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Tender Is the Night

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

3.76 · rating details · 21,244 ratings · 1,171 reviews

In the wake of World War I, a community of expatriate American writers established itself in the salons and cafes of 1920s Paris. They congregated at Gertrude Stein's select soirees, drank too much, married none too wisely, and wrote volumes--about the war, about the Jazz Age, and often about each other. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, were part of this gang of li...more

Paperback, 315 pages

Published May 27th 2003 by Scribner (first published 1934)

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Jun 07, 2010

Elizabeth rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Elizabeth by: Who didn't?

Shelves: 2010, in-by-of-the-americas, french-francophone, in-italy, reviewed, romance-with-a-capital-r, look-what-love-has-done, a-room-in-the-attic-awaits

Is anyone really surprised that the communists didn’t like this book? Who is going to cry for the unhappy rich people in the middle of the Depression? Did anyone feel sorry for the BP guy who complained that he would much rather be at home with his family? Is poor little rich girl on tv who weeps during an interview entitled to our sympathy?

Well, no, and yes. On some level, you want to shake anyone who complains of sadness or unhappiness while you’re sitting with them in Starbucks. T...moreIs anyone really surprised that the communists didn’t like this book? Who is going to cry for the unhappy rich people in the middle of the Depression? Did anyone feel sorry for the BP guy who complained that he would much rather be at home with his family? Is poor little rich girl on tv who weeps during an interview entitled to our sympathy?

Well, no, and yes. On some level, you want to shake anyone who complains of sadness or unhappiness while you’re sitting with them in Starbucks. That person was just able to pay four dollars for coffee. Remember how much the person who picked it makes a day? There is something to be said for perspective on one’s life, that we are all privileged to have internet access, and to be able to hang out on goodreads, and all the other things that come with having money.

I am honest enough to say that I don’t always think about my privileges. Being able to buy myself a cup of Starbucks doesn’t create a sustained happiness (regardless of what their ads say). While I may remind myself of how lucky I am that I am not making $4/day somewhere, it doesn’t mean it is the only thing I think about. I’m not being self-absorbed, failing to unite with the people’s struggle, or whatever else I should be doing as a good lefty to admit this. It means that I’ve made some decisions about what I will and won’t do, and what I’m willing to commit to. It means that the BP guy, even though he is a total moron for saying so on television as the camera cuts to an oil-soaked bird, probably does miss his family. I am willing to respect the fact that he has a right to his sense of loss and need for comfort just like every other human being does. It also means that I cannot dismiss this book, out of hand, because the characters in it are a bunch of self-absorbed, spoiled brats, with more money than conscience. And don’t think that I didn’t want to.

Finding enough heart to appreciate the feelings of BP guy, is as hard as finding some feelings for Dick Diver and the other alcohol-sodden cast soaking up sun and resentment on the beaches of the French Rivera. A dinner party held in the cliff top garden. An unexplained conversation leads to a drunken duel. There’s a befuddled actress that never gets any smarter as she gets older. There is shopping. I think Nicole may have fit in well with “the girls” in Sex and the City. All of it was described in Fitzgerald’s glorious prose but it wasn’t making a dent. It didn’t matter. I was feeling the kind of distant sympathy one has for that girl crying to Barbara Walters. (Do they even still do that?)

And then I stopped trying to focus on the book as any sort of story about anything. The author’s presence in the story became overwhelming. The book reads like a confused confession of a friend explaining why we haven’t seen each other in the last five years, as she’s allowed herself to be consumed by whatever was in front of her, making choices that only led to worse situations later. Each event was seen individually, without any ability to see the pattern of behavior that would be her downfall. The introspection, the realization of the disaster that she had created, could only be told in the confession. It was the first time that the pattern appears and the telling of it is shaky. A little more distance, a little more discipline would have made it smoother, calmer, tighter. But that sort of distance and discipline wouldn’t convey what the strange points of view, the looping narrative, the tangential episodes, the confusion convey.

This book reads like someone who is desperately unhappy trying to figure out why. Where did it go wrong? How have I behaved so badly? I’ve been blaming the wrong person for all that’s happened. It’s been me, me all along. I felt like I was reading a diary some times rather than a novel, particularly because the author didn’t seem to understand everything that was happening to him. There is loss, loss, loss but true understanding of it? Too often the characters revert back to suave figurines just at the point that some true insight might be said.

