Janelle F. (wanderingmelody) reviewed on
Therese Anne Fowlers Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald is a fictional work, based on documents from the Fitzgeralds themselves, that chronicles the life of Zelda Fitzgerald (Sayre) from the time right before she meets F. Scott Fitzgerald until briefly after his death. We follow her from her hometown in Montgomery, Alabama, to New York City, to Paris and beyond. Her life is one of luxury, parties, and perfect happinessuntil it isnt.
Overall, I felt that this book was well researched and written. In the middle of the book, I felt quite bored with the story. Reflecting back on it now, I feel that boredom may be exactly what Fowler intended, as its around that time that there is a significant change in Zelda. Shes starting to become disillusioned with her husband; a man whos never home, promises to finish writing things and never does, drinks too much, and thinks largely of only his interests. Shes bored with lazy days spent on the beach or shopping and raucous nights filled with people and booze.
Ive given it three stars for 2 reasons. First, while I understand wanting to be as thorough and accurate as possible, I thought the book could have been a bit shorter. Second, the story was not as interesting as I originally thought it would be, but you should not hold that against the book; perhaps it was just not a great choice on my part.
I would recommend this book to those of you who enjoy romantic historical fiction, as well as to anyone who wants to get a glimpse of what it was like to be the wife of a famous (or infamous, which may later be the better characterization) author in the early 1900s, when writers were just breaking into the high society social scene.
Favorite quotes:
"If only people could travel as easily as words. Wouldn't that be something? If we could be so easily revised." (pg. 2)
"My standards were based on good sense, not the logic of lemmings." (pg. 13)
Overall, I felt that this book was well researched and written. In the middle of the book, I felt quite bored with the story. Reflecting back on it now, I feel that boredom may be exactly what Fowler intended, as its around that time that there is a significant change in Zelda. Shes starting to become disillusioned with her husband; a man whos never home, promises to finish writing things and never does, drinks too much, and thinks largely of only his interests. Shes bored with lazy days spent on the beach or shopping and raucous nights filled with people and booze.
Ive given it three stars for 2 reasons. First, while I understand wanting to be as thorough and accurate as possible, I thought the book could have been a bit shorter. Second, the story was not as interesting as I originally thought it would be, but you should not hold that against the book; perhaps it was just not a great choice on my part.
I would recommend this book to those of you who enjoy romantic historical fiction, as well as to anyone who wants to get a glimpse of what it was like to be the wife of a famous (or infamous, which may later be the better characterization) author in the early 1900s, when writers were just breaking into the high society social scene.
Favorite quotes:
"If only people could travel as easily as words. Wouldn't that be something? If we could be so easily revised." (pg. 2)
"My standards were based on good sense, not the logic of lemmings." (pg. 13)
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