The Beautiful and Damned (AmazonClassics Edition)

A reader of Fitzgerald will not be surprised of the themes or characters they find in this book. Here is a writer who worked out the demons of his own life, on the page, for all of us to watch. He showed us the bright light of the beautiful people that draws us close like moths at night, and the inevitable shabbiness and death of the real light of next morning.

Here, as begun in "This Side of..." and ended in "Tender is..." is Fitzgerald's complicated struggle with art and love and fame. We see him force his characters to deal with the things he could not resolve in his own life: the battle with writing, and the causes of his block, the ever-present spectre of infidelity, the loss of youth, and finally, madness. We experience as he experienced, the great lie of a golden age.

I can't say this was my favorite among his works, but I think it certainly sets the stage for his later works and is clearly a place where he was working on that lyric style he so perfected in "Gatsby" and "Tender is..." It is not a place to start reading Fitzgerald but offers the fan something worth their time.

``The Beautiful and Damned,'' F. Scott Fitzgerald's second published novel, is a penetrating portrait of the idle rich. It is vital social commentary that previews themes the author would deal with in his next and best book, ``The Great Gatsby.''

The greatest strength and greatest weakness of ``The Beautiful and Damned'' is that it doesn't have even one likable character. The closest we come is Muriel Kane, the friend of Gloria who volunteers for World War I nurse duty, and Joseph Bloeckman, the producer who tries to get Gloria into the movies. Bloeckman's line of work leads one to think his friendship is illusory like a movie.

The story revolves around Anthony Patch, grandson of multimillionaire Adam Patch, and Gloria Gilbert, Anthony's wife. The family name is a clue that something is being masked the way a patch covers a hole. This turns out to be grandpa Patch's sleazy life as a Wall Street operator. His fortune secured, Adam Patch attempts repentance by becoming a social reformer and prohibitionist. If alive today, the senior Patch would no doubt have a talk show on right-wing radio.

Anthony, an only child and layabout Harvard grad, is waiting for his grandfather to die so his life can begin in earnest. Gloria is equally aimless (who says alike repel?). Gloria, also an only child from parents living above their means, complains regularly about odors and people's cleanliness. Gloria doesn't complain about the cleanliness of boozer and smoker Anthony because he comes with the most pleasant smell of all -- the sweet savor of money.

Grandfather Patch proves rather durable and this causes the marriage of Anthony and Gloria to become nearly unendurable. Money gets tight and the couple ventures out into employment with humorous and sad results -- Anthony as a stock salesman and Gloria as an actress.

Fitzgerald's legendary wit is fully on display throughout. He roasts situations and institutions as well as his characters --

On war (p. 249 of the Penguin paperback edition): ``Wilson and his cabinet -- a cabinet that in its lack of distinction was strangely reminiscent of the twelve apostles -- let loose the carefully starved dogs of war, and the press began to whoop hysterically against sinister morals, sinister philosophy and sinister music produced by the Teutonic temperament. Those who fancied themselves particularly broad-minded made the exquisite distinction that it was only the German Government which aroused them to hysteria; the rest were worked up to a condition of retching indecency.''

On peace (p. 319): ``Over in Europe the usual number of children had swollen stomachs from starvation, and the diplomats were at their customary business of making the world safe for new wars...Peace had come down in earnest, the beginning of new days.''

Anthony, survivor of a Job-like experience, finally gets what he thought he wanted. Gloria is back to her essential self. A happy ending? Not exactly. Purposelessness has taken its toll.

There is much biography weaved into ``The Beautiful and Damned'' and that adds poignancy. The lives of Fitzgerald and wife Zelda greatly mirror Anthony and Gloria. It is amazing how a man can embrace a lifestyle yet mercilessly criticize it. This is testimony to Fitzgerald's uniqueness and power. Less honest and less talented people could not produce such work.

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.

"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."

Fitzgerald's second novel shows a maturation rather than maturity. It is a no-frills, yet poignant and focused portrait of the profoundly amoral young aristocracy boozing up the 1920s, rather than a predictable rise-and-fall morality tale. Here, Fitzgerald holds the reins over his language; he is firmly in control, cutting down on some long-winded passages and verbosity seen in This Side of Paradise.
B&D is true to the values of its hero, Anthony Patch, a superfluous and utterly indolent Harvard graduate who's far less sure of what he wants and likes than what he doesn't, except of course, for Gloria, a beautiful and narcissistic partner whose taste is compatible with his own.
Awaiting his grandfather's demise, the young couple drinks away their days and nights because there is nothing else they can conceive of doing. Their friends are a philosopher whose fundamental maxim is that there is nothing worth doing and a writer whose early promise deteriorates into banal tripe - a tragic waste of talent he is blind to.
Fitzgerald's prose and story are so deceptively fluid that the reader can miss many passive and active attitudes, bereft of any values or standards (other than aesthetic ones), towards life, family, fidelity, war, and death. In this world, marriage is a refuge from boredom (albeit a hopeless one), work is debasing, war is a decoration of the moneyed class, and wealth itself is a presumption.
As, usual, Fitzgerald's strengths (reaching the acme in Gatsby) are in his ability to describe feelings and moments. From Anthony's courthship of Gloria to his military affair with Dot, FSF never loses the palpable understanding of his own characters to satisfy effect.

What is amazing about Fitzgerald is that he wrote about a minuscule slice of American life, and managed, in the process, to capture the essence of the whole thing. The substance of The Beautiful and Damned is essentially trivial, and yet the novel is transcendentally moving. Anthony and Gloria Patch are hardly sympathetic personages, but by the time the novel reaches its climax, you care about them, you want them to win. They persevere in their dissolution and are rewarded by an after-the-fact imprimatur. You feel that, like Fitzgerald, they will not see old age, but they've got what they want now, which is what counts. The language, of course, is (no other term will do) beautiful. Dwarfed in the public regard by Gatsby, this is a book any student of or lover of our literature must know. Besides, the story moves; it is a great read.

It's hard to believe The Beautiful and Damned was written by the same author as The Great Gatsby. It's like Fitzgerald wrote this before he met Hemingway and Hemingway taught him how to write. I should like this book: I love The Great Gatsby, I enjoy ornate prose, and I appreciate watching a character slowly spiral downward. But it just does not work for me here.

The main character is the scion of a wealthy family, a 1920s socialite, and a terrible drunk. The book mainly consists of his alcohol-soaked escapades as his life slowly disintegrates. What else is a wealthy couple to do? The ending is more than a bit manufactured and takes away from the rest of the novel.

I have not looked at the other reviews but I would guess they fall into the area reserved for calling this the least or among the least of Fitzgerald's efforts with a nod to Gatsby and Tender is the Night as the better works of this troubled author. I read this for the first time on my Kindle and was amazed at it. I am sure it is flawed and even disappointing. But by the end I wanted more not less and I was sorry to see it end. My summary feeling is that it is a draft, not a finished work. What it gets at is profound at least to me -- the problems of drink, of what has meaning, of what is work. I wish this had been the start of a trilogy.

Some readers discover Fitzgerald by accident, by reputation or, perhaps in school. My exposure came via the first possibility through a worn paperback copy of 'The Crack Up' soon afterward I read a paperback semi-bio called 'Crazy Sundays, F Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood'. This was in the early Seventies and at that time I couldn't find anything in print and only found his books at yard sales and used book stores. I read Gatsby, Tender is the Night and even a collection of short stories reprinted from Fitzgerald's magazine writing. Now, over thirty years later I have re-read many of those books and I find his short stories mildly enjoyable and his novels, flowery and antique. Sure, you might say, they are old books however, I re-read my other favorites from my Seventies bookshelf: Sinclair Lewis and Mark Twain and find that their styles have aged very well by comparison (and of the two, only Lewis can be considered a contemporary, Twain is even older). What does this have to do this novel? It holds-up the best in the ways that his work generally has not held-up. Perhaps it's the themes or the biographical elements but either way, this book deserves a look if you have already read his other novels and are giving up on him!