I love that Fitzgerald wrote this book instead of writing something totally isolated from himself. I can’t imagine the sort of struggle he must have had as he wrote it. Do I try something stylistically here or do I just put down what really happened? His decisions weren’t always the right ones but I forgive him for it. I’m also going to let pass the racism and his stupid comments about women (there were several). I am, maybe many of us are, too forgiving of the man who can write (this is my theory on why Hemingway is popular). Fitzgerald is like that for me. If he had laid out this story looking for sympathy without any ability, just being another whiny, privileged, white man surprised that people didn’t treat him well when he didn’t treat them well, I would have thrown this book around before ditching it entirely. I’m empathetic, really I am, but my tolerance stretches only so far, and it would not have made it through three hundred pages of this story if he weren’t simply such a good writer. Fitzgerald, as in The Great Gatsby creates such sorrow in me for people I wouldn’t like in real life. I seem to say “they break my heart” only when talking about Fitzgerald’s characters, and that seems to be only because of his prose, and the nakedness of this sorrow he has, as an author, that seeps through the ink of his pen onto the page.

It’s a flawed book. It’s a difficult book. It disappointed me several times but I loved it, too. It reminds me of The Bell Jar. No one but Sylvia Plath would make me want to put my head in the oven over the trials of a spoiled college girl. No one but Fitzgerald would make me care for Diver’s descent. (less)

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Aug 03, 2007

Ann rated it

When Fitzgerald finished this gem, he was stunned by the poor reviews it received. I honestly think it's a profoundly more true and powerful book than Gatsby ever will be. His effortless and viceral writing tells a story of such complex and accurate human relationships, I often find myself reflecting on Dick Diver as a friend I should check up on, and part of me thinks I spent a year of my youth hanging out on the French Riveria having too much to drink, but somehow pulling it off sophisticat...more

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Feb 10, 2012

Chiara Pagliochini rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classici-americani

“Dick cercò di rilassarsi: la lotta sarebbe presto incominciata a casa e avrebbe forse dovuto vegliare a lungo ricomponendo l’universo per lei.”

È stato molte volte detto - e scritto certo in tutte le lingue - che l’amore dovrebbe essere una fusione tra due persone, una fusione fisica e mentale e spirituale che faccia di due esseri un essere solo.
“Tender is the night” viene a raccontarci quel che accade quando questo obiettivo è raggiunto, e le conclusioni che se ne traggono non s...more“Dick cercò di rilassarsi: la lotta sarebbe presto incominciata a casa e avrebbe forse dovuto vegliare a lungo ricomponendo l’universo per lei.”

È stato molte volte detto - e scritto certo in tutte le lingue - che l’amore dovrebbe essere una fusione tra due persone, una fusione fisica e mentale e spirituale che faccia di due esseri un essere solo.
“Tender is the night” viene a raccontarci quel che accade quando questo obiettivo è raggiunto, e le conclusioni che se ne traggono non sono felici neanche un po’. Non dico tragiche, perché c’è così poca tragedia nella vita di tutti i giorni che al massimo chiamiamo tragico il tragicomico. Conclusioni che lasciano l’amaro in bocca, piuttosto, e un senso diffuso di disagio e in un certo modo anche una diversa consapevolezza.
Io non sono mai stata davvero innamorata e quindi per me è difficile parlare di un libro come questo e capirlo in tutte le sue sfumature di sentimento. E se le considerazioni che faccio sembreranno un po’ ciniche e un po’ banali, vi chiedo scusa.
“Tender is the night” è un romanzo che sviluppa una pluralità di livelli di lettura. Possiamo leggerlo come un’analisi sociale e materiale di un certo periodo storico, l’indagine critica di una società di villeggianti spensierati e spiagge e soldi spesi con incoscienza, notti profumate e calici di champagne, il tutto avvolto da una cappa di decadenza e di struggimento, di segreti e convenzionalità. Possiamo leggerlo come la storia di un matrimonio senza lieto fine. Possiamo leggerlo come la fine di un matrimonio – dell’unione di due spiriti in uno – e una progressiva disgregazione, un trampolino di lancio verso una rinnovata individualità. Possiamo leggerlo come una presa di coscienza, un’emancipazione femminile. Possiamo leggerlo come il racconto di un’anima comprata e pervertita dal lusso. Ma se non riusciamo a leggere questi livelli tutti assieme, non riusciremo ad avere un disegno completo, non riusciremo compitamente a definirlo. E difatti “Tenera è la notte” sgambetta via da ogni tentativo di definizione.

