The Not-Quite-as-Great Gatsby

(#2) Read 25 Books.

1. Room by Emma Donoghue

2. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender is the Night is the story of psychiatrist Dick Diver (loosely based on Fitzgerald himself) and his wife-slash-patient Nicole. Dick meets Nicole in a mental institution, and the two fall in love mostly because of Nicole’s illness and because Dick seems to be the only one who can reach her. If you’re thinking this is a bad idea, you are correct.

Regardless, the two marry, and spend years travelling around Europe financed by Nicole’s nearly limitless family fortune.

Things start to unravel about the time they meet Rosemary Hoyt, a young actress who falls in love with Dick. Cracks form in the Divers’ outwardly perfect marriage. The problem, though, isn’t Nicole- its Dick, who seems to become less tethered to reality the stronger Nicole gets.

What develops is an in-depth character study of the two, and a close look at how our relationships affect who we are inside and define how we place ourselves in the world. Like The Great Gatsby, we are witness to a macabre decay of the human spirit and an empty struggle to find meaning in an indifferent world.

Having finished the book, I have a better understanding of its purpose and an appreciation for the journey that it took me on. But I have to be honest- I struggled to finish it, more than I can remember struggling any time in the recent past. And that includes Crime and Punishment.

Maybe my problem was that my expectations were too high. Gatsby is easily in my top ten, possibly top five favorite books of all time, and I wanted to fall just as in love with Tender is the Night.

And it did have moments of Gatsby that kept me reading. Fitzgerald is a linguistical genius, fighting closely with Hemingway in my opinion for the title of the best American writer in history. The way he makes his points, expresses his thoughts, and even describes his characters is unmatched. If you find a single cliché in the entire novel I’d be shocked. His words are his own, and that to me is the mark of an exceptional writer.

After close consideration I believe the difference between the two books comes down to the existence of a single man- Nick Carraway. The narrator of The Great Gatsby. He is the equalizer of that novel, experiencing what we experience at the same time and making the crazy world of Gatsby (and Fitzgerald himself) digestible to the modern-day reader.

Tender is the Night on the other hand throws you into the Jazz Age without a guide. Every character narrates at some point, and all of them are as incomprehensible as Daisy Buchanan. The lack of a single voice sets you adrift through flashbacks, changes of scenery, and changes of mental state without realizing that you have traveled at all.

The result for me was impatience with the book and a frustration with myself for not loving it as much as I had hoped.

So, unfortunately, I can’t recommend this book to everyone. To a dedicated Fitzgerald lover like myself, perhaps. Or to someone looking to be challenged.

That being said, if you still haven’t read The Great Gatsby PLEASE do. And if you read it in high school and didn’t enjoy it, give it another chance.

Also I am super excited for the movie coming out in December. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby? It’s like I directed it myself.