even truly a novel to my mind but rather as Tolstoy said of his "War and Peace" -"a great swath of life." Only "Anna Karenina," which parallels "The Great Gatsby" in this
sense, did Tolstoy dub his "novel." This may be another way of saying that the book is what another reviewer denominates "Naturalistic." But, whatever it is, I much prefer its poetic lyricism to the arid artifice that constitutes "The Great Gatsby" much as I infinitely prefer "War and Peace" to "Anna Karenina."
The flaws in the book (and the reason I gave it only 4 stars) arise when Fitzgerald veers from this three-dimensional writing style to the vapid and two-dimensional characterizations of many of Anthony's acquaintances: What is lacking is texture and background here. Proust wrote about inane decadents as well, but did so in such a way that the reader gains perspective and insight into their condition. This richness is sadly lacking in "The Beautiful and Damned."
But, aside from this somewhat technical flaw, the book's essential theme and philosophical import-that those who worship exclusively at the altar of Beauty must anticipate a high cost-make it one of the most important works of this century. For beauty in all its earthly incarnations is quintessentially transient. This is nowhere made more clear than in Anthony's soliloquizing to Dot "...you can't have anything at all. Because desire just cheats you. It's like a sunbeam skipping here and there around a room. It stops and guilds some inconsequential object, and we poor fools try to grasp it-but when we do the sunbeam moves on to something else, and you've got the inconsequential part, but the glitter that made you want it is gone-"
Thus, the book is authentic tragedy, with a note of triumph. I won't give away what other reviewers seem to find the controversial or ambivalent ending. But I, for one, found the words of Paul coming to mind, "I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith."
Rating: 
Summary: Decent at best
Review: + It's well-written, well-paced and a fairly exciting read.
+ The atmosphere of a decadent upper class is captured quite well.
- The plot is familiar, and the characters are mostly unmemorable. The girl is probably the best of the lot, but she's over-drawn. The guy (Anthony Patch) is too bloodless to be sympathetic. Everyone else is a stick. So overall it's a good read, but not worth re-reading.
Rating:
Summary: The irreverant leisure class
Review: Anthony Patch, undeserving heir to a multi-million dollar estate, grows increasingly annoying, petty, and selfish as this novel progresses. He is an admirable college student as the novel begins, seemingly trying to 'find himself' and live up to his grandfather's expectations. But as his financial security destabilizes, so does his moral character. It's an interesting progression, all the more fascinating because it gives us working class types an opportunity to despise the filthy rich. There are definitely some slow moments in the novel, alot of forced philosophical musings, but the prose and the soap-opera like ending make it worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Among His Better Efforts
Review: As a fan of Fitzgerald's writing, I was truly disappointed bythis book. Verbose and somewhat boring early on in the text, the bookhas none of the best qualities of his better works. His tendency to write the elegant sentence is taken too far too often in this text, having the effect of a continual stream of unnecessary adjectives normally associated with writers below his caliber. The work also seems thrown together, with pieces of stage script and overly-sentimental poetry splashed among the pages. I can't help but think, with respect to how unpolished the product was, that he had an idea and a deadline and the deadline won. Better books to read by Fitzgerald are The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and even the unfinished The Love of the Last Tycoon. His collected short stories also offer enjoyable reading. I realize I am at odds here, but I cannot recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning Dissipation
Review: As the star of his own life and F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, Anthony Patch is what the protagonist of Fitzgerald's debut "This Side of Paradise" would have become had he been allowed to grow up without the wizening experiences Amory Blaine suffers. But, though older and richer than Amory, Anthony truly suffers more; in fact, following his alcoholic downward spiral creates a great deal of suffering in the reader, even as the prose is lovely and the characterizations full. At least Anthony (and the reader) has the stunning Gloria Gilbert to accompany him on that cirrhotic journey. Anthony and Gloria would have fit right in among the Bright Young Things of Fitzgerald's English contemporary Evelyn Waugh's more satirical, far less meaty novels of callous behavior and insincere rich people. Fitzgerald's characters are sincere, however--sincere about expecting that the world should fall at their feet forever, and that earning their way by honest toil isn't the way to go about it. This book is a tale of a destructive marriage in which neither party is more at fault than the other, and in which the greatest sin of both is narcissism (though despair is often not far off as the story moves along). You've got to hand it to Gloria, though: feminists and individualists of all stripes and sexes will appreciate her paean to self-actualization: "What grubworms women are to crawl on their bellies through colorless marriages! Marriage was created not to be a background but to need one. Mine is going to be outstanding. It can't, shan't be the setting--it's going to be the performance, the live, lovely glamorous performance, and the world shall be the scenery. I refuse to dedicate my life to posterity." Wouldn't it be fun to listen to this woman tell stories if she lived to be 80? For all its beauty, "The Beautiful and Damned" can wear the reader down. It's too long, for one thing, and Anthony and Gloria keep repeating the same mistakes long after Fitzgerald has established that they are the kind of people who don't learn from their mistakes. Fitzgerald fans should definitely give it a try, and if it wears on you by the middle of the book then you should feel no guilt about letting it sit for a while. I should also add that the first seven pages are as enticing an opening as any I've read in an American novel. Every era needs its portraits in fiction, and the 1920s belong to Fitzgerald.
