Book 61: West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan

I stumbled upon this book by chance and saw that it was a novel on F Scott Fitzgerald, then I noticed it has just been released.  So this time I am on the front edge of a book, and it happens to be on a topic I enjoy.

West of Sunset is a fictionalization of the last years of Fitzgerald's life, his final time in Hollywood and also covers Zelda's institutional situation at the time.

I found it to be a fair treatment of the events of the time.  The author takes a more gentle approach to both Scott and Zelda.  He tries to give them both the benefit of the doubt and neither of them comes out the villian of the relationship (which is probably an accurate stance).  It is not an in depth look at any specific event, but that can be found in other novels like:
The Disenchanted
Beautiful Fools
Beloved Infidel

I do wonder if I am too close to the subject matter.  I am very curious to see how people who are not as familiar with the topic find the book.

I wouldn't say the book is a fast paced book and not one I found lost in.

Book 7- Beloved Infidel by Sheilah Graham

I have been waiting to read this one, and I very much enjoyed it, so much so I was able to read it in only 3 sittings, which for me is quick.

Beloved Infidel is a memoir of Sheilah Graham, through her early life through her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Sometimes memoirs can be dry and I feel like I slog through them to get to the parts I find interesting, however, this one was fun to read.  Her early life almost seems like fiction.  In describing it to D he thought it reminded him of Gatsby.

I wrote much more on this over at Fitzgerald Musings.  Lately I have been wanting to know more of FSF later life, the time he was in Hollywood and started writing Love of the Last Tycoon.  Personally, I think he was fighting his demons, putting his failures behind him and starting on the rebound.  I am so said that the world has missed out on how FSF saw the world, and we have been cheated on how he was going to grow as an author.

So I saw there was a movie based on Sheilah's memoir and decided to check it out.  It came out in 1959, a year after the book, starring Gregory Peck and Deborah Kerr.  And as much as I think the book would make a good movie, this is not the movie I wanted to see.  You would think that having well known and respected actors would assure a good movie, but nope not here.  The acting was bad, very affected and wooden.  Yes, I know that is how acting was done back in the day, but it does not translate for today's viewers who are wanting a feeling for the relationship.

Currently Reading: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games trilogy)