The American reading public seems to reduce `classic authors' to one-hit wonders: The Stranger, Catcher in the Rye, Vanity Fair, Frankenstein, Catch-22, Oedipus the King, etc. One great work seems to exhaust us and we move on. The only real exceptions are situations in which the author has two great works of moral equivalency: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

A victim of the one-book limit on our memories is The Beautiful and Damned. No, it's not as good as The Great Gatsby. But then again -- to paraphrase Joseph Heller -- neither is any other American novel. If it weren't for Jay Gatsby, however, this other work by F. Scott Fitzgerald would likely often be raised up as a candidate for `the Great American Novel'.

I was blown away by it. It's divided into roughly three parts, following the third decade of life of a useless Harvard alum living in New York City named Anthony Comstock Patch. The first period is youthful exuberance. It reads like it was written by a kid who woke up one day being after being anointed the Chosen One by the gods of literature. It's got this `Wow, I can write beautiful prose about anything!' euphoria to it. The prose bedazzles and astonishes, careening as it does from one pointless bit to another as it lampoons the East Coast elite. It shifts tenses for no reason, abruptly goes into the format of a play for couple of pages at a stretch and generally dances its way through the nonadventures of several extremely wealthy young men. The words on the page are relentless brilliant. Even getting up to leave is memorable: `Anthony arose and punched himself into his overcoat. . .'

This first section is hilarious. Typically, when I discover something from before WWII that was meant to be humorous, I cringe to myself because it's not funny anymore. The opening of this book, after a slightly dry description of Anthony Patch's familial background, satirizes the wealthy, their pretensions, their sense of entitlement, their superiority, with unerring accuracy. It's laugh-out-loud funny but never mean-spirited.

I hate spoilers. Suffice to say that the second and third sections get uglier as relationships get more serious. What we forgive in the young we find more disappointing in people as they age. (A Peter Pan with a puffy-eyed hangover at thirty is not a pretty sight.) The prose, however, loses little momentum as the story flirts with disaster.

In addition to the writing itself, what really struck me was how Fitzgerald could create a sense of empathy for such appalling characters. If Anthony Patch was a real person, he'd be the poster child for Marxism. Yet Fitzgerald can get us to care about him and his ilk, people who are in truth little more than lazy, absentmindedly racist, decidedly misogynistic alcoholic snobs. (Indeed, this novel could be read as the parable about the consequences of misogyny on men.) If someone told me that it would be possible to write a novel in which you feel for a character who jokes about kicking a kitten -- we're left hoping it was a joke -- I would have said it was impossible, but there you have it.

The novel also makes the time period covered, from shortly before WWI to the Roaring Twenties, come vividly alive. Anthony Patch becomes the embodiment of America, starting in innocence, becoming disillusioned with war and ending in the boozy disillusionment of Prohibition. (And no, that's not really a spoiler.) It's not simply Anthony that oozes a sense of time and place: the novel is animated by consumer products of the period, suggests a critique of suburbia forty years head of its time and is filled with fascination with those new technologies, the car and the feature-length film.

In short, The Beautiful and Damned probably offers more per page than just about any other novel you might read. Except The Great Gatsby.

This review is based on an out of print hardback from the library, not this particular edition.

Liked this book loads better than This Side of Paradise. In that tome, Fitzgerald was finding his voice and I loathed being along for the ride. But this cautionary tale of wealth and decadence taken for granted and jaded youth was so up my alley - it's so easily relatable, because modern versions of it are all around us. We begin with Anthony and Gloria Patch - he, young and to the manor born, with lofty ideals and relatively deep pockets - from the upper classes and counting on inheriting Grandaddy's vast fortune so he can live even more grandiosely in perpetuity. She, an IMPOSSIBLY beautiful young creature, happy only to be admired and doted on - this is her bread and butter, she has never learnt to glean value from anything else. They meet, fall in love and kick off their young married life with extravagant living, parties, vacations - counting on the day when the inheritance cashes in. The journey to this assumed windfall, as they both age and the realities of life settle in, are the most delicious part of reading this. I hate to admit it but I LERV to see these kind of people get their comeuppance, as only one from the lower classes can. I ate up every juicy word of their demise - the character development is complete and satisfying and one gets to truly immerse themselves in their experience, their topple to the bottom and the bleak realizations that come with it. I honestly don't know why this is so satisfying but it is - after reading the last words, one is relieved to find themselves in their own home, like waking from a nightmare. A really, really great nightmare.

I quite liked this. His style is meant to be savoured - it's rich and magical and dense in imagery. There is a lyric quality in his descriptions now - he has a fine ear for language, for stringing words and ideas together to present beautiful and innovative images. It especially comes out in his descriptions of New York in the first section, where, instead of giving you an exact idea of what buildings there are and which people are walking past in concrete terms, he recreates a vivid mood and atmosphere that is sparkling with life.
This is again about the rich and privileged, who have the double fortune of being beautiful and charismatic as well. Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert are quintessential Fitzgerald characters - the handsome and intelligent man who is undone by his weakness and apathy; the woman defined by her impossible beauty who is nevertheless childish and immature. It places them at the pinnacle of high society in 1920s New York, then charts the breakdown of their lives from a whirlwind of pointless pleasure and parties to poverty, alcoholism, despair and finally madness.
The romance between Anthony and Gloria is finely detailed once they are married, but appears superficial till then. No compelling reason is given for Gloria's change of heart; it's a bit strange to believe that such an avowedly selfish creature would love Anthony so much. There is no climax, but perhaps that was Fitzgerald's intention; that their existences would simply sputter to a pathetic and unprepossessing halt, and therein lies the tragedy.
One thing I find a bit iffy is how come Anthony managed fine all his life living as a gentleman of leisure who, surely, spent a lot; then fell apart once Gloria came along. Also, why exactly were they so bent on seeking pleasure at all costs? Fitzgerald speaks vaguely of finding an emptiness in their lives after they'd become accustomed to being married; and needing to fill that up with parties and invitations - but why? Were they simply such weak individuals that they could not restrain themselves? That isn't quite a satisfactory answer.
The question is - could they have stopped this disaster from happening? Was it pre-determined or could they have turned things round for themselves? I think the answer would be yes. It seems impossible, reading about them in the first section, to imagine them in the state they were in by the book's ending; or vice versa. There were so many opportunities - Anthony getting jobs, becoming a war correspondent for instance; apologising to his grandfather, although that was tough; just plain bloody stopping the parties. But I think once Anthony became an adulterer, their fate was sealed. That was, in a way, his ultimate fall from grace; and it was a short way to disillusionment and alcoholism from there.

When I finished reading this book, I felt conflicted and a little confused about whether I liked it or not. An inner dialogue ran thus: "What?".

I understand the impatience that some may feel for the rambling tone of the book. I have left many a book unread for just that reason. However, this one kept me going back for more. Knowing FSF, I was fairly certain it wouldn't lead to a predictable conclusion, but that didn't mean it would lead to a good one.

Though I knew the title, I hadn't really ever heard much about this book before. I think I understand why now, it is definitely not one to be cubby-holed.

If you are a moralist, you may be outraged at the end. If you are a keen observer of humanity and know how floppy we all really are, you'll understand and laugh at how the author ended it. I know I did, once I got over being nonplussed.

Fitzgerald's farce or satire on upper crust New Yorkers can only be described as being realty becoming greater than fiction. Proclaiming the story "was all true", Fitzgerald intimated that this book was something akin to a kiss-and-tell novel about what had happened within America's richest crowd during the time of World War I.

"Anthony, Maury, and Dick sent in their applications for officers' training-camps and the two latter went about feeling strangely exalted and reproachless; they chattered to each other, like college boys, of war's being the one excuse for, and justification of, the aristocrat, and conjured up an impossible caste of officers, to be composed, it appeared, chiefly of the more attractive alumni of three or four eastern colleges."

Princetonian Fitzgerald created a Harvard protagonist Anthony Patch whose birth right is basically his only strong characteristic - at least so at the end of the novel. During his venerable youth, he locks eyes onto friend Rick's cousin, beautiful Gloria, whose unique spirit and vivaciousness make the self-described bachelor become betrothed.

