Book Review | Book Chatter

Tender is the Night
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner Book Company, Paperback, 9780684801544, July 1995, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Endlessly amusing.

The Rest of It:

From Goodreads –

Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick’s harrowing demise.

My “short of it” blurb sounds like an insult but it’s not meant to be. It WAS endlessly amusing but in the best possible way. Fitzgerald delves into his characters and all of their neurotic tendencies but the story is a little bit of train wreck. It’s all over the place but I kind of liked that aspect of the writing.

Dick, is Nicole’s husband but also her doctor. She’s mentally unstable, which makes it very easy for Dick to have an affair with Rosemary Hoyt. No regard is given to his children and although he cares for Nicole, he doesn’t seem to love her anymore. Love and obligation are two different things. This does not go unnoticed by Nicole so there’s this delicious tension between the two of them which made this a surprisingly enjoyable read.

Tender is the Night is said to be the most autobiographical of his novels and I’d have to agree. His long-time relationship with Zelda and her well-documented mental breakdown is echoed here.

Did I enjoy it more than The Great Gatsby? No. There’s something about Gatsby that grabs me from within. The writing is lovely in both novels but Gatsby is the one that stays with me the most.

Have you read either one?

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Finders Keepers
By Stephen King
Scribner Book Company, Hardcover, 9781501100079, June 2015, 448pp.

*No Spoilers*

The Short of It:

This is the second installment of the Bill Hodges trilogy and it’s pretty good.

The Rest of It:

When I heard that Mr. Mercedes was not a stand-alone novel, and was in fact, book one of a trilogy, I groaned a little. I am not a fan of trilogies as a rule. But, it’s King and you know how I love a good King story. Plus, all that Constant Reader stuff. So I went in with high hopes.

Luckily for me, it’s a keeper. Pun intended.

This story focuses on some of the characters from the previous book, like Bill Hodges, ex-cop/private detective and the people he’s come to know as family but King also introduces a new baddie by the name of Morris Bellamy. Bellamy is obsessed with one particular author and ends up committing some horrible crimes to protect what’s his.

What he does not anticipate is anyone getting in his way. Pete Saubers, high school kid and lover of books unwittingly places himself between Bellamy and Bellamy’s obsession and it creates a very dangerous situation. As a favor to one of his closest friends, Hodges steps in to help.

What I like about this one is that the story is pretty simple, the characters are well-developed and there was none of that sucker-punch stuff I experienced while reading Mr. Mercedes. As the suspense builds, the pace picks up and King takes you along for the ride. I could sense that King enjoyed writing this one and I enjoyed reading it.

As with most trilogies, when you come upon those final pages you hold your breath to see how you will be left hanging, and with this one, I can clearly see where he will be going with book three. At least, I think so.

This book was entertaining, the pacing was good and although I took a long break from it to finish another book, I was easily able to jump right back into it when I picked it up again.

If you haven’t read Mr. Mercedes yet, start with that and then pick this one up. The last book in the trilogy, End of Watch is scheduled to make its appearance June 7, 2016!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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