Il livello che maggiormente ha attirato la mia attenzione è quello del rapporto tra Dick e Nicole, marito e moglie, lui bravo psichiatra di media estrazione, lei ricca paziente malata di schizofrenia, ora tornata a una vita “normale”. Seguiamo la loro storia tappa per tappa, dal tenero innamoramento in una clinica svizzera – e l’innamoramento è l’unica cosa davvero tenera che questo romanzo ci prometta – a una vita matrimoniale di alti e bassi, grandi slanci affettivi e improvvise ricadute, fino all’interruzione finale.
Nel loro stare insieme, fin dalle prime battute, Dick e Nicole commettono molti passi falsi. Una statuina di porcellana e il suo guardiano non potrebbero mai essere troppo felici assieme. Ed ecco Dick che vigila la sua statuina, badando bene che non caschi dalla mensola, e quando cade è lì tutto pronto a raccoglierla e a rimettere insieme i cocci con l’attacca-tutto, fiducioso che potrà incollarla per sempre e che il risultato finale non ne verrà mai pregiudicato. Ma anche stanco, a un certo punto, e sfiduciato che un padrone degenerato abbia posto quella statua su una mensola inclinata. Nicole è la statuina vezzosa, tutta contenta di essere protetta e raccolta dalle mani forti di Dick: si agghinda, si pavoneggia, si fida di lui, confida in lui ed è sempre certa che sarà lì per raccoglierla. Ma è una statuina, per l’appunto: non può pensare che i pensieri che Dick le presta, non brilla di luce propria se non è guardata, sarebbe incapace di badare a se stessa. Finge, talvolta, che ci riuscirebbe, ma ha troppe crepe per non cedere di nuovo.
Nel rapporto tra Dick e Nicole c’è tanto poco scambio quanto ce n’è tra il domestico e il suo pezzo di porcellana. Ma Dick e Nicole sono persone, e il loro rapporto non può restare così per sempre. Ed è così che certi ladri di sentimenti si intrufolano e forzano le serrature e infilano i grimaldelli un po’ qui e un po’ lì, cercando di separarli. Dick non riesce a reggere la parte dell’infermiera e si avvia verso un cammino di abbruttimento. Nicole, da parte sua, non ce la fa a restare una bambola, e cerca un suo cammino, cerca pensieri che siano suoi e sentimenti che siano suoi e si emancipa, si individua, guarisce. Più Nicole guarisce, più Dick si profonda, e sempre meno si immergono l’uno nell’altra. Quando riemergono, sono due persone separate, due persone prive di comunicazione. È la fine dell’uno e l’inizio dell’altra.

C’è una certa tristezza nel pensiero che tanto amore faccia male. Non si dovrebbe amare così: Nicole dovrebbe essere solo Nicole e Dick solo Dick e io solo io. Ogni tentativo di sovrapposizione è una perdita e una corruzione. E la profonda tristezza sta forse in questo, che l’amore ci promette un’identificazione a tempo indefinito, ci spinge a soffrire delle sofferenze dell’altro, ad amare quello che egli ama, e alla fine torna a dirci che era tutto uno scherzo: ma cosa fai? Ci hai creduto? Ma non lo sai che ti rovina la salute? E allora che dovremmo fare, non amare? O amare in modo diverso, amare in modo superficiale? Ecco, questo è il mio amore, quello è il tuo, teniamoli disgiunti e poi restituiamoceli quando ce ne siamo stancati.

Scott mise molto di sé e di sua moglie Zelda e dei piccoli avvenimenti di tutti i giorni in questo romanzo. Non tragici, come dicevo, ma tragicomici, per farci subodorare quel tanto di squallido e di farsesco hanno le nostre esistenze. Di Scott e di Zelda io so poco, quasi niente, se non qualche accenno crudele dalla penna di Hemingway. Mi aspettavo maggiore crudeltà in questo romanzo, più frecce scoccate, più ferite mortali, ma in fondo perché tradire la realtà per il romanzo? Nella realtà veniamo feriti per così piccole cose che quando le allestiamo per un romanzo paiono buffe e marginali. Ma così è la realtà. E noi non vorremo mica dipingere un mondo che non esiste?
Esista e non esista, il mondo dipinto da Scott è incantevole. Incantevole, generosa, gentile, evocativa la sua penna, poche parole, pochi tratti e tutto un disegno nella mente del lettore. Una grande abilità narrativa che la traduzione italiana a tratti imbruttisce e a tratti impreziosisce, ma senza che il lettore si senta davvero tradito.
Potrei dire molto altro, ma sarei di troppo. Concedete fiducia, pazienza, coccolate questo romanzo fino a farlo diventare una cosina indifesa e malleabile, e ne vedrete grandi cose. Grandi balsami versati sulle vostre piccole ferite, grandi come capocchie di spillo, e forse qualche insegnamento da trattenere. (less)

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Jul 05, 2011

Jeanette rated it

Shelves: all-fiction, classics, did-not-work-for-me

This book is so pointless, you could read the chapters in random order and probably not feel like you'd missed much. This marks my second and final attempt to read it. I almost made it to the halfway point this time. If you loved The Great Gatsby, don't get your hopes up for this one to be anything close to that good. You'll be disappointed.