The book follows the couple for a period of just less than a decade, during which time they fall into numerous elations, and depressions. This see-saw bipolar personality/lifestyle depiction is all-too-common in Fitzgerald's novels. Such was well accentuated in Fitzgerald's doctor and patient relationship in "Tender is the Night" as the patient is ultimately cured and the doctor falls into a deep feeling of desultory depression -- dipsomania. Another of Fitzgerald's common themes is of men chasing after beautiful women who make the boys feel blushing discomfiture. Well depicted here with Gloria as well as in "This Side of Paradise" and its Amory Blaine who constantly trips in his whirlwind attempts to conquer beautiful Rosalind (whose personality and looks mirror those of Gloria).

As the book progresses, you see the self esteem of Anthony deflate, while his wife amazingly awaits him to recover, by miracle or otherwise, and be the man she grew to love at the tender age of 22. Like "Tender is the Night", alcohol interferes with the person and with his relationships -- Anthony becomes a drunken "bore."

There are points of this book you have to think - is this a hypothetical autobiography. Had "Tender is the Night" bombed instead of won critical acclaim, would not Fitzgerald have fallen into the liquor bottle like Anthony? I am sure he wondered as such.

But, as sad as the book can be, Fitzgerald had times of folly and humor. Even a self-deprecating humor. He writes, in one discourse where the people talk disapprovingly about the new novels: "You know these new novels make me tired. My God! Everywhere I go some silly girl asks me if I've read `This Side of Paradise.' Are our girls really like that?"

Amazingly well written, and even more astonishing in that Fitzgerald was 25 years old when he wrote this novel, this book deserves its acclaim and infamy.

I recently went to see Gatz, the wonderful adaptation of Gatsby by the Elevator Repair Service, and it inspired me to go back to Fitzgerald's body of work. I had read all the major the major works except for The Beautiful and Damned, and I decided to remedy that gap.

The Beautiful and Damned is an interesting book-- I probably liked it the least of all the Fitzgerald works, but I like his work enough that this is far from a bad thing. I could have lived without the overly obvious moralizing genaralities, but Fitzgerald himself recognized that this book had been written in too much of a hurry.

The major strength of the novel is, of course, the characters. We have all known versions of Gloria and Anthony Patch. We went to college with them. They were the social butterflies who seemed to have no worries, no weaknesses, and no real cares. We all assume that somewhere along the way they had to have stopped partying and found something to do-- you cannot imagine these people at 30. The Beautiful and Damned is something about what happens when the butterflies of the world keep going well past the point of excusable youthful mistakes.

People who already enjoy Fitzgerald should give The Beautiful and the Damned a read. It is certainly no Great Gatsby, but still contains much of the style and talent that made Fitzgerald so justly famous. Pay particular attention to the language and the turn of the phrase-- even in his lesser works, Fitzgerald is unparalleled at his particular kind of style.

The Beautiful and the Damned centers on Anthony and Gloria Patch, a couple whose lifestyle is best characterized by his phrase, "I want to know just why it's impossible for an American to be gracefully idle." Anthony is rootless, born into wealth but orphaned at an early age, he grows up detached but directionless. Gloria, although coming from less well-to-do circumstances, is content to float along on what resources she does have, including her undeniable good looks. Having nothing to look forward to but the next party or other indulgence, they live beyond their income, looking forward the inheritance Anthony expects from his severe grandfather. A good sense of the tenor of that relationship comes in an early scene where Anthony goes to visit his grandfather with the hope to have found him dead.

The relationship enters a crisis when, as the back cover copy states, problems arise with the inheritance. We see the deterioration of the Patches as the money they floated on drains away and other reviewers have made the comparison to Dreiser--I'm reminded of the slow fall of George Hurstwood in Sister Carrie. I might add that Hurstwood's fall, once he makes the one fatal decision that brings it about, is more a function of social forces while that of the Patches comes more from their personal flaws. Sister Carrie is more a critical look at society while The Beautiful and the Damned focuses on a particular character type. Without giving away the ending, I will note that one of the strengths of the novel is that Fitzgerald doesn't let it turn into a morality play.

The writing is excellent, as might be expected. However, there are parts that are too self-consciously arty. The worst offense consists of several scenes that are written as if they were plays. There is really no sense to them except a type indulgent experimentation.

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.

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.

Being a long-time fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, I was not at all disappointed with this novel. The language was masterful and romantic, drawing me into the beautiful and oftentimes sad and frustrating tale of Anthony and Gloria. The first half of the book was enjoyable, filled with the dreams of every young person who falls in love with the boy she never thought she'd like or the girl he never thought he would get. The second half is relatable and sad, as the couple discovers aspects of the other that he or she never thought would be seen. All the while, the common elements of the 1910's and 1920's--drinking, parties, and the promise of fortune--pervade the novel.
There were some confusing points where Fitzgerald writes in the style of a play, and the characters are acting as on a stage. I was a litle thrown off by these interjections in style, but that did not make the story any less enjoyable. Overall, I enjoyed the novel, and would recommend it for Fitzgerald fans.

I enjoyed this book. It's truly about, F. Scott and his wife Zelda. If you have an opportunity to watch, Z The Beginning Of Everything, here on the store, you will see this book is about their Life. It's written quite well and F. Scott's sense of humor is hysterical!!! Highly recommend this book, it's great on Audible.

Read this book if … you are a patient person; if you don’t mind misogynistic, racist, classicist, white male writers; if you love the Lost Generation and everything it stands for: mindless frivolity, aggressive self-destruction, getting what you want when you want it. Even if you don’t love Fitzgerald and his American modernist peers, you have to admit that they throw the best party among the most pathetic circumstances.

Don’t read this book if … you despise drama queens. TBatD is the story of the suffering of the 1%, and it is virtually impossible to feel any kind of sympathy for the novel’s two central characters as they “struggle” to survive their quickly shifting circumstances. Fitzgerald can also be a little heavy-handed with his themes, and if the banality of the protagonists doesn’t drive you crazy, the petulant Irony and Beauty will.

This book is like … the original Gone Girl. It’s the story of two people systematically destroying each other with the age-old weapon called “marriage.” Maybe I made the connection because I just saw Gone Girl the movie twice in theaters, but the second I thought it, all I could see was an ice-cold, sadistic Rosamund Pike as Gloria, manipulating a vapid, narcissistic Ben Affleck as Anthony, both too absorbed with love-hating each other to notice that the light at the end of their tunnel of aristocratic suffering isn’t daylight but the steam-rolling train of tragic realization.

Read the full review on my blog: http://litbeetle.com/2014/11/04/on-f-scott-fitzgeralds-the-beautiful-and-the-damned/

Brilliant writing of a brilliant tale. This novel is as timely as it was when written. The idle rich (much like in Gatsby and Scott's other works) have nothing to do but drink and impress one another. But no matter how I say it. Scott says it with texture and humanity and understanding and curiosity.
Even if the moral is not your cup of tea, you will dissolve into the story and adopt the accents. It is not just a social statement, it is entertainment !!!

I'd read that F. Scott Fitzgerald, older, a full-blown alcoholic with his wife in an insane asylum, went into a bookstore to find all of his books out of print and no longer on the shelves. Not even THE GREAT GATSBY. Wow.

If it wasn't for the personal history of the author, I don't think I would've enjoyed Fitzgerald's second novel, THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED. The first half of the book follows a young couple living the high life in New York City, partying every night, waiting on a rich grandfather to drop dead so they can get their hands on his fortune, annoyed by World War I for interferring with their travel plans. I didn't like these people. They were snobbish and superficial, the worst kind of social climbers since they never accomplished anything. Anthony was horrified at the thought of actually working at anything and Gloria coasted along on her looks, flirting with a movie career until her looks fade away.

Fitzgerald's own snobbery is evident throughout. On page 59, he turns up his nose to describe "The Public" (or "the Consumer"), the common folks out trying to enjoy themselves, and he also can't hide his distaste for the poor Southern mistress Anthony uses during his military service.

I don't think I would've noticed it as much if he'd turned his critical eye to the arrogant fops who were Anthony's Harvard classmates. But they end up rich, so Fitzgerald lets them spout their pretentious and shallow philosophies unchallenged.

