Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald – Therese Anne Fowler

Posted on February 12, 2014 Updated on February 12, 2014

Before I begin, let me just say that I listened to this as an audiobook and to some degree I find that audiobooks are almost as deplorable as e-books. But not quite. I do get them sporadically from the library to help pass utterly dull morning commutes and to make the absurd amount of driving I do in general a bit more engaging (one can only handle the same loop of radio songs for so long). That being said, as much as I hate not having physical copies of books there is something wildly appealing about listening to someone “act out” books. The accents, tones, dramatic pauses. With Fowler’s Z I found this to be especially enticing, throughout the stories there is so much passion and drama that it added so much emotion to the story to hear. When I most recently went to the library to look at audiobooks I, at first, considered this book and ended up putting it back unsure of the story on Zelda Fitzgerald. But a couple days later had come back to browse again (truthfully I went to get some new music) and decided I had nothing to lose. Something about the case, but mainly a fascination I have with the letter “Z” in general, I suppose led me to “at least try.”

That being said, the very beginning of this book started with a quote by T.S. Elliot and from that moment on I knew I’d stumbled upon a truly good story.

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”

Something about that line hit me – perhaps it could be the overwhelming feeling of ‘over my head-ness‘ I have been experiencing since accepting an invitation to Zambia last month. I like to think of it as a very appropriate life lesson for twenty-something’s to experience.

As far as the book is concerned, I do not know how much is Fowler taking creative license on the story or as close to fact about any two people’s motivation as an author can get. But as far as I can tell the story followed closely to what my brief internet search of the subject yielded, so I like to think this was very consciously written. I particularly like this article review and the mention of how “Fowler has determinedly imagined her own dialogue and written her own versions of Zelda’s letters, and the voice she has given her…” And finally, this is a hardly new storyline – a quick Wikipedia search can spoil any and all main plot twists (which, yes, I did) so I believe she deserves even more praise for making it feel fresh and enticing for the reader!

Things I particularly enjoyed:

F. Scott’s writing. As someone who reads so much I don’t really consider the process that goes into creating it (which, I suppose, should be the case with any well written story) so I did enjoy the struggle and inspiration that was involved within his stories. I have yet to read anything besides The Great Gatsby by him but am aware others exist, especially various short stories, but after reading how his This Side of Paradise was repeatedly rejected but when it was finally perfected was such a success. Or how their lives influenced each of the other books. How he was forced to write the short stories he hated in order to pay bills while he wrote his book (c’mon, Curious Case of Benjamin Button is way too cool or strange of an idea to just be in the back of your find and viewed lowly!) Even how he supposedly – does anyone know if this is legitimate or just assumed? – used parts of Zelda’s diary as dialogue in his books. How most of his books seemed to have some basis on his and Zelda’s life. Truly, this book made me want to go out and read all of his other works.

The Fitzgeralds’ friendships. All the people they encountered and were “literary friends” with through their lives, especially in Paris, constantly surprised me. Maybe it is just lack of context I have placed in writers while reading but Hemingway (this really shows how little prepared I was to read this book), James Joyce, Ezra Pound, none of these I would have considered from the same time. This could also be due to the fact that I haven’t read anything by these men since high school when I had little interested in older work. And Hemingway seemed like a total ass, too.

Other thoughts:

The husband-wife relationship back then is such a foreign idea to me in 2014. I enjoyed, as much as was revolted, by how this was displayed throughout the book. I think this was even more evident because they both has such bold, stubborn personalities that neither wanted or would be allowed to be lessened. I think I read something that their daughter, Scottie, had once said along the lines of they both must have been crazy, because only crazy people wouldn’t take themselves out of such a crazy situation. Their lives and marriage seemed like this wild, albeit passionate in both love and hate, unhealthy relationship where they needed each other but also didn’t.

They never stood still! It was always moving – New York City, country, St. Paul, Paris, Various cities in France and Italy, back to USA, Alabama, and so on. There is something wonderful and scary about that to me. Experiencing so much but also never really being someone – maybe that was normal back then? Probably not. They also rented this giant house for something around $140 a month. Sign me up for that!

I adore the idea of all the beautiful parties they went to and all the clothes. I adore that they wrote letters and had to travel to meet people. I adore that they had legitimate hobbies. I adore that they had summer places with all their friends.