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Feb 09, 2009

Jonathan rated it

Recommends it for: people who don't do anything without first consulting Mother.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Tender is Night or so they say. I say tender is a woman's psyche, and the man's ego that tries to make it strong. Too bad both of them suffer from a severe case of asshatitis.

"Tender is the Night" is the story of Dick Diver and his Wife Nicole. You don't actually find this out until a fourth of the way into the book. At first we meet the happy couple through the eyes of Rosemary, a young actress from America with a Norman Bates styled affinity for "Mother." She q...moreTender is Night or so they say. I say tender is a woman's psyche, and the man's ego that tries to make it strong. Too bad both of them suffer from a severe case of asshatitis.

"Tender is the Night" is the story of Dick Diver and his Wife Nicole. You don't actually find this out until a fourth of the way into the book. At first we meet the happy couple through the eyes of Rosemary, a young actress from America with a Norman Bates styled affinity for "Mother." She quickly latches onto Mr. Diver, his charms no match for her ignorance and youth. They all hang out together, doing rich people things like eating, and hanging out at the beach, and hating minorities (It is the 20's after all), and all other sorts of things that make you want to slash the tires on their Rolls.

Book two abandons Rosemary and we focus on Dick Diver, Psychiatrist at Large. He doesn't actually do much psycho analyzing, but spends most of his time wondering why he married Nicole in the first place and developing a drinking problem. Turns out Nicole is cuckoo for cocoa puffs, and Dick married her with some God complex of trying to save her. But all he ends up doing is ruining himself.

Book three continues the downfall, kind of told through Nicole's eyes. Dick falls further and further down the rabbit hole while Nicole seems to see daylight in the fog of her crazy. She ends up pulling a Dick (Diver. Head out of the gutter people) but with the opposite reaction of what it did to him. I think.

This book isn't necessarily long, though it feels like it. Long passages of time pass in one paragraph, making it confusing and a rather dull read. None of the characters are likable, and I think you end up just wishing all of them went the way of Abe North. Speaking of, what the heck DID happen to Abe North. That story line was never really resolved.

They say it took him forever to write this and it kind of feels like it. It doesn't connect very well and you wonder how much is Fitz's desperate cry for help from his own life full of money and ruin. Can anyone tell me why I am supposed to love Fitzgerald so much?(less)

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Sep 29, 2009

Martine rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: early-twentieth-century, family-drama, modern-fiction, north-american, psychological-drama, disappointing

How is one to feel about a protagonist who frequently displays signs of elitism, sexism, bigotry and homophobia, finds himself worryingly attracted to young girls, has no goal in life except to make himself useful to damsels in distress, and drinks away his career and marriage, ending up a mere shadow of his former self? Is one supposed to regard him as a tragic hero? Is one to sympathise with him? And if one does sympathise with him, is that because of the way he was written, or rather because ...more

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Oct 16, 2011

Marco Tamborrino rated it

· review of another edition

Ci si sentiva soli e tristi, ad avere il cuore così vuoto l'uno per l'altra.

Una struggente storia d'amore? L'antenato dei romanzetti rosa odierni? Non direi. Piuttosto la discesa in un abisso. Raccontarlo non è facile, recensirlo tantomeno. Del resto in questo romanzo non succede pressoché niente. Niente d'importante, almeno. È, come ho già detto, un viaggio nella follia, ma non solo follia amorosa, anche follia mentale, fisica, morale, sociale. "Tenera è la notte" è un bel...moreCi si sentiva soli e tristi, ad avere il cuore così vuoto l'uno per l'altra.

Una struggente storia d'amore? L'antenato dei romanzetti rosa odierni? Non direi. Piuttosto la discesa in un abisso. Raccontarlo non è facile, recensirlo tantomeno. Del resto in questo romanzo non succede pressoché niente. Niente d'importante, almeno. È, come ho già detto, un viaggio nella follia, ma non solo follia amorosa, anche follia mentale, fisica, morale, sociale. "Tenera è la notte" è un bellissimo titolo, un titolo misterioso e al contempo emblematico. Ci ho riflettuto su dalla prima all'ultima pagina, e alla fine sono giunto alla conclusione che quella notte è la notte dentro ognuno di noi. E non è tenera. È terribile. Tenera nel suo lato più pacifico, distruttiva nell'assenza di pace, di controllo.