What was really interesting to me was that THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED was written before Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald lived their own beautiful damnation, venturing much further into the dark than "Anthony & Gloria" and denied the "happy ending" manufactured for them.

The Barnes & Noble Classics editions of classic novels are definitely worth reading. Pagan Harleman's Introduction perfectly sets up this novel and the footnotes and endnotes help to broaden the reader's understanding.

At first it is hard not to fall in love with Gloria Gilbert who, like all the self-besotted children of the heady and hedonistic Jazz Age, is so riotously frivolous, so ingenously self-centred. You excuse the fatuous languidness of her husband Anthony Patch as the transitory aimlessness of youth. But you know that these two have it coming when Gloria - in what FSF calls her "Nietszchean moment" - declares "I don't care about truth; I only want happiness!" While the rest of the Ivy League brahmins live out their dreams as writers and movie-makers, Gloria and Anthony squander their money and beauty on endless parties and clubs. At the end they are the flotsam of the Jazz Age. This tale strains at tragic grandeur without quite achieving it, chiefly because its two main protagonists remain essentially unlikeable, without any redeeming attribute that would stir our sympathy. The prose drips with lyricism, but it is without grace, poise and maturity. FSF was only 26 when it was first published, and this book displays a raw diamond that would attain polish a little later.

It was well written and engaging, though the characters are irritatingly difficult to embrace. The era and settings are rich and so are the many personalalities; however, you are constantly seeing the dangers and pitfalls to come. You and the main characters are powerless to alter the outcomes....it is a good read. Sad, poignant and very interesting, I enjoyed the journey though the destination was anti-climactic.

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.

Highly recommended. Extremely compelling. Still relevant today although first published 80 years ago. A truly remarkable and memorable book.

For me reading great fiction is a bit like holding a mirror up to life. In some characters I see parts of myself and in other characters I see parts of other people in my life. With good fiction the characters are so vividly drawn that they seem real. You get to know them and sometimes you like them and sometimes you don't, but they're always believable and you can identify with their emotions and choices in life. For me that's the sort of book this is - and much much more.

The Beautiful and Damned is a tragic portrayal of a 1920s society enamored with beauty and wealth (I told you it was still relevant today). The novel traces the gradual downfall of Anthony Patch and his wife Gloria. When we first meet Anthony he is young, well educated and wealthy. Thanks to the generous allowance he receives from his wealthy Grandfather he doesn't have to work and instead spends his days lunching, philosophizing and drinking with his friends while he plans his entry into working life - perhaps as a statesman; perhaps as a writer. Life is a series of Broadway plays and extravagant meals. Nice for some.

When Anthony meets the beautiful, flirty and narcissistic Gloria he falls hopelessly in love. After a wonderful courtship they marry and the party really begins. While they wait for Anthony's Grandfather to die and pass his millions on to them, the young couple enjoy an endless string of parties, traveling and extravagance.

It is at about this point in the book that you begin to see a change. Up until now Fitzgerald portrays Anthony as pretentious and lazy, but generally a nice enough guy. Gloria is undoubtedly vain and selfish, but is also bubbly, fun and honest. Initially their life together is filled with optimism and breezy cheerfulness and they are undoubtedly a fun couple to be around. However, as they drink more (in particular Anthony) life begins to lose its rosy glow and we begin to see different, less pleasant parts of their personalities. Gradually at first and then faster and faster their downfall accelerates until they each face personal humiliation and suffer pathetic debacle. Believe it or not, it is actually quiet a heartbreaking story.

What makes this book so good for me is that it seems real. Anthony and Gloria (or parts of them) are people that you probably know. It all seems very believable. They make bad choices and they pay the consequences - just like real life. The supporting cast of characters that live on the edge of Anthony and Gloria's world also add a huge amount to the story. While flawed in their own ways they generally make a success of their lives.

Essentially a chronicle of alcoholic ruin, wasted opportunities and squandered talent, The Beautiful and Damned is a very compelling story. To my mind it's a first-class example of what a novel should be. A book to be savoured and enjoyed.

The Beautiful and Damned is Fitzgerald's second novel and the title says it all.Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert are two self asorbed people who desire romantic love and they fall in love with each other. They have no desire for productive work and they desire lives of luxury. They receive allowances from their parents and Anthonys grandfather gives a little as well but Anthony has no desire to wotk and Gloria is obsessed with being an actress which irritates Anthony. Both are alcoholics which adds fuel to their self destructive situation. In the end ,Anthony becomes wealthy winning 30 million dollars by challenging hsi grandfathers will he is stricken from it despite being the only direct descendant but the money makes neither he or his wife happy. Their narcissism combines to damn them to misery despite their exterior beauty of which their wealth is a large part of.At times the book rambles into clever phrases that have no point and it is too loose at times but it is still a book worth reading though not quite as good as This Side of Paradise

Anthony Patch is the hero. His wealthy grandfather supports prohibition, and THE BEAuTIFUL AND DAMNED is the best temperance tract ever written. It's frightening to see that even in his mid-twenties Fitzgerald was already working his favorite theme: the degeneration and final collapse of a promising man ruined by a woman, by drinking, and by the shallow life of a partier. What he learned from his wife's mental collapse before he wrote TENDER IS THE NIGHT he already knew more than ten years earlier, when he started THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED. He rejected twentieth century capitalistic social values in order to produce beauty; his wife rejected them more simply, just by being beautiful. In THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED this brave decision, beauty before everything else, leads to triumph and collapse -- and neither the author nor the reader can tell whether the triumph is worth the collapse, or the collapse proves the triumph is just an illusion. Or whether it's all just an alcoholic's dream.

Fitzgerald himself appears in the novel as a minor character, a friend of Anthony Patch's with a successful first novel who degenerates into a writer of popular trash. That was how Fitzgerald saw his own short stories, but the serious novels he really wanted to write were deliberately, terrifyingly empty, and in a way THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED is more open about its emptiness than THE GREAT GATSBY. Gatsby is able to work and thinks the wealthy Daisy whom he loves is a wonderful person. He doesn't get her, but he keeps his illusions. Anthony Patch knows he has nothing to live for, and he is incapable of Gatsby's kind of work and dedication. He loves only beauty, and he knows his love will destroy him. He uses alcohol, which he swears he'll never give up and predicts will kill him at forty (just like it would kill Fitzgerald) -- he uses alcohol to make sure his destruction is as ugly and humiliating as possible. Meanwhile his wife Gloria, beauty itself, just grows old and ugly, as beauty always does. And that's the whole book, unless you want to go along with one of Fitzgerald's many drunken jokes, and see it as Anthony's grandfather's triumphant proof that beauty is worthless and business is all.

It's a great book that got great editing (from Maxwell Perkins, perhaps the twentieth century's greatest editor), and it is meant to be one of the saddest books anyone ever read. I take away one star because I don't think the characters had much potential to begin with -- but that's part of the point Fitzgerald is trying to make: nobody has enough potential to beat the emptiness of life. Okay, then I take away one star because the book glorifies drinking -- but I can't forget all the great poems that do the same thing. I take away one star because I have more sympathy for Gatsby and Dick Diver of TENDER IS THE NIGHT -- but I suspect that's because those books are less honest than this one.

In this novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald is extremely cruel with his characters and society. A young couple of the generation that came of age just before the First World War, were both born in extremely rich families and were educated for the vainest of all lives, high life and no work. They only knew the value of money for what its possession could provide them with : luxury, parties, alcohol, shows, etc. But they did not know at all what working to earn it could mean. Fitzgerald explores in the tiniest details the descent to hell for these two young people and what they considered as their final salvation (the inheritance from the grandfather was finally given back to them by courts). But they have been dragged so low in their vain attempt at surviving without doing anything while waiting for the court decision, that they are plain misfits in society. They have a lot of money and can be wooed and courted by other members of the aristocratic class, but they are despised and they despise all the others. No moral or even social salvation, just a golden version of hell on earth. This novel is a masterpiece in explaining and showing how the education of a young man or a young girl is entirely responsible for the personalities and behaviors these young people will develop later on in life. Hence it is a deep book on education, the education of the children of the rich. They have to conquer their inheritance through their own achievements and efforts or work. This book by Fitzgerald is definitely the best I have read, so far, because it shows these simple truths in the cruellest and most unadorned painting...

