Vera's Reviews > Zärtlich ist die Nacht

I preformulated my review when I was at about 60% of the book: "This is SO random."
All the little events Fitzgerald describes that seem loose and only to be blurring the actual storyline, making the book longer than it need to be, were driving me nuts. Even during the reading process I read about the Lost Generation, the publication history of the book and reviews (while avoiding spoilers) - but that didn't ameliorate my reading experience.

My opinion altered when I read the analysis in the afterword, in which is pointed out how every metaphor, every casual remark, even every character's name is carefully constructed - and thus not random at all. That made my initial 2 star review change into 3.

But still I don't know what the dead man was doing in Rosemary's bed. I didn't understand half of the conversations in which so little and yet - apparently - so much was said. And how on earth do American acquaintenances happen to walk into each other all over Europe without knowing of one another they'll be in that particular city?!