Così mi sono tuffato sulle prime centoquaranta pagine pensando a quanto fosse futile Rosemary ai fini del romanzo, ma poi ho capito che era il modo di Fitzgerald per mostrarci il suo rapporto con la moglie visto dall'esterno, visto in modo ingenuo, un rapporto devastante che solo loro conoscevano.

Si passa dunque a Dick e al suo lavoro, ai giorni del suo incontro con Nicole, alla malattia della ragazza che poi fu l'unica cosa che lo portò ad amarla con tutto sé stesso. Il deterioramento di lei che porta al deterioramente di lui, lentamente, complice Rosemary, la bambina, complice la società senza valori, complice l'amore, il non amore, la malattia, la schizofrenia, il buio, la notte; una tenerezza mancata e assente, una famiglia disperata dentro e perfetta fuori.

Non posso dire di essere impazzito per questo libro. Mi lascia dentro un certo qual senso di disagio e di incompletezza, ma poiché sembra scritto da Dio ed è, per l'appunto, un abisso, mi sento di riservargli un elogio particolare. Fitzgerald ha scritto un romanzo chiaramente personale, un romanzo che ha fatto scoppiare in lacrime molte persone da quando fu scritto nel lontano 1934. A me non ha fatto piangere, non mi ha commosso, però mi ha aperto la mente, mi ha reso triste e anche malinconico. Una scrittura elegante e ipnotica che ti conduce nei recessi dell'animo di una malata e di un innamorato che cade a pezzi, un'onda distruttiva che si porta con sé il dottore e il paziente, se li porta via, via, e non li rimanda più indietro. Un vuoto di ideali, un paradosso nel mezzo delle due guerre più brutte della storia dell'uomo, un amore diverso dall'amore classico, un amore sofferto, calpestato, rivoltato, battuto. La lucidità porta con sé gli ultimi baci, il voler bene non è più un atto ma un modo di dire.

Sapeva finalmente il numero della terribile porta della fantasia, la soglia della fuga che non era fuga; sapeva che per lei, adesso e in futuro, il peccato più grande consisteva nell'illudere se stessa. O si pensa o gli altri devono pensare per noi, e toglierci il potere, pervertire e disciplinare i nostri gusti naturali, incivilirci e sterilizzarci.

Signori, "Tenera è la notte" è forse un capolavoro - termine banale -, o forse non lo è, ma quel che è certo è che si sprofonda. Si sprofonda tanto.(less)

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Nov 26, 2010

Stephanie rated it

Shelves: classic, mainstream, literary

Tender is the Night, one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s later works, was begun in 1925, but was not published until some years later. Indeed, the lapse between composition and publication had significant impact upon the book’s success: although the author considered it to be his masterpiece, it was met with little of the runaway success and critical accolades of a work such as The Great Gatsby, which arguably remains today Fitzgerald’s seminal work. This in part was due to the temporal disconnect betwe...more

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Dec 21, 2007

Kirk rated it

Shelves: sentimental-faves

This is a hard but necessary book to read. It should be the type of plot we're attracted to, because it's a dissolution story, not unlike LOST WEEKEND or LEAVING LAS VEGAS, to name but two examples of the genre. And yet many friends I share this with just can't get into it. Part of the blame lies with the style: it's just so damned intricate and thick, it tends to scare away those who don't want to be ravished by style. As someone who does, I can get lost in this book any day of the week. I rere...more

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Mar 07, 2009

Sparrow rated it

Shelves: reviewed

The most depressing book I've ever read.

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Jul 17, 2009

Ivy's Mom rated it

Shelves: 1001-books

Ah the roaring 20s! The Great War (WWI) is over. The stock market is going gang busters; its crash is yet to come. The Great Depression is looming in the not too distant future, but of course no one knows that. What's a rich, shallow, American to do but hang out in Europe and behave badly???

Earlier this week I heard on the news that narcissism is on the rise. I looked down at Mr. Fitzgerald in my hand and thought surely the person on television telling me this is not a student o...more

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Mar 19, 2008

Rachel rated it

First off, I would like to say that the description Goodreads has included for this novel is lacking any sort of sufficient plot and/or character summary; if I wanted to read a biography of Fitzgerald, I would.

Okay. I went through a phase last year of REALLY wanting to like F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read three or four of his works in a row, "Tender is the Night" being one of them. I can't deny his style is elegant and commanding, but I have yet to read a Fitzgerald novel that ...more

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Mar 04, 2008

Empress rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: poor little rich girls.