Fitzgerald is considered to be an important early 20th century American writer. I bought and read Fitzgerald's five major novels ("This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon") plus one book of short stories plus the biography "Some Sort of Epic Grandeur" by Matthew Broccoli.

His first major novel, "This Side of Paradise," along with "Gatsby" and "Tender is the Night" are considered to be great novels, and I enjoyed the reads. The other two, including the present, have a few flaws, or simply put: they are not as good. Interestingly, the Bloomsbury Guide does not rate any of the five well known Fitzgerald novels as masterpieces. His best or most complicated work is "Tender is the Night," but it is less well known than "Gatsby" which became a successful film.

Fitzgerald wrote about half a dozen novels and over 100 short stories between approximately 1917 and 1940. The short stories were done largely to make money to support his life style. In later years, he worked on a number of Hollywood film scripts. He died poor in Hollywood in 1940 at an age of just 44, leaving an insurance policy as his main asset.

Riding on the success of "This Side of Paradise," Fitzgerald created the present novel with a lack of care. The novel is one of his longest and it follows the life of a young man, Anthony Patch, who has a modest trust and lives in New York. We follow his turbulent marriage, and the life of the couple outside New York in rural Connecticut. There is a tremendous variation in his writing. The first two novels, including the present, feature good prose. But, here he stumbles. This present book is probably his worst novel, but with so much variation in his work, you can also make a case for "The Last Tycoon" as being the worst; since, it ends abruptly at page 150 due to Fitzgerald's sudden death from a hearth attack.

Early parts of the book remind the reader of "This Side of Paradise" but the book goes off the rails from time to time in the story and the author insists on having short lectures on his point of view thrust into the novel. Those subtle lectures along with the turbulent plot - the chaos of the plot reflects his well known marital problems, the excessive drinking that lead to an early death, and a mentally ill wife Zelda - all taken together tend to ruin the book, or at least brings it down a notch. For that reason, the book was not a great success.

In his next major work, "The Great Gatsby," he pulls himself back from the chaos and presents a refined and polished short novel. Fitzgerald kept a diary, and he was fully aware that he had to put more work into his next novel and he was determined to make a comeback with "Gatsby."

Here we have excellent writing, beautiful prose, and an example of an early twentieth century American novel. It is mostly entertaining but a notch or two below his best work.

Truly enjoyed all the short stories. I felt they related so much to my life. Loved how he combines his stories with his poems. I am mesmerized on how talented Mr. Robert M. Drake is. I really hope he continues to write more stories like these. Don't get me wrong, I love his poems but his stories took me back to a time in my life in which I felt every emotion especially on one of his stories Sunflower. I've read books in the past which have been New York Times best sellers (I don't know how) but I honestly think this book truly a New York Times best seller. Please Mr. Drake do not stop writing and please continue what you do. You haven gotten me through some tough times. You are a genius.

Until I came across these beautifully illustrated editions of Fitzgerald's novels I didn't realize the degree to which a fresh edition could make re-reading a classic book like a new experience. These editions are like a voyage of re-discovery of Fitzgerald's wonderful novels.

This book was very hard to get into. I picked this one up because I am a big fan of Great Gatsby. This is yet another reason that one should look at more than just looking for an author to select a book.

The book starts out telling the story about poor Anthony Patch. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by his millionaire grandfather. He had every advantage growing up going to the best schools and had money available to him at all times.

Anthony spent most of his time with his two best friends, Maury and Richard, discussing philosophy. He had never felt true love until Richard introduced Anthony to his cousin, Gloria. The love story in the beginning is entertaining to follow with Gloria's resistance and Anthony's persistence, but after they were married, the book got painful to read.

I had a hard time to continue reading after constantly hearing Anthony's 'woe is me' attitude and Gloria's fickle behavior. The reason I gave the book three stars was the beautiful descriptions and imagery present. Wouldn't waste my time reading it again.

Recently sauntering into a Fitzgerald phase, after rereading (or should I admit, like a former lackadaisical high schooler, reading for the first time) the Great Gatsby, I selected a second Fitzgerald for comparison and contrast. The similarities are obvious, a cast of characters ensconced by the status of wealth in the early 20th century. I believe Beautiful and Damned arrived previous to Gatsby, and whereas it has less popularity I would hesitate to suggest that it lacks worthiness. It is heavy in melancholy. It is generous in melodrama, more than Gatsby. An excellent read, a depressing read, it is a Henry Jamsian entreaty on the emptiness of the (dare I type it) American Dream, when coupled with haughty aspiration, and betrothed to hedonistic materialism.

the novel is probably underrated. Fitzgerald fans will want to read it. The reader on the MP 3 does a good job with characterizations, but is semi-literate, mispronouncing so many words that it distracts the hearer. Recommend reading a print edition.

GREAT STORY put together in terrific prose. This is a shining example of how stories should be told. At first you are happy along with the young couple enjoying life so much but then they get all the way down and out, so sad. No way could you put this book down without finishing it. I gave it five stars but were there 20 stars, I would have given it at least 20!!
Read and enjoy,
Alton Gloer N w Georgia USA

The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a tragic tale of a man named Anthony, struggling with several issues. It begins with his own laziness and social anxiety, only to continue with an effort to achieve the love of a beautiful, yet seemingly unattainable, woman. War, alcohol and other women also play a large role in the struggles Anthony encounters throughout the novel. Ultimately, this book portrays the life of a man whose lackadaisical attitude about life, eventually leads to his own downfall and inevitable insanity.
Fitzgerald wrote this piece in order to analyze the time in which it was written. Throughout the entire novel, there is a specific reference to prohibition and how alcohol was used not only for pleasure, but also as an escape. Throughout the story, as Anthony's life becomes more troubling and hard for him to handle, the reader is able to see he resorts to alcohol more and more and it eventually ends up consuming his life. His addiction and lack of purpose in life eventually leads to his downfall. By the end, Anthony is unable to go one day, let alone a few hours, with out getting drunk and spends the little money he and his wife have to obtain more alcohol. This drunken scene only continues to grow worse after he enters the war scene.
Another significant event perceived by the author through this piece is the war. Fitzgerald was in the army, following his senior year at Princeton, and due to this, many of the details of the war in the novel may have been significant memories to Fitzgerald in which he wished to reveal to those who were uninformed. The war played a large role in this novel as a whole. While things were growing dull in Anthony and Gloria's marriage, issues in the world were elevating. When Anthony goes to enlist, their marriage is given time to breathe and recuperate while they are apart. Yet, Anthony's faithfulness is questioned once he has been away from Gloria for a while and he begins to forget his life back at home. While providing an escape for Anthony and Gloria's' marriage, the war changed their relationship. It seemed to be a turning point at first with Anthony's return, yet after the first week they were reunited, the couple was once again back to their fighting, drinking and partying away what little patience and money they still obtained.
Much like Anthony's character in the book, Fitzgerald's involvement in the war efforts had a large impact on his life. This greatly influenced the details of the war and Anthony's romantic love affair in the novel. While Fitzgerald was at one of his army posts, he met a girl named Zelda Sayre, who may have been represented by Dorothy's character in the novel. Yet in the novel, Anthony's affair with Dot was what eventually ate away at his pride and confidence. He had worked so long and hard to achieve Gloria's companionship. He had fought so hard to obtain what he thought to be unattainable, a beautiful, young, and full of life, woman. Yet, in the end, he allowed this relationship to disintegrate, and found himself in the arms of another. His guilt eventually became so great that he was unable to deal with it. This guilt lead him to eventually push away all of Dots' affections and do the only thing he knew how to do, drink her out of his memory. In the end, when Dot reappeared at his apartment door, begging for his love, no matter what the circumstance, Anthony's guilt, insanity and drunken state gave way to his need for her extinction. Following this instance, Anthony had nothing left to look forward to, and retreated into his mind, to a place in his childhood where he found comfort. There he stayed, no longer caring whether or not his grandfather's money was obtained or anything else, except his small stamp collection, living content only through his memories of the past.
Another conflict of society at this time in which Fitzgerald attempted to portray was the carelessness of the upper class and their inevitable downfall. The Patch couple is a prime example of such social standings. Both came from relatively well off families, yet instead of taking responsibility for their lives and their future life together, they depended solely on the possibility of wealth from Adam's grandfather throughout their entire marriage. In any attempt to find a job to support themselves, they were easily distracted. Although eventually they won the lawsuit and the money Anthony's grandfather had unintentionally left, by this time it was pointless. It took five years to gain the money they had been waiting for, for so long. Ironically, it was not until Anthony had given up both physically and psychologically, that the money was obtained. This symbolized how hard and long someone can work for something, eventually driving themselves to insanity before the goal is reached and once it's actually achieved, one is too exhausted both physically and mentally to care anymore.
In this novel, the author accurately portrayed life during this time, and showed his feelings on issues such as war, love, money, social standing and sanity. The author's indication of how these issues correspond with and affect each other as well as the outcome of the combination of such issues is revealed through this novel. This allows the reader to get an accurate sense of life during this time, both of the prosperous and those who struggled. The war had a great affect on the sanity, monetary situation, and relationships of many men at this time allowing for the creation of such characters as in The Beautiful and Damned. Yet Fitzgerald took it one-step further and created a dramatic and eventually tragic love story that grips the reader until the last line of the story with Anthony saying, "I showed them...It was a hard fight, but I didn't give up and I came through!" (449).

