Rating: 
Summary: Too Preppy!!!
Review: This novel is concerned with the growth of Amory Blaine, a romantic egotist, into a true personage. It ends with Amory's declaration, "I know myself...but that's all." But what does that mean?
The novel is okay. Amory reminds me of holden Caulfield in the Catcher in the Rye. Holden believed in honesty and detested phony people and phony things, so he went all over the place trying to stay away from all the phoniness in the world. Amory is like Holden in the extent that they each had a journey which reveals to them new things and expands their horizons.
What I don't like about the book is that Fitzgerald inserts numerous poems that he made up. They are put in inappropriate places and don't make a lot of sense. Also, every character in this book lives a luxurious life and looks beautiful and is pedantic and speak incredibly long and grammatically correct sentences. It is like Melrose Place (except the stuff about the long sentences). What enrages me more is the fact that at the end, even though Amory gains a greater knowlege, he still views the poor as stupid and unclean.
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Summary: The excitement and the despair of lost youth
Review: Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise is the classic novel depicting the confusion and unfocused energy which accompanies young adulthood. It is the paradigm on which all other stories of its kind are based. Fitzgerald brilliantly describes the misdirection of the young Armory Blaine with brilliant prose and unbelievable vocabulary. In trying to make sense of the confusing and unguided transition to adulthood, rather than looking at the world around him, Blaine obsessively looks inward at himself for answers. Attempting to unravel the mysteries of the uncertainty and alienation which come with adult freedom, Blaine floats along on a journey of self-discovery, anguish, and eventual redemption. A must for any Fitzgerald fan, any connoisseur of the American novel, or any one who has ever asked themself the ever demanding question: "What am I going to do with my life."
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Summary: Beautiful book for the young, or young at heart
Review: This was one of my favorite books when I was 15 years old. I read it several times and carried it with me around the dreary halls of the oppresive, boring land called High School. Even as a kid I sensed Fitzgerald's amazing writing gift: his effortless way of painting a visual picture in the mind of the reader. He was always extremely funny, off-beat and his charactizations are usually on the mark. Though Amory Blaine's psyche wanders a trifle after the first hundred pages, it's impossible not to gravitate towards him, the things he says and the stunts he pulls.After 25 years I picked up the book again recently. Dusting off my old copy, I re-read the pages that had so captivated me as a teenager. Time dulls many things and people change. But I still love the book and think it's a brilliant first novel. Though it's sappy in spots and it definitely lags at the end, Fitzgerald still had a beautiful ability to harness the emotions of the reader into a world now vanished. It's not his most complete or mature work by a wide margin, but it matters not. This is still a great book, especially for young people or those still a kid at heart.
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Summary: An introspective epiphany
Review: I realize that some reviewers find Blaine's selfishness and hubris offensive, and I ask, did you finish the book? He spells it out in simple english, though disguised as an afterthought, "Yes - I was perhaps an egotist in youth, but I soon found it made me morbid to think too much about myself."
This novel is the pronunciation of Amory Blaine's (read Fitzgerald's) emotional growth, sparked by the destruction of all the axioms that he thought he knew. He realizes at the end of the book (and the beginning of his life) that in order to matter, in the Descartes sense of the phrase, you need to make an impact on the lives of others. Blaine uses socialism as Monsignor used religion, to make himself indispensible to those that would listen to him, and so in some respect this novel is a blueprint for a good life lived, as any coming of age story should aspire to be. But above all, this novel is a doctrine of love. As Fitzgerald puts it, "yet the waters of disillusion had left a deposit on his soul, responsibility and a love of life, the faint stirrings of ambitions and unrealized dreams. But oh, Rosalind, Rosalind... It's all a poor substitute at best."
Rating:
Summary: This Side of Paradise
Review: This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald's semi-autobiographical coming of age novel, celebrates the intensely felt victories and defeats of a privileged young man. The son of rich wastrels, Amory Blaine is convinced of his physical and intellectual superiority from a young age. He attends prep school in Connecticut, where he meets others of his class and learns how to impress them. He then moves on to Princeton, and here Fitzgerald shares with the reader a lengthy appreciation of what the school offers: tradition, a challenge, and the company of other talented young men from the ruling class. The story takes a brief hiatus when Blaine goes to war, which characteristically he interprets in terms of how it affects him. On returning home, he has a painful love affair that helps mature him.
Blaine is not a very sympathetic protagonist - he is selfish and unkind - but to his credit he doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is. Also to his credit, he is sensitive to beauty everywhere, and he can see merit in others. Through his eyes, we meet a number of friends and lovers, and there are some remarkable characters among them.
Fitzgerald is a wonderful writer, and in this, his first novel, he seems at pains to prove it by extensively using poetry, letters between his characters, and the dramatic form to help tell his story. He does indeed seem very comfortable in all of these forms. Fitzgerald went on to write great books, and this one shows the impressive skills he had even as a young man of 24.
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Summary: Danielle's Review
Review: I really enjoyed this book. At first I was wondering how I could ever relate to a book like this considering it was written many years ago, but as I was reading I realized the relations to myself and the character. In this book the character Armory Blaine is basically finding himself. Although, he does not realize it through most of the book he spends much time in self wonder and development. Everyone goes through a period of this time in their life and I thought it was really cool to see a perspective of someone living in the 1920s way of self development. Many of his ideas and thoughts can still be related to situations today. Many people have issues with convention, love, and money. In Blaine's case they all came together and he fell down in a hole. He lost his money which lost his one love. Then he realizes his extreme amount of selfishness that we see through the entire book. Many times in the book Armory says how good looking he is, how good he is at sports, etc. Then finally at the end of the book he realizes that none of that really matters, he has to find the meaning of life. He says' I know myself, '...'but that is all,' pretty much sums up the theme of the entire book that knowing yourself is the most important thing in life. Material things and good looks don't really matter; you just have to be the best person you can be. He also shows that through all his mistakes in life, he has come out with the greatest knowledge of all by learning from those mistakes.
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Summary: Caitlin's review
Review: I like F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing style because it consists of flowing conversation between characters and good character development. Fitsgerald was one of few authors in the 1920's who was able to capture a period of American history and paint a portrait of the new youth culture. "This Side of Paradise" is a character study of the protagonist Amory Blaine. Throughout the novel, Amory attempts to make peace with himself and find his place in society. Several times in the novel, Amory reflects what has on his road to self realization that convention, women, and money are the main elements that have influenced his life. Raised by an unconventional mother, Beatrice, Amory tries to correct her influence by indulging conformity. Eventually he discovers that a life full of conformity is full of emptiness and attempts to get back on the path of individuality. After many love affairs, Amory falls head over heels in love with Rosalind, sister of a former friend. Rosalind breaks Amory's heart by refusing to marry someone without great wealth. Amory Blaine eventually abandons women as a source of inspiration. By the end of the novel, Blaine finds himself penniless because of bad investments and no inheritance. With no money, Amory has to look harder for the meaning of life finding a source of guidance within himself. The last line of this novel, 'I know myself, '...'but that is all,' sums up the theme of the entire book. Mistakes are defined as experience.
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