Customer Reviews

Diamond As Big As the Ritz & Other Stories (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was my introduction to Fitzgerald and I can say that it was an agreeable experience. Fitzgerald may have been a bit decadent but he was by no means pretentious, nor oblivious of the flaws, or weaknesses if you will, of the rich. These stories are witty, partly observational, partly imaginary sketches of life in the 1920's in America. Fitzgerald, himself only 24 at that time, writes about young men and women of roughly that age. The stories take place at dances and balls, in hotels and clubs and are mainly concerned with the harsh social demands made in a milieu like that, and the hardship these young people experience trying to live up to them. Read 'Tender Is The Night' next.

This book is absolutely fabulous. I like the style of Fitzgerald, and I believe that in this masterpiece he is in the peak of his talent. The book has a very effective style, and teaches its readers about what it aims. I also reccomend 'The Short Stories 'of F. S. Fitzgerald.

For those who like F. Scott Fitzgerald, this is a really good book; for those who for their own reasons dislike him, here they are going to find more of the same.

In this book are contained around five or so of Fitzgerald's stories; in them, his writing style seems as being youthful: more 'This Side of Paradise' and playful than contrived. The title story is clever and more-or-less a fairy tale; for every echo of Maugham that you can find in some of these stories, there are two or three echoes hinting that Fitzgerald grasped a lot of the wicked strangeness of the world and class more like J.D. Salinger....

This is a really good book.... and for $1.80, if you haven't read it, buy it in company with another book to save on shipping....

Sometimes the existing reviews tell the story of a book better than I can. This situation is true regarding F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories compiled in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz & Other Stories. First of all, there are only two reviews thereby indicating that Fitzgerald's short stories are not very popular; and secondly, one is highly favorable (5 stars) and the other is highly negative (1 star), which indicates that these are a mixed bag.

Fitzgerald, by his own admission, was not a good short story writer, using them mostly as a source of income. To truly appreciate this art form you should read O Henry, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov and even Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron. In general Fitzgerald is concerned with three things in his work: the 1920 period in America, the often-problematic relations between men and women and the Darwinian, survival of the fittest, nature of capitalism. All of these elements play out in these stories.

The title story is a fable in which a boy, John T. Unger, from a small town in the South attends a wealthy boarding school in the East. There he meets a fellow student, Percy Washington, who tells him his father is the richest person in the world and has "a diamond as big as the Ritz- Carleton Hotel." The two boys then go to Percy's home for the summer, which turns out to be a mountaintop in remote Montana. In fact the Washington family is fabulously rich because the mountain itself is one solid diamond. A family member made this discovery at the time of the Civil War and he proceeded to sell some of the diamonds and then jealously guard the secret by living in isolation from the rest of the world. This story shows how great wealth corrupts people.

The Cut-Glass Bowl is a gift given to a recently married woman, Evylyn Piper, by a former lover with the note that "I'm going to give you a present that's as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through." As the story progresses, the bowl is involved in various tragic incidents in Evylyn's life. May Day involves some down on their luck people, including soldiers returning from World War I who attach a socialist newspaper and a former Yale man whose life spiraled downward. The Lees of Happiness involves a couple that marries and is having a happy life when the husband suffers a stroke. Other stories involve people who abuse alcohol and the negative effect it has on their life. In fact every story has a sad overtone and ends tragically or with little hope for the future of the characters.

I end up giving this work 2 stars. Fitzgerald's best work by far is The Great Gatsby. Only those who like his writing style and themes will find his other work, both short stories and novels, to be interesting.

Fracis Key Scott Fitzgerald is a good writer, as is demonstrated aptly in the Great Gatsby. This collection of short stories however are nothing short of a disaster. "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" is a prime example of a the strange mishmash style with the story having no real ending. FScott was no short story writer, with most of these stories lead up to no real point or climax. Very disppointed.

I give it one star because they're well-written -- but I didn't find them enjoyable.

For those who like F. Scott Fitzgerald, this is a really good book; for those who for their own reasons dislike him, here they are going to find more of the same.

In this book are contained around five or so of Fitzgerald's stories; in them, his writing style seems as being youthful: more 'This Side of Paradise' and playful than contrived. The title story is clever and more-or-less a fairy tale; for every echo of Maugham that you can find in some of these stories, there are two or three echoes hinting that Fitzgerald grasped a lot of the wicked strangeness of the world and class more like J.D. Salinger....

This is a really good book.... and for ..., if you haven't read it, buy it in company with another book to save on shipping....