Shelves: suck-a-tating

I am trying to like this book because for some reason I think that I should.
But, in truth, I am finding it quite dull and painfully slow.
Maybe I lack in patience or sophistication, because--given other reviews of this book--there is a good chance I am missing something (or simply haven't read enough into it yet--apparently it gets good after the tedious first 100 pages...)
But so far, I am pretty seriously bored and disintersted in his saga about rich people, poor misunderstoo...more

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Aug 13, 2007

Maggie rated it

I think I liked this book better than Gatsby, probably because I didn't feel the need to slap the narrator every five minutes. Fitzgerald moves the narrative between the minds of three characters - a psychologist, his troubled wife, and a young actress. I adored how the characters altered and changed throughout the story, and all against the backdrop of 1920s decadence. There's a passage showing the movement of the wife's feelings from her engagement to the present - a brilliant, stream of co...more

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Aug 30, 2007

Rob rated it

I can't believe I read this and it wasn't even for school. Although I remember I was temping at JPM Chase in Montvale NJ when I was reading this and some guy was like, "Yo, why you reading romance novels?" And I was like, "It's F. Scott Fitzgerald you mook." Of course I didn't say that, but I should have. God I hated that place. I decided that I never wanted to work in a corporate park ever. Of course, now I work nowhere, so I got my wish. The book still sucks. I mean, the m...more

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Jul 06, 2008

Jason rated it

Shelves: read-2008

The thing with reading Fitzgerald is that it starts off very slowly for me. I don't care much for the language, how it is stilted and overly formal, even in its most informal tones, how it is biased and processed. In fact, I don't care for most of his characters, I don't care much for the way that they act and I think to myself when beginning a novel of his, why am I reading this? It is only after I have forced myself through the first fifty or so pages that I realize why. Despite my prejudices ...more

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May 02, 2008

John rated it

Fitzgerald's quasi-autobiographical take at the struggles of his creative soul. Tender contains Fitzgerald at perhaps his most lyrical, like a gentle pastoral on canvas. Consider:

"She smiled at him, making sure that the smile gathered up everything inside her and directed it toward him, making him a profound promise of herself for so little, for the beat of a response, the assurance of a complimentary vibration in him. Minute by minute the sweetness drained down into her out of ...moreFitzgerald's quasi-autobiographical take at the struggles of his creative soul. Tender contains Fitzgerald at perhaps his most lyrical, like a gentle pastoral on canvas. Consider:

"She smiled at him, making sure that the smile gathered up everything inside her and directed it toward him, making him a profound promise of herself for so little, for the beat of a response, the assurance of a complimentary vibration in him. Minute by minute the sweetness drained down into her out of the willow trees, out of the dark world."

The novel's pace is slow in the sense that it progresses chiefly as character studies. It isn't a perfect book and may not be the most interesting, but the prose keeps it from going dull. Book one features the young and seemingly innocent Rosemary Hoyt as the primary protagonist. Book two is mainly seen through Dick Diver's experiences -- the novel's hero. And book three, in the end (but not at the very end), belongs to Nicole.

To summarize quickly, the novel is about a seemingly perfect ex-pat American couple meeting a young vacationing actress, and how throughout the years love erodes this perfect image. All three characters are revealed differently and disparagingly page by page, progressing, regressing, or stagnating by the end.

I had the sense that Fitzgerald was trying to justify his inability to achieve literary success due to his own wife's illness, and that he sacrificed his literary career for her betterment (though he couldn't ignore his own guilt of neglecting her):

"As an indifference cherished, or left to atrophy, becomes an emptiness, to this extent he had learned to become empty of Nicole, serving her against his will with negations and emotional neglect. One writes of scars healed, a loose parallel to the pathology of the skin, but there is no such thing in the life of an individual. There are open wounds, shrunk sometimes to the size of a pin-prick but wounds still."

But Fitzgerald is no Dick Diver (at least, when sober), and his sacrifices do not merit martyrdom. After all, Zelda burned to death in a mental hospital.(less)

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May 13, 2008

Erelin rated it

Ok, well, this is a hard thing to do, to give F. Scott Fitzgerald two stars. Who am I to criticize one of the (supposedly) greatest authors and literary geniuses ever? But the truth is that although I do aprecciate his excellent writing technique and many wonderful passages in this book (hence the extra star), I failed to connect with this book in any way whatsoever. I didn't care for any of the characters and their joys and sorrows left me completely unmoved. I just could not care less what hap...more