Rating:
Summary: His Best Roaring 20's Novel
Review: By no means his best novel (as others here suggest) but highly underrated. Often one hears of Great Gatsby as his best, Tender is the Night as his labored over lost classic, This Side of Paradise as his promising and famous debut, and The Love of the Last Tycoon as the classic that never was, but Beautiful and Damned is never mentioned. In my opinion this is the book that best describes the hedonistic society I have read of called the Roaring Twenties. As the reader watches all the characters lose their dreams and fall into a depraved, hollow existent based on alcohol I am reminded too fondly of my college years. If you are a Fitzgerald fan read this one after This Side of Paradise. If you are someone with a passing interest in the Twenties read this. If you are someone with just a passing interest in Fitzgerald then read this one last, after any of the other Fitzgerald novels.
Rating:
Summary: Overly moralistic, but a compelling plot
Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite author, to get my bias out in the open. I have read all four of his novels and many of his short stories, and while this is not his best novel technically, I believe the plot and characters are perhaps more interesting than in some of his other novels. As with his other novels, it draws intensly on Fitzgerald's own life, foreshadowing his problems with Zelda, drinking, and a lack of money. The story of a beautiful young couple ruined by their greed and ambition is very compelling, and the scene where Anthony's grandfather, the Prohibition advocate catches the couple on a "binge" and disinherits them is very dramatic and interesting. By the end of the novel, the couple does retrieve their monetary wealth, but they have already lost their beauty and youth, which is in the end more important than money to Fitzgerald. The story is very moralistic, and perhaps even preachy, but if you are interested in tales of the "leisure class" as I am, you definitely should read this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Abandoned People
Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned is a tour-de-force of despair....but don't let that stop you from reading it.
What begins as a sweet and involving love story quickly spirals downward into the depths of alcoholic misery....
If ever there were two people in need of a good AA meeting, it's Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert. Meeting as teens by a mutual friend/cousin, Anthony is immediately taken, as are most boys who cross her path, with the beautiful Gloria. Fervently pursuing her, he becomes despondent when she eventually rebuffs his overtures, as she does with all her suitors. But Anthony perseveres, and discovers the truth, that Gloria is indeed in love with him. They marry, with all the best wishes of their friends and family.
Too tidy, of course, as this is where life takes some very unfortunate turns for the happy couple...
Anthony comes from a background of early 20th century privilege...having been raised by his wealthy Grandfather. Subsisting on a more than generous allotment while in school, Anthony receives one of the best educations that can be afforded to a person. Gloria, groomed and poised, is the perfect debutante....flirty, but never overly so...dignified, but not above an occasional drinking binge, and the object of many a boys' affections.
The ongoing party that envelopes the Patch's and their friends becomes a way of life for Anthony and Gloria, and their all-encompassing love becomes a nightmare of co-dependency and over-indulgence. Relying on Anthony's cache of bonds as income, when they continually overspend on their endless nightlife...neither ever engages in a worthwhile profession. Their love of one another turns bitter, resentful, passive-aggressive, and abusive, as they lavish affection on the bottle more and more.
Three quarters of this book reads like an AA sponsor testimonial for 'how not to live'....and is very engrossing. A hoped-for inheritance that meets with delay after delay; a stint in the service, as America enters World War 1; an affair to forget; and an aborted attempt at a movie career highlight the downhill run of Anthony and Gloria Patch.
An excellent read. Frequently humorous, though covering many dark topics, well-realized in regards to characterization and continuity....The Beautiful and Damned is an excellent portrait in black of what a 'privileged life' can also be like.
Rating:
Summary: When life takes a turn
Review: Fittingly, this was the last of Fitzgerald's novels that I read. And I apparently saved the best for last. In this enrapturing portrayl of young lovers who are attracted by their differences in the beggining yet destroyed by their similarities in the end (the need of wealth). I find this perhaps one of Fitzgerald's finest literary achievements. He has it all working for him in this novel, his character development is excellent, I feel as though I could recognize Anthony or Gloria on the street if they were to saunter my way. Fitzgerald truly breaks his own mold on this terrific literary achievement. He not only tells a wonderful story of two young lovers but he also parallels it with a very strong supporting cast of characters to Anthony and Gloria. Much can be understood of the lead characters by reading into the supporting characters, focus on Anthhony's grandfather for example. The rosy picture which is so commonly printed by the media of the rich has never been so wonderfully redone with vibrant color as Fitzgerald waves his "paint brush" through all the old misconceptions of the rich and into something truly brilliant: Real life. Fitzgerald was indeed touched with brilliance, and never has it ever been more evident than in his wonderful novel :The Beautiful and Damned." An absolute must read.
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