Tender Is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald (ISBN:068480154X)

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		Tender Is the Night
	
				(185 reviews)			
(10363 Readers)

			F Scott Fitzgerald		
	
Published in 1934, TENDER IS THE NIGHT was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how Excellent much of it is," Ernest...more
 Published in 1934, TENDER IS THE NIGHT was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how Excellent much of it is," Ernest Hemingway said to Maxwell Perkins. "I will say now," John O'Hara wrote Fitzgerald, "TENDER IS THE NIGHT is in the early stages of being my favorite book, even more than THIS SIDE OF PARADISE." And Archibald MacLeish exclaimed: "Great God, Scott...You are a fine writer. Believe it--not me."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. A profound study of the romantic concept of character--lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative--TENDER IS THE NIGHT, Mabel Dodge Luhan remarked, raised F. Scott Fitzgerald to the heights of "a modern Orpheus."   less

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Tender is the Night is a novel about the corruption that festers underneath the gilded surface of the rich and the glamorous. Fitzgerald's descriptive abilities are on full display here, painting a detailed portrait of expatriate life on the Riviera. But, as much as Fitzgerald's prose is a joy, the characters really make the book. They are flawed, often destructive to both themselves and others,...more
 Tender is the Night is a novel about the corruption that festers underneath the gilded surface of the rich and the glamorous. Fitzgerald's descriptive abilities are on full display here, painting a detailed portrait of expatriate life on the Riviera. But, as much as Fitzgerald's prose is a joy, the characters really make the book. They are flawed, often destructive to both themselves and others, and ultimately responsible for their own demise, but one cannot help but desperately wish they would turn themselves around (I found this especially true with Abe North, and later on with Dick Diver). 

The one complaint I have is the ending. I was expecting it to end with a memorable, moving phrase like The Great Gatsby's "so we beat on, boats against the current...", which is one of my all-time favorite lines for its emotional punch. Tender is the Night ends with a comparative wimper; the final chapter felt too rushed, too abrupt, and surprisingly (and disappointingly) detached.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
This book captures what those moments that lead up to the end of those train -wreck relationships; the ones that end in one or both partners cheating. It showcases the vanities that can cause what was once beautiful to corrode and turn ugly. It is sure to have special meaning to anyone betrayed by a lover.

Fitzgerald once told his editor that compared to the Great Gatsby, this book was "...a...more
 This book captures what those moments that lead up to the end of those train -wreck relationships; the ones that end in one or both partners cheating. It showcases the vanities that can cause what was once beautiful to corrode and turn ugly. It is sure to have special meaning to anyone betrayed by a lover.

Fitzgerald once told his editor that compared to the Great Gatsby, this book was "...a testament." Any book is what the reader makes it, and for me this was a testament; a testament to the heart's fortitude in times of trial and betrayal. 

It was simply moving. I'll own a copy as long as I am able, to remind me of my own past.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
did

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
My ultimate summer book.  There's just something about the first part, set on the Riviera, that is so perfect for the season.  Fitzgerald's descriptions ("Nicole Diver, her brown back hanging from her pearls ...") and evocations are just ... exactly right.  There is not a single misplaced or ill-used word in this book.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
It was a decent book;  it had its moments, but I did not find the story especially tragic, nor did I develop any sort of sympathy for Fitzgerald's cast of characters (who are rather underdeveloped). As expected, the prose is elegant and mature, but it is rather repetitive and lacking the dynamism that made Gatsby and his debut novel so magnetic. The ending is extremely anticlimactic, and that...more
 It was a decent book;  it had its moments, but I did not find the story especially tragic, nor did I develop any sort of sympathy for Fitzgerald's cast of characters (who are rather underdeveloped). As expected, the prose is elegant and mature, but it is rather repetitive and lacking the dynamism that made Gatsby and his debut novel so magnetic. The ending is extremely anticlimactic, and that remains one of the greatest complaints against this novel. How someone could consider this Fitzgerald's best work is simply beyond me. My gut-feeling is that people don't wish to sound trite, so they call this "tragedy" their favorite. Personally, I enjoyed "This Side of Paradise" the most, but I know Gatsby and even "Tender is the Night"(arguably) have more literary merit. This is three stars, simply for Fitzgerald's prose, which isn't even at its best here. Perhaps he should have laid off the gin.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
this is probably my least favorite of all his novels but it doesn't mean its any less well-written and beautiful--especially since a lot of the material is taken directly from the relationship between him and zelda. however, i feel like this is only for diehard fitzgerald fans like myself.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Reading it again almost twenty years later, I can appreciate its subtleties more. Fitzgerald can paint a scene with delicate strokes. Still, the middle of "Tender is the Night" sags a bit, and toward the end we expect our anti-hero to meet a more dramatic end than obscurity. Still, a great read, and no doubt gives tremendous insight to Fitzgerald's own dramatic life.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I've read all four completed Fitzgerald novels this summer-This Side of Paradise for the second time, Gatsby for at least the fourth or fifth time, and both Beautiful and Damned and Tender is the Night for the first time. I felt the same way after Tender is the Night as I felt the first time I read Pride and Prejudice. I'll have to re-read it to fully grasp the true scope of it. I was given a lot...more
 I've read all four completed Fitzgerald novels this summer-This Side of Paradise for the second time, Gatsby for at least the fourth or fifth time, and both Beautiful and Damned and Tender is the Night for the first time. I felt the same way after Tender is the Night as I felt the first time I read Pride and Prejudice. I'll have to re-read it to fully grasp the true scope of it. I was given a lot of hope when I found it was Fitzgerald's own favorite, but I was a little disappointed, having loved Gatsby. I would definitely recomend it.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I didn't like as well as his others.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I read it in spanish. Stil I coudn´t let it go. The author really did well in getting into every character's head; he was clever also to tell the story from different points of view. Also you can tell he had a hard time writing it. The ends is way too abrupt, though. He takes several chapters to describe a party, or a situation,and then tells everything that happened to one of the cahracters in...more
 I read it in spanish. Stil I coudn´t let it go. The author really did well in getting into every character's head; he was clever also to tell the story from different points of view. Also you can tell he had a hard time writing it. The ends is way too abrupt, though. He takes several chapters to describe a party, or a situation,and then tells everything that happened to one of the cahracters in two brief pages. Better than average, not a masterpiece though.   hide

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