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.

The themes of beauty, wasted wealth, and meaningless lives course through this typical Fitzgerald river. But hey, who am I to critique his style? "The Beautiful and the Damned" continues in the eloquent language of unique metaphor and flowing imagery for which Fitzgerald is known. If you like his other works, you'll most likely enjoy this one.

This story follows the lives of two good-looking, hip, and sufficiently wealthy people. They do not need to work, and in a sense don't know how, and this, among other privileges, eventually leads to their undoing. Their leisure condemns them. I read this book while I was going through a season of envying the people in my life who are independently wealthy, and don't have to punch an alarm clock each morning to "join the fray." They seem oblivious to the frustrations I encounter working two jobs, watching my budget, buying sensibly. This story served as a reminder that, while challenging, my lifestyle of "earning my living" provides a healthy groundedness and sensibility that I may not get any other way.

F. Scott Fitzgerald will forever be known for his immortal staple in the curriculum's of so many high schools across America and abroad -- The Great Gatsby. But for those readers who really want an insight into the life and style of the writer, I would certainly recommend this book. I found this more pleasurable to read than even This Side of Paradise. I also find it would be foolish to claim The Beautiful and Damned wasn't a premonition of what Fitzgerald saw in his personal relationship with his wife Zelda. Alas, Anthony and Gloria possess the same hedonistic materialism that he found in themselves. Regardless of how or why he created this work, I'm extremely glad he did. Fitzgerald is a writer that I enjoy introducing to others, and I'm pleased that most people are willing to know him as more than just the "guy who wrote Gatsby".

Good reading to all!

The Beautiful and Damned:
A Look into the Elite
"As you first see him he wonders frequently, whether he is not without honor and slightly mad." This type of confusion is typical when following the characters through their whirlwind lifestyles in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, the Beautiful and Damned. Fitzgerald portrays the rich and shameful through the eyes of one of New England's socialites. Fitzgerald holds nothing back when his characters come in contact with alcohol, nightlife, and women in 1910's New York. Having wealth doesn't always bring the happiness and comfort that every human needs and wants.
The action begins by trailing Anthony Patch and his friends fresh out of Harvard. His social status comes from his grandfather, who was a big reformer back in the late 1850's. Anthony and his friends, Maury Nobel and Richard Caramel maintain a lifestyle of extravagant meals and lavish Broadway plays. Anthony's life suddenly takes a turn when he meets Gloria Gilbert. Soon after meeting her, he falls head over heels in love, then beginning a romantic journey with Gloria. Anthony and Gloria finalize their love with marriage. The story unfolds through the trials and tribulations of marriage life for the two.
The realistic setting of 1913's New York City and the Boston area is one of the most important elements of the book. The events that occur could only happen in the New York night life. Each character slowly realizes that they would never live anywhere else in world. Through the book, Anthony "found himself thoroughly enjoying New York." Fitzgerald drew from his own experiences in New York, one of the most influential cities of the 1920's and 1930's. Some other major U.S. cities came into play for the happy couple on their honeymoon. They travel to places like "Chicago, Hot Springs and the West." Without the setting the story would never work out the same.
The protagonist, Anthony Patch is a tall and thin, 25 year old, meek and simple man, who aspires to be an aesthete. He also looks for love in the big city. Sure enough he finds it with Gloria Gilbert. After the honeymoon, he soon realizes that his new wife becomes dependent on material things. Anthony soon finds his life falling into a financial downward spiral. Gilbert, the antagonist, is a 22 year old free spirit coming from the mid-west. After marriage her true colors bleed through, making Anthony realize that she is not the woman he thought. Gloria realizes that he becomes boring to her and she doesn't love him, but she stays for the financial security. Maury Nobel and Richard Caramel are long time friends of Anthony. Richard, a best-selling author, feels much older than the others. He is a short, bald man. Maury, tall and thin, nervous man, meets his best friend at Harvard.
The pace of the plot starts out slow, but then picks up. All the elements of the book come together very well. Fitzgerald takes the reader to 1913's New York to the life of Anthony Patch. His fast pace lifestyle reflects into his marriage, which is run by greed and alcohol. The plot moves smoothly and is simple to understand, which makes it easier to have fun reading this book. Fitzgerald's rendition of a new couple in a big city relates too much of the population.
The type of language Fitzgerald use is sophisticated yet casual English. The diction shows the readers that both Fitzgerald and the characters of the novel have high levels of education. The language explains one of the most important factors in the book: money. "A classic is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation," this quote is classic for some of the conversations between Maury and Anthony. The chance of higher education gives the characters multiple opportunities for a better life.
The Beautiful and Damned depicts the stereotypical views of the wealthy not having problems when in fact they have many of the same problems as everyday, ordinary people. When all the events of the book join together, it becomes a wonderful piece of literature. Some of other Fitzgerald's novels in include The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise. This book is beautifully written and very entertaining to read.

This was my first Fitzgerald book and I was unable to put it down. He takes us on an adventure through two peoples lives - people with hopes and dreams and what they believe is a promising future. He grafically describes the events throughout Anthony and Gloria's life together, portraying not only a rich society, but the lowest of societies. He entwined characters in ways that will make you always remember them. I picked it up and couldn't put it down.

I've probably read The Beautiful and Damned ten or more times--it is a very compelling story, although it also contains many annoying flaws. It, as others have stated, is somewhat verbose and seems as though it was not edited as heavily with Maxwell Perkins (as Gatsby later was.) The third person omniscient narrator is somewhat preachy--and obstructs much of the action, but there are passages of absolute brilliant, clear description of self-destruction and living in the moment. The narrative is almost bone-crushingly linear, as Gloria and Anthony fling themselves toward their inevitable, terrible fate. They "achieve" their notion of the American dream, in the end, but at a terrible cost to them both...

The topic and the structure of this book is echoed amazingly in Hubert Selby Jr.'s Requiem for a Dream. The characters in that book also lose sight of the reality of their lives in their desperate pursuit of their "dreams." It would be interesting to know if Selby might have been inspired by this Fitzgerald novel. It certainly reads as if he did.

Sorry Scott Fitzgerald, I tried to persevere with the story but it was so geared to a white male audience I felt like I had no desire to see how the book ended. I even got as far as 2/3 of the way in, I kept telling myself it will improve but it never did. I will attempt one of his other books and perhaps will seek out some of his wife Zora's work.

