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Title: Shallow
Review: My thoughts on this first, autobiographical novel of Fitzgerald's are a little mixed. On the one hand, I strangely loved the gimmicky and unusual narrative format, with its headlined asides to the audience and occasional screenplay-style dialogue. The writing style is fast and easy to read. But, in the end, the cons far outweighed the pros for me. Plot is nonexistent, a flaw which works when the characterization is strong and compelling, but Amory Blaine failed utterly to connect with me, and the minor characters were ciphers to the point that I had a hard time even remembering who was who. The inevitably formative war years were glossed over, and all the reader is left with are meta ramblings on literature and socialism. Certainly not the worst book I've ever read, but not very redemptive either.
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