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Apr 13, 2008

Elizabeth rated it

I loved it, more than I've loved the other Fitzgerald even. The interior consciousness and the weird glides between narration and interiority, these floored me. It seemed more modernist, more EM Forster and Virginia Woolf-sih, than anything I'd seen Fitzgerald do before. And the slow descent at the end, it is gripping and pathetic and heart wrenching. Oddly though, the writing breaks down a little in the last fifth of the book as well, just as Dick Diver does. If Nicole is Zelda, I never expecte...more

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Jan 17, 2008

Don rated it

I think I may have found my classic fiction temporal cutoff in Fitzgerald. This novel is largely and fictionally based on his later in life experiences complete with a sick wife and Euro-American wealthy lifestyle. What I found most stunning about the novel was how prescient it was and how relevant it remains. Set mostly in the French Riveria, ‘Night’ unfolds the story of a man knocked upside the head by circumstance of his own making. The prose is tight and metaphorically packed. I found t...more

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Sep 29, 2007

Matthew rated it

Recommends it for: stopped reading fitzgerald after putting down the greeat gatsby

i suppose i know why we were all told we had toread the great gatsby, but quite honestly, when i think of fitzgerald, i think of tender is the night. not since my college days had i broke out the pen so much just to underline a few words or phrases. perhaps i underlined just as an excuse to read those choice words again, but either way, this is his masterpiece. a husband, a wife, a young girl, a marriage, a love, two loves, the love of self, the love of no one. he finally got it all down, an...more

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Jul 20, 2007

Larissa rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2007, usa

When I sit down to consider Hot American Expat Writers from the 20s (which I do often), I most often divide the field into two camps: The Romantic, Tragic Disinfranchised and The Stoic Motherfuckers. Obviously (obviously), the clear choices for mascots of either camp are Misters Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway, respectively. Reflecting upon this dichotomy, one might, if one is was so inclined--which (see above) I am--undergo one of the ultimate literary litmus tests:

...more

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Jan 16, 2009

Charky rated it

Shelves: classic

Out of the F. Scott Fitzgerald books that I've read (The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise), this one is definitely the most depressing. However, it is Fitzgerald's personal favorite, and that is for a reason. It is highly biographical, paralleling the relationship between Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. Also, I think it is the best written of his novels. "Tender is the Night" shows Fitzgerald's true talent as an author. I found it a very enlightening read.

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Mar 11, 2009

Trenton Judson rated it

Fitzgerald continues to surprise me. This is the second book of his that I have read, the first being the all powerful Gatsby. I was impressed at how rich this book was. I had never heard of it and a friend recommend it to me. It takes some time to read and is very challenging, but it rewards the reader in the end with its careful study of the power (good or bad) of relationship and ultimately how we relate to one another in terms of our differing emotional inputs/outputs.

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Jan 07, 2009

Michelle rated it

“When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they put up” (Fitzgerald 312). Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the story of the Divers and Rosemary Hoyt, the woman who exposes and interferes with their crumbling marriage. Because I am often drawn to novels set in different countries with damaged relationships as the focus, Tender is the Night seemed like a perfect fit. The plot begins with Rosemary Hoyt, a rising actress in America, ...more“When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they put up” (Fitzgerald 312). Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the story of the Divers and Rosemary Hoyt, the woman who exposes and interferes with their crumbling marriage. Because I am often drawn to novels set in different countries with damaged relationships as the focus, Tender is the Night seemed like a perfect fit. The plot begins with Rosemary Hoyt, a rising actress in America, vacationing with her mother on the French Riviera in the post World War I era. She meets several people on the beach, but is instantly intrigued with Nicole and Dick Diver. Rosemary claims to have “fell in love on the beach” (12). From that point on, Rosemary constantly spends time with the Divers, in hopes of attracting Dick’s attention. She eventually does, much to Nicole’s dismay. By the end of Book One, the reader gets a glimpse of Nicole’s mental instability.

Book Two starts off with a young Dick Diver. He is ambitious, has tremendous potential, and aspires to be the greatest psychiatrist. While in the military, he visits a friend of his, Doctor Franz Gregarovious, at a clinic in Zurich. This clinic is where Dick and Nicole first meet. Dick learns that Nicole has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been mentally unstable since a horrifying experience with her father. As soon as he returns from the military, their love develops, they get married, and travel together. This brings the reader back to the present, where Dick begins to have an affair with Rosemary. At this time, Nicole is extremely vulnerable, and the problems they have unravel. Dick starts to excessively drink, and Nicole, becoming less and less sane, tries to kill them both by driving off the road and crashing their car. By Book Three, Dick has lost his dignity and lost control of his life. Nicole and Dick ultimately struggle in trying to help each other and decide whether they still need each other.

