Rating: 
Summary: One of the most powerful novels I've ever read
Review: Most people probably do not look at Amazon reviews of This Side of Paradise for literary critiques, and I probably could not add much to this extremely popular book that has been around for over 80 years. Most people probably read the reviews to see if it is something they might want to purchase and read. This book is highly recommended for romantic dreamers, reforming self- absorbed egotists, alumni of prestigious "country club style" colleges and universities who are disenfranchised with their undergraduate experience, people who are old and cranky and cynical and wish they were energetic and wide- eyed again, beautiful people who were fast- tracked all throughout their schooling and have been frustrated by the seniority system of the workaday world, fans of lush romanticism in novels and unconventional plot schemes. Additionally, at least half of all young American men can relate to the "chasing of the golden girl" theme chronicled in this book. You are not alone. You will relate with This Side of Paradise despite its age and, at times, absurdity. This book is not recommended for dullards, simpletons, people who have not lived in the moment and hard science majors who are not creative. Also, do not read this book until you are outside of the bubble. Its more fun to learn from your own mistakes than avoid them all together.
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: This Side of Paradise is a truly classic work. Be warned though, having read The Great Gatsby as well, these are different books. Not better or worse, just different. As a member of the incoming Freshman class at Princeton, I read the book before starting. I will easily admit to not liking the first half of the book. However, the 2nd half is an, albeit depressing (until the last few pages), wonderfully written work about the lost soul of the youth (grr. . .I'm 18 and using the word youth) of the 1920s. The last 10 pages are offer an unparalleled view into the soul of a truly remarkable character. I didn't personally like Amory (for a variety of reasons), ie, I wouldn't want him to be my best friend, but he was an amazing character study (pardon the term). Learning about him through Fitzgerald was a fabulous experience. This book is definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Unimpressed
Review: I'm afraid I fail to understand what's so great about this book. I picked it up because I liked 'The Great Gatsby'. This book, however, was disappointing, to say the least. First of all the main character. A narcist, and not very likeable. He's allright in the beginning but as the novel progresses becomes rather insufferable. However, that was not the main problem, since I could relate to him a bit. The problem starts when he enters Princeton. Who cares about some silly college boys who think they're all destined to become philosophers and think the rest of the world is filled with idiots? It wasn't even real philosophy, it was quasi-that, quasi-[hot air]. Someone should have gotten their heads out of the clouds. They were boring. Also, the love-affairs were rather superficial, since Amory only loves those in whom he sees a mirror of himself. In the end he is as tiresome as he was in Princeton, though a little wiser. What a great coming-of-age book! Fitzgeralds prose is nice, but not nearly as beautiful as in 'The Great Gatsby'. Hardly a recommendable book.
P.S. The Catholic intellectual was an old bore.
Rating:
Summary: A work of art
Review: The Great Gatsby is a very well written book, but when you get down to it, This Side of Paradise completely blows it away. Amory Blaine is an example of absolute perfection. This story follows a young man from birth through early adulthood, describing his interactions with others and ideas throughout. Absolutely anyone can relate to this book in some way, and I believe it would be beneficial to every man, woman and child in the world to read this story at least once. Excellent book, definitely the best I ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Youth, ambition, and romance!
Review: This book is perhaps my favorite of all Fitzgerald's works. Unlike Gatsby, with its high drama and giant archetypes, This Other Paradise is a book of subtlety. Amory Blaine is one of Fitzgerald's best drawn protagonists, perhaps because he is is Fitzgerald himself. Reading this book, you can't help but feel young, idealistic, and full of innocence.