This was a piece of a string of books I had been reading in my American writers in Paris series. I read The Paris Wife, A Moveable Feast, and Z a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. These were all phenomenal reads.

fitzerald once again entertains us with the same basic plot but with different characters. it's amazing that an author can continually draw the reader into a story that sounds vaguely familiar with characters that have similar weaknesses. his magic is in bringing that golden era to the present. it's like reading an autobiography of the author himself. the emotions, the enjoy life at all costs attitude, the failures and successes. it's all there as in his other works. in his day some of fitzeralds works where met with minimal praise. we love him more today because he is one of the only authors that have described that era so intricately.

Fitzgerald's tale is obviously a classic, but which edition is the best buy? There are so (or is "too"...) many available. Personally, I like this editon The Beautiful and Damned (yes, you need to click the link to see which one it is as the store combines many reviews together), especially because of the captivating cover shot. A great value IMHO.

"It is the manner of life seldom to strike but always to wear away." In The Beautiful and Damned, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a compelling struggle between life and his two dynamic characters Anthony and Gloria. Fitzgerald inserts his own questions of life and relationships in the offhand statements of his characters, usually too well placed to even be noticed by the reader. And such is the manner of The Beautiful and Damned, to strike at the soul and mind and to wear away our own definitions and conceptions through silent screams of indecision, fear and regret.

Fitzgerald uses his understanding of literature and the power of words to convey two stories: one on the surface, and one, hidden below all plot lines, running deep within each character and within all people who have ever dared to live. He uses color and imagery to clue his readers to this underlying message. Also, Fitzgerald writes in a "play-like" manner, with certain character dialogues, a sense of staging, narration and even in some parts of the book even special "play-like" formatting. This method creates an image of the surface plot, the plot the reader can tangibly grasp: the raised print on the page, the crisp sheets, the grammar and the structure of the story. These elements leave behind all that the reader feels and understands on a deeper level inside the mind, making each reader digest all this information alone, because it is not just bluntly stated by Fitzgerald on paper. This story allows the reader to just read a story, or to jump into the structure of the mind and soul, freeing locked feelings and questions. Fitzgerald's power is to massage his words giving each phrase the power to strike the reader and let them see themselves for the first time.

Semi-autobiographical story that captures the essence of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and flamboyance. The characters care most about having a good time, no expense spared, even when it means living seriously above their means. The real story of Scott and Zelda, especially during their early marriage, is eerily similar in some ways, with Scott eventually dying of alocholism and Zelda ending up in an asylum.
The novel is truly captivating, especially if you want to know more about the glitter of New York City in the 1920's (the "CITY") and America life during that period in general.

Originally I had intended to compose an essay of sorts, but I no longer wish to devote too much of my time on this endeavor, so I will simply type here extempore.
Fitzgerald was, in my subservient opinion, one of the greatest novelists of the last century. I think he holds his own against the mightiest of authors: Joyce, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and even Henry James.
The Beautiful and Damned is a tragic and even, dare I say, realistic portrayal of the society so enamored with, and so madly ascetic to, aestheticism and wealth. It's a tale of a young couple: a Harvard graduate who ( spoiler! ) eventually amounts to nothing despite his pedagogical superiority, and a beauteous but fallible woman whose beauty disintegrates like so many mortals before us. It's an account of perfidy and defiance, obstinacy towards time and the havoc that she wrecks upon all lovely and ripe wights, be it organic like Gloria or inanimate like metal.
While the story itself is not as captivating as The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald's brilliant pen is ostensibly evident in commanding the text. I would venture to say that the composition is equivalent and even superlative to his most renowned tome - that is, at moments it can be. The problem with this novel is that it's simply too lengthy. Were it one hundred pages shorter, I feel that Fitzgerald could have made a sharper impact on the reader, but too many pages are slathered on repeated episodes of the same events.
The Beautiful and Damned is still a fine book and easily considered a "classic" and a definite read for those who enjoyed Gatsby, but it's not the work that catapulted its writer to world notoriety.

I have never read an F Scott Fitzgerald novel before so thought I'd start with this. Whilst Fitzgerald is undoubtedly an excellent writer, this novel left me cold. The descriptions of the places and the atmosphere of the setting were really evocative, however I found the main characters, Anthony, Gloria and their friends cold, calculating and shallow. Gloria is obsessed by her looks and Anthony thinks of himself as an intellectual too good to have to work. They are complacent, and their apathy towards anything but their pursuit of pleasure and their inheritance comes through. Although I do not doubt that Anthony & Gloria loved each other, they loved themselves more. Their passion for each other was lacking. Maybe the author never intended us to like them, howeverI disliked them so much I didn't care in the end what the outcome would be.

Fitzgerald is at his best in his brilliant and subtle characterizations in this book. He has a terrific grasp of his characters and finds ways to make them realistic. The problem with his characters is that none of them are really likable. I am sure not even Fitzgerald himself thought the characters to be particularly sympathetic. Maybe this was his aim, but it prevents the reader from getting overly involved in the work. I found myself rooting against the main characters, and really all the characters, because they were so egocentric and pompous. It is brillaint writing, no doubt about that, but it is hard to really love a book when the characters are ALL so hatable.

It is also a rather depressing and bleak look at society. So too is the Great Gatsby, but this one does not seem to have that certain charm that makes you love it. Despite Gatsby's and Nick's flaws they were mostly sympathetic characters.

Don't get me wrong, this was a really enjoyable and interesting book, but just could not quite grasp its own epic aims.

The Beautiful and Damned is a Naturalist novel that recounts the slow dissolution of Anthony Patch, heir to a large fortune, and his charmingly immature, hedonistic, and impulsive wife Gloria.
There's something a little "off" in this novel--even saying the title out loud requires an odd caesura. The plot has a feeling of artificial inevitability. Early on, it's easy to sympathize with Patch, even to root for him, but at times his thought processes and actions are so maudlin that one wants him to just *fall* already. Gloria is a fine and interesting character, but by and large the peripheral characters are closer to caricatures.
The book's strength is its prose, natural and authoritative, never self-consciously clever to an annoying extent. Fitzgerald's pacing is steady; occasional meandering narrative passages are fished quickly out of the water with dialog and plot events.
All in all it's a fairly good book, worth a read if you're NOT looking for the near-great Gatsby.

I am very much enjoying re-discovering the F. Scott Fitzgerald oeuvre through these new illustrated kindle books. This is a fine edition lovingly illustrated with period images, which help bring the novel even more to life than I can remember. Keep 'em coming!

+ 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.

The genius of F.Scott Fitzgerald shines brilliantly in this vastly underappreciated classic novel of moral depravity. The pervasive themes of Fitzgerald include moral corruption, profligate behavior, agnosticism, selfishness, narcissism, egocentrism, and of course, a sick obsession with money and alcohol. These themes permeate all too well throughout the beautifully written The Beautiful and Damned(pardon the pun).
Released in 1922, 2 years subsequent to the seminal This Side of Paradise and 3 years prior to the magnum opus The Great Gatsby, incomprehensibly, The Beautiful and Damned was not well received critically nor financially. As a result, history has erroneously filed it under the dubious sophomore jinx category. Strange it may seem, I vehemently disagree. As you read this book, you witness first-hand the maturation of an amazing writer. No American writer of the 20th Century can compare to the profound power and unwavering genius that is F.Scott Fitzgerald. If you enjoyed The Great Gatsby, you will no doubt enjoy this work - an equally beautifully writen and tragic tale of aspiring morally depraved young Americans in pursuit of The American Dream.
"Remarkable that a person can comprehend so little and yet live in such a complex civilization."

fitzgerald is a master of crafting the plot, characterizing complex and detailed characters, and overall making an important comment on the human experience.
yet i digress, this is probably one of the most depressing books i have ever read.

This is perhaps Fitzgerlad's most touching and beautiful work. He is one of the very few novelist who has the ability to draw the reader in and make him feel the story personaly. Fitzgerald's lyrical flow will sweep up any intelectual reader and forever change him.

I love the Great Gatsby, but found this a total bore! I'm glad I didn't pay much for it. Wish I saved a tree and downloaded it on my kindle, but thought a "real" book would be a nice change… I was wrong.