The three protagonists Rosemary, Dick, and Nicole, undergo radical transformations. Rosemary, the young and naïve actress, aims to capture the attention of Dick Diver. Once she attains that, she begins to grow up and becomes less attached to him. Dick, once seemingly perfect, polite, and all-around wonderful, becomes needy, rude, an alcoholic, and finally, powerless in several situations. Nicole was known as the calm and collected wife of Dick who had a mental meltdown. While Dick’s life flips upside-down, Nicole is able to finally achieve salvation. It is through Dick’s breakdown that Nicole’s health improves.

Though there were several conflicts, the main one is man vs. self. Dick and Nicole Diver especially battle with this struggle, for they both conceal their true emotions from everyone, including themselves. However, this conflict is only reached through the other conflict of man vs. man, when Rosemary becomes involved with Dick. Her interference with their marriage reveals the troubles Dick and Nicole suppressed.

The theme of this novel is that personal sacrifices are made to help others achieve salvation. Dick sacrifices his ambitions and his ways to ultimately help his wife. Dick symbolizes a father figure to both Nicole and Rosemary, for Nicole didn’t have a normal father, and Rosemary just didn’t have a father. Rosemary’s movie, “Daddy’s Girl” is an ironic title, because while Rosemary isn’t a daddy’s girl, Nicole was, and in an abnormal way at that. The point-of-view switches from Rosemary’s perspective in Book One, to Dick’s perspective in Book Two, and finally to Nicole’s perspective in Book Three. The point-of-view was put in this order to create a perfect image of the Divers, expose what’s hidden behind that flawless exterior, and to find out whether or not the most mentally disturbed person of the book was able to resolve her conflict.

Fitzgerald’s style presents a simple situation but makes it ambiguous. His style forces the reader to make inferences and to read between the lines. Although the plot was pretty good, the book dragged on and I often fell asleep. I would literally fall asleep after ten pages, wake up, read another ten pages, and fall asleep again. It isn’t something I would recommend for those who are into over-the-top drama, intense action, or in staying awake while reading. If one likes to fall asleep while, reading, then this is the perfect book for him/her.(less)

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Dec 14, 2011

Book Concierge rated it

· review of another edition

The novel tells the story of the Nicole and Dick Diver, a wealthy, American couple living in Europe in the early 20th century. As the story opens they are introduced to a young movie actress, Rosemary, who is infatuated with Dick and with the lifestyle the Divers and their friends enjoy. Slowly Rosemary, and the reader, watches the Divers’ marriage disintegrate, and Dick, in particular, descend into alcoholic despair.

There is no question that Fitzgerald could write brilliantly. It...more

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Nov 27, 2011

Ardita rated it

· review of another edition

Fitzgerald wrote this book when he was experiencing the most difficult time in his life. The glitzy face of the book cannot hide the dark truth of its characters and plots.

Set before World War I, it tells the story of the "old money" youth, escaping the depression in the US and spent much time from one place to another in Europe. Fitzgerald takes you from Riviera to Paris and Zurich.

Tender is the Night presented charming characters, smooth language, effective storyt...more

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Nov 16, 2011

Mary_stephens rated it

It's Fitzgerald, I suppose it could be close to 5 stars. On the other hand, it just didn't strike the right chord for me. I do better with families who have less money, I suppose. I have a hard time generating any sympathy for those with maids and cooks and governesses.
The first 100 or so pages set the foundation for what was to come. That's the first third of the book and by that time it felt tedious. Fortunately, at that point the story fully captured my interest, the characters connect...more

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Sep 28, 2011

Brittany rated it

She led a lonely life owning Dick who did not want to be owned."

"Nicole was silent; Dick was uneasy at her straight hard gaze. Often he felt lonely with her, and frequently she tired him with the short floods of personal revelations that she reserved exlusively for him, "I'm like this-I'm more like that," but this afternoon he would have been glad had she rattled on in staccato while and given him glimpses of her thoughts. The situation was always most threatening...more

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Sep 14, 2011

Ryan Steele rated it

Tender is the Night is the tale of a young doctor, Dick Diver, his wife, Nicole Diver, and, one of the main causes of conflict in the story, a young actress named Rosemary Hoyt. The thing I loved most about Fitzgeralds writing was his subtle development, if you could call it that, of Dick and NIcole. As the story progresses, Fitzgerald slowly shows Dick losing all of his friends, and becoming less of a self assured, precise doctor, and more of a depressed, defeated man. Nicole, on the other hand...more

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About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works have been seen as evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he himself allegedly coined. He is regarded as one of the greatest twentieth century writers. Fitzgerald was of the self-styled "Lost Generation," Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I. He finished four novels, left a fi...more

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“New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.” — 159 people liked it

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