Customer Reviews

Tales of the Jazz Age

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Tales Of The Jazz Age is an anthology of classic short stories by the renowned 20th Century American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is best known for his enduring classic "The Great Gatsby". Satirizing the selfishness of the wealthy, depicting revelry that escalates into a destructive mob, while offering a sharp look at the flaws of society, and enhanced with introductions to each story by the author, Tales Of The Jazz Age is highly recommended, and this Pine Street Books edition would make a perfect choice for school and community libraries needing to replace worn copies of previous editions.

Tales of the Jazz Age is an anthology of nineteen short stories by renowned author F. Scott Fitzgerald, including "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", "Dice, Brassknuckles and Guitar", and "Love in the Night". Enhanced with an extensive record of variants, explanatory notes, as well as an extensive introduction concerning the selection and editorial principles of the anthology, Tales of the Jazz Age is a superb edition of classic literature that would grace any academic or library collection -- and is "must" reading for F. Scott Fitzgerald enthusiasts and fans.

Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Kindle edition of Tales of the Jazz Age is superb. It is "must" reading for F. Scott Fitzgerald enthusiasts and fans.

This 1922 short story collection is a trip back in time through the eyes of this celebrated author. There are 11 stories here, of varying quality and I enjoyed reading them all and letting myself visit the time and a place and the culture that is now just a small blip in the annals of history. Some stories are set in the world of the moneyed, others are set in the world of fantasy and there are other that are just figments of the author's imagination. I didn't like all of these stories. As the saying goes, "when they were good they were very very good, and when they were bad they were horrid", but I felt I got to know F. Scott Fitzgerald through these stories, see how his mind worked, and understand how he became so well known and was able to come to his full power in his novels.

His strongest stores were set in the real world, the young southern man who was smitten by a rich young woman, two recently released soldiers from the War in Europe who stumble upon some party-going socialites, a very funny story about a costume party where two men dress in a camel costume, and a sad story about a happy marriage which is spoiled by the husband's illness.

I don't like fantasy and found myself annoyed by these stories, even the one about the Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was recently made into a movie, or The Diamond as Big as the Ritz which was a fantasy of enormous wealth and cruelty. There were stories of unfulfilled dreams and real emotion which I liked. And others that were just stupid and silly and hard to follow.

Yes, I enjoyed this book, even the stories I didn't like. Having a critical attitude towards something I am reading is not a bad thing. However, I was really annoyed at the plethora of typographical errors throughout the book. There is no excuse for that.

This paperback Pine Street Press edition of "Tales of the Jazz Age" (the press is an imprint of the University of Pennsylvania Press) is afforable and well-edited. This edition, printed in 2003, contains the same content of eleven short stories as the original Charles Scribner's Sons edition published in 1922.

I was most interested in reading "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" because of the winter 2008 release of the Brad Pitt film. This story is not contained in the other two Fitzgerald short story anthologies which I own. The story is a fascinating little foray into straight-forward fantasy, as a man is "born" fully cognizant (and speaking the King's English), fully-grown (Fitzgerald never explains how Ben's poor mother survived, let alone managed, the birthing ordeal), and obviously very old. Benjamin then proceeds, Merlin-like, to live his life backwards, growing younger and younger. The story is only 32 pages long, and ends rather sadly and abruptly. However, it is so un-Fitzgerald-like that I found it intriguing, and am now anxiously awaiting the movie to see what Hollywood does with it.

Fitzgerald, although an artist and genius of the highest calibar, also had to eat. These stories were written for money, and they are not as well-wrought as the best of his prose stylings in his novels. (Fitzgerald states candidly in his intros to the stories that several of them are re-worked stories which he had first done at Princeton while an undergraduate.) But this is Fitzgerald, after all, and a very young Fitzgerald, at that. So I found this collection highly interesting and devoured it in one sitting.

I will now save my money and purchase the expensive hardback version of this collection for my own library.

This page mixes reviews for 3 books: one published by MobileReference and two others published by 'Public Domain Books' and 'Juniper Grove'. It is unclear which review corresponds to which book. We assure you that MobileReference book does not have any errors. The MobileReference book was carefully checked for accuracy and completeness by a team of experts. Please download the Free demo. To find Tales of the Jazz Age published by MobileReference, search: mobi Tales of the Jazz Age.

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To be honest I don't think I would have paid to read Fitzgerald. It's no slam against the author, but it's something I would have read sometime in the future after I've exhausted other authors.

The Kindle version itself is pretty good, although it lacks a table of contents. Since there's only 11 short stories in the collection, I didn't miss it too much. The book itself is divided into three major sections: My Last Flappers, Fantasies and Unclassified Masterpieces. The real surprise was the short story of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which as a story worked infinitely better than the movie did.

I feel unqualified to judge the collections of the stories, but I'm glad I bit and took a chance at reading Tales of the Jazz Age. I like Fitzgerald's style of writing and will read more of his work soon.

Although the stories are complete, they are filled with errors. It is distracting when sentences don`t make sense and it takes away from the experience. It is understandable why it was so affordable.

Tales of the Jazz Age: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Diamond As Big As The Ritz, My Last Flappers & more (mobi)

I'm sorry to report that there is at least one error in the MobileReference edition of Tales of The Jazz Age in the Jelly-Bean story, and that it mirrors the same error I found in the public domain editions.

In the paragraph that begins with, "In the twilight of one April evening when a soft gray had drifted down...," this sentence is truncated: "His mind was working persistently on a problem that had held his attention for an."

I bought this MobileReference edition based upon the publisher's post and claim of no errors in this thread. It's no big deal ("To err is human...."), but I'll be asking for a refund of my 99 cents.

F Scott Fitzgerald public domain on my Kindle--doesn't get better than that. Thanks Amazon!