Fitzgerald is an excellent writer. I would need a couple of thesauruses handy to do what he does with the written word. I enjoyed this book, but it is not my favorite by Fitzgerald. I felt that the content of the story is still timely, but I also felt that it would have had more of an impact on the populace of America in the '20s. Today's men and women have changed from the attitudes projected in Beautiful and Damned. It is definitely interesting as a window to the past, but I didn't feel it speaks loudly to this generation of young lovers.

Fitzgerald is a favorite of mine, and I think this to be his best work. His writing is always quiet, careful, and elegant, and in this book the story is equally so. The books I love are always those whose language I consider to be exquisite, and I count this among of the most beautifully written novels I have ever encountered.

Most of the reviews are for Fitzgerald's book of the same name not the book from Drake. That being said this book is more short stories and if you're a fan of his writing on Instagram you'll probably like it.

I absolutely love Fitzgerald. And this books written about the Jazz Age are my favorites of his. The characters are complex and the story is intriguing. I couldn't put it down. What makes a book stand out for me is whether or not it made me think, and this book definitely did. I recommend this 100% for any fan of The Great Gatsby or other Fitzgerald novels or short stories.

This was a book club pick and most of us found it very difficult to follow...of course it's on lists of books that must be read.
The print was very small but I should have realized that when I ordered it.

As anticipated, Fitzgerald's writing is electric and beautiful. The story, however, is a sad account of two people's plummet into depression and despair. I wish I could have walked away feeling some kind of excitement or lesson learned from this book, but I instead came away with a dark outlook on humanity as it pertains to money and lust.

This is my second reading of Fitzgerald, and I was just as captured by this story as "The Great Gatsby". Anthony and Gloria Patch portray a story of unexpected love, excess, lust, and the many facets of marriage. Fitzgerald's description is immaculate, something many authors have sought to recreate but rarely match. The supporting cast of characters in this novel possess as much livelihood as do the Patches. An honest story, and well worth your time, especially Fitzgerald fans.

This book really wasn't that great. It was slow and hard to get into. Many incidences were repetitive and the book was a whole lot of nothing. The ending was a let down, and I grew to have a strong feeling of contempt for many of the characters. If you like Fitzgerald, stick with the Great Gatsby or Tender is the Night. Otherwise you'll find reading this book is boring and you'll be damned to want to finish it.

The Great Gatsby is one of my all time favorites. Here's a tale that shows Fitzgerald's versatility. One to curl up with and spend an enjoyable moment going back to an era of opulence. Like an old movie, I relished in the past. Good writing as usual.

If you wish to bask in the fruits of F. Scott Fitzgerald's powerful penning, I suggest you avoid this audiobook. While undoubtedly well-meant, the narrator's obsession with enunciation becomes quite annoying when prolonged over a 15-hour period. Passionate dialogue and magnificent descriptions rapidly grow dissatisfying and forced when inflicted with the meticulous pronunciation of even the most common words. Thankfully, there is an alternative in the version rendered (superbly) by William Dufris. It is both cheaper and far more enjoyable than this disappointing interpretation of Fitzgerald's timeless work.

The extremley long second novel of Fitzgerald explores many of the same questions that Fitzgerald probed in his first novel, "This Side of Paradise." This book is very long and could have been abridged and reached the same point. His least exceptional book by far, but a lyrical masterpiece none-the-less. The loss of potential by the novel's protagonist, Anthony Patch is less emotional than the bildingsroman of Amory Blaine or the character deterioation in "Tender is the Night."

The reader witnesses Fitzgerald's characters as they pass the time and age, but refuse to grow. The main character emerges from a priviledged upbrining and proceeds to alienate those around him with his destructive behavior. Through ironic plot twists and an extremely ironic ending, Fitzgerald question the morals of this and every following generation.

I was first swept away by the writing of Fitzgerald, as I suppose most people were, in his classic text, The Great Gatsby. This book also chronicles romance and "the fast life," but is not nearly as captivating. For those who love Fitzgerald, this is still a good read. However, I would sooner recommend Gatsby, or This Side of Paradise.

As usual, another incredible addition to his already stunning collection. These books never dissapoint! His words move through the pages w/ such depth, sensitivity, power and passion. This purchase is worth every penny, let him take you away. I can't wait to receive mine!!!

fitgerald describes things so well and in such a light that after a while is contagous. i read the great gatby a couple years ago and didnt remember being greatly interested but i love this book. i recommend it more for the way the author writes then the mere plot.

Great book for any Fitzgerald fan! This was my guide to living life in my twenties, lol! I've heard it called a hard book to read, and I can see that. But there is great satisfaction upon finishing the book. I guarantee it!

What does a review of FSF's B and D have to do with the preposterous idea that 15-20 facsimile dust jackets are sold a year,by this seller?! This seller may sell 15-20 facsimile dust jackets but I doubt that 15-20 facsimile dust jackets are sold world wide. Now one would think that many more sellers od facsimile dust jackets, sell far more FSF's B and D dust jackets than 15-20. What bothers me is the implication that there is something rare about sales of facsimile dust jackets, 15-20, a limited number of dust jackets sold by this seller, and any correlation between the sale of facsimile dust jackets and producing reviews of FSF's 2nd novel!?

This has nothing to do with Fitzgerald's novel and the way these facsimile dust jackest were sold makes all of us seem like complete morons!

I gave it a fair chance, a hundred pages, before deciding this was not a book for me. The good part, main character Anthony is convincingly and well made. The problems? As a person, I find Anthony so superficial, as intended, that I not only feel no connection to him, but extraordinarily rarely for me, I find him so thoroughly unlikeable that I haven't the smallest desire to find out what happens to him. Which brings me to another complaint. I'm not an action fanatic, but in a hundred pages almost nothing happens beyond finding out Anthony's heritage and lifestyle. The promised female interest has just appeared and at first glance, seems to have no greater depth than Anthony. Final complaint, the writing is so flowery and verbose that it gets in the way. It reads like Fitzgerald must have been paid by the word, with metaphors, similes, and adjectives so pervasive to be annoying to this reader (at random, I picked one of his over-the-top sentences and counted it at 48 words!). If you've read my previous reviews, you'll know that ripping a book is not my style. In fact, I have suspected myself of being too indulgent to written weaknesses. Nonetheless, this is a classic author? A book well reviewed? Hard to fathom. I quit and find no compulsion to return to Fitzgerald.

To begin with, I need to say that this is no "Great Gatsby." Having said that, I will give my opinion of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, "The Beautiful and the Damned." It is a very good example of two lives lived without faith in God. Instead, Anthony Patch places his faith in millions he expects to inherit, while his wife has faith in the money and her beauty. It is clear that Fitzgerald writes from experience as he describes many of the struggles of becoming a writer as well as the struggle with alcoholism. Anthony Patch fully expected to inherit millions from his religiously devout uncle. His uncle disinherited him because of his immoral behavior and Anthony and Gloria end up in a desperate lawsuit throughout the book, hoping to change the courts initial decision. In that process, they are on a downward spiral in their relationship, relationships with friends, and their self esteem. I was reminded of the Biblical story of Job as I read the book. As Job had it all in the beginning, so did Anthony. As Job had it all taken away, so did Anthony. As Job's friends looked down upon him in his condition, so did Anthony's friends. Even Job's wife turned on him. Anthony's wife despised him as well. Then comes the difference. Job never lost faith in his God, but Anthony Patch never had faith. In the end, Job was rewarded with more blessings than he had ever had before. At the end of Anthony Patch's life, he got the blessing he had always longed for, but he was too far gone to enjoy it. I found it sad and depressing at times but it is worth the read. It's a look into the life of Fitzgerald and the age of World War I. It also reminds us that we can have all the world's goods and still have nothing, if we have ignored God in this life.

This book is pseudo-intellectual drivel for millennial Tumblrinas.
RM Drake is not a visionary nor is this prose. It's complete garbage disguised as "inspirational" quotes. I follow his insta as a joke because the seeming stream of consciousness is literally just "pretty" words strung together to make some "profound" statement about love/life/loss. Find some real poetry--maybe some Frost, Dickinson, or ee Cummings. Even Shel Silverstein.