Rating:
Summary: To be young is to grow and demand reforms
Review: Francis Scott Fitzgerald gives here a masterpiece. The building of the conscience of a young American man is explored in the finest and most intricate details through his training in a prep school and at Princeton. His influences from all kinds of writers and poets are also examined in the way they interlace one another into a very subtle and complex whole. This leads that young man to the experience of the First World War and what follows and he moves from what could be considered as a pose to a more conscious state of mind in which the social reality of his time becomes pregnant with meaning. That leads him to a socialist stand coming from his dissatisfaction with the establishment that does not propose reforms and change but is self-satisfied in its achievements. The second level of the novel is the sentimental pilgrimage that the hero follows from the sheer discovery of loveplay to the deepest passion that leads nowhere and is finally identified by him as nothing but a negation of his self in the titillation of his egotism. Love is nothing but a mirror of himself and there is none of the two-way altruism that builds real love as a dual-carriageway of emotions and personal involvement. Hence he moves from a pure egotistic personality to something that is identified as a personage that is able to take into account the outside world as a living being of itself. The final element of interest in this book is the way catholicism is an inspiration on that road and that his final starting point as an altruistic socialist is nothing but the development of Christian love that does not exist if the other is not one's equal, no matter where this other stands in the social order. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: 
Summary: 3+ stars
Review: This is typical Fitzgerald. You either like him or you don't. It is a study in character, or, perhaps I should say lack of character. Amory Blaine is not very sympathetic. But, then many of us aren't when we are college aged and know everything. His girl friends are frivolous. His relationship with the old priest was interesting and more could be drawn from the priest's love for Amory. His mother is a dolt and hypochondriac. Depressing, but well written.
Rating:
Summary: Growth and peril at the climax of life in words...
Review: Banality without laughter and stoicism with epicurean delights are books to the soul. A riddle and a puzzle that combines the heart working with the mind to melt into an orgy of feelings and thought, it is bliss on paper.
This book I believe to be Mr. Fitzgerald's greatest, eclipsing the likes of The Great Gatsby more powerfully then the moon does to the sun. This piece being his first published novel offers a depth of understanding that is not normally seen in a first time novelist. It is an inspiration to all those who hope to one day have their names grace the cover of the printed page.
The book shows remarkable growth within its pages. The structure is easy flowing and offers glimpses into the life of a man, Amory Blaine. It shows his growth from a person to a personage. The triumphs, tragedies, and laughs of his life. If shows remarkable growth in the style choice by Mr. Fitzgerald and the discerning eye can see the change in his flow throughout the book. He grows in writing as Amory grows in a person.
For anyone who read The Great Gatsby in high school and enjoyed even a morsel of it will love this book.
Rating:
Summary: utterly pointless
Review: I suppose it's supposed to be intentional that no character in this book is very well-drawn. I suppose it's supposed to be intentional that not even Armory is very interesting. I suppose it's supposed to be intentional that you can't remember a single thing about a chapter two chapters later. But is it intentional that this book is supposed to be so dull? Armory goes through life, makes friends, gets girlfriends, breaks up with girlfriends. But you don't remember any of them because they are all reflections of Armory himself. Yet he's dull. So a reflection of a rock is not much to take home. It would be nice if just ONE character held your interest. If just ONE episode was expanded so we got to know these people a little more, but the main character is off doing other things instead. Autobiographical novels are fairly popular, however when the author has no insights into his own life, they are very useless in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: A young Gatsby
Review: Many people consider The great Gatsby to be Fitzgerald's greatest work. In doing this they are shortchanging him from all his other novels, and his short stories (which are also gems of craftsmanship). This side of paradise is a work that I consider equal to the Catcher of the Rye by Salinger. It evokes a setting and a time, captured beautifully, that has been past and never to come again. However, we of the 2000s can still relate to the protagonist because what he goes through in college: the inadequacies, the romance, the questions, is something that we all feel, are torn by, and befuddled with. The work makes you laugh at it's antics mainly because we can place ourselves in those setting and making the same mistakes. The prose is so beautiful because Fitzgerald was a careful craftsman and left nothing to chance. This is a coming=of=age story every young person need to read, and every young-at-heart person, for that matter. So sit back with this book, and be ready to be taken to an era that will never be again, but will always live on in Amory Blaine (the protagonist) and everyone who has a little Amory in them.
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