This Side of Paradise Audiobook By F. Scott Fitzgerald cover art

This Side of Paradise

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This Side of Paradise

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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If the Roaring Twenties are remembered as the era of "flaming youth", it was F. Scott Fitzgerald who lit the fire. His semiautobiographical first novel, This Side of Paradise, became an instant best seller and established an image of seemingly carefree, party-mad young men and women out to create a new morality for a new, post-war America. It traces the early life of Amory Blaine from the end of prep school through Princeton to the start of an uncertain career in New York City.

Alternately self-confident and self-effacing, torn between ambition and idleness, the self-absorbed, immature Amory yearns to run with Princeton's rich, fast crowd and become one of the "gods" of the campus. Hopelessly romantic, he learns about love and sex from a series of beautiful young "flappers", women who leave him both exhilarated and devastated.

Fitzgerald describes it all in intensely lyrical prose that fills the novel with a heartbreaking sense of longing, as Amory comes to understand that the sweet-scented springtime of his life is fragile and fleeting, disappearing into memory even as he reaches for it.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor Classics Funny
Keen Social Observations • Beautiful Prose • Unbridled Enthusiasms • Fully Realized Characters • Philosophical Depth
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The narrator heightened the brilliance of this first novel of Fitzgerald. Written in the early 1920s, the American experience of Fitzgerald upper middle-class realizes in prose his young creative years. It is no wonder his genius overwhelmed his passionate emotional mind. Fitzgerald died at 44 in a small apartment in Hollywood, sober but spent.

A consummate experience for the seasoned American

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Helpful book
Cautionary tale about how not to fall in love with potential but make meaning with the time you’ve got

Beautiful

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It’s truly a marvel to be able to relate so thoroughly to a character and an author from one hundred years ago.

This book made me proud to be an American again.

Essential American Literature

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No one can legitimately deny Fitzgerald can turn a phrase...and somehow make shallow people interesting...but this self-absorbed reflection tried my patience....
And envy.
Because (see above) he sure can write.

Literature and Narcissism Combined?

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It’s not The Great Gatsby, but clearly demonstrates F. Scott Fitzgerald’s gift as a writer.

Perfect book for a trip to Princeton

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I love all Fitzgerald’s novels. Ranking them, Tender is the night ranks first because it is powerful with great psychological depth. The beautiful and the damned is second because the story is interesting. This side of paradise is third because some scenes are great and others boring. The great gatsby is his worst in my opinion because the characters aren’t that complex and the protagonist is way too passive.

Fitzgerald fan

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I, personally, enjoyed this book. I found it very interesting and informative as it is semi-autobiographical of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The good, the bad, and the ugly of that era as it related to the author make it very interesting. I'm finding myself a fan of Fitzgerald's writing.

One of the better classics I've listened to

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It was ruined for me by the guy who read it. He had a BEAUTIFUL voice, but he used it as a crutch. There was no music or emotion to it and was extremely hard to pay attention to, much less follow. Fitzgerald can be circumlocutory which can make his stories tough to follow anyway. I probably should’ve just read the book myself.

Probably should’ve read it myself

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amazing how contemporary the ideas and political philosophy are today with the socialist-democratic party we have now.

still relevant

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This book involves some deal of philosophy struggles and thinking, yet is very entertaining to read(or listen). If you like to dig deep into yourself, you might enjoy the life of Amory and his self analyzes.

Beautiful story

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