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The Beautiful and the Damned cover art

The Beautiful and the Damned

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: William Dufris
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Summary

F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned, "marks an advance over This Side of Paradise," Edmund Wilson wrote. "The style is more nearly mature and the subject more nearly unified, and there are scenes that are more convincing than any in his previous fiction."

Published in 1922, it chronicles the relationship of Anthony Patch, Harvard-educated aspiring aesthete, and his beautiful wife, Gloria, as they wait to inherit his grandfather's fortune. A devastating satire of the nouveaux rich and New York's nightlife, of reckless ambition and squandered talent, it is also a shattering portrait of a marriage fueled by alcohol and wasted by wealth. The Beautiful and the Damned, Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda in 1930, "was all true."

Lyrical, romantic, yet cruelly incisive, it signaled a new stage in Fitzgerald's career. With The Beautiful and the Damned, H.L. Mencken commented in The Smart Set, "Fitzgerald ceases to be a wunderkind, and begins to come into his maturity.

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What listeners say about The Beautiful and the Damned

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A laidback East Coast reading

If you could sum up The Beautiful and the Damned in three words, what would they be?

Dufris has the ideal voice for this book with his laidback East Coast USA accent. He does a good job of what is an uneven book, and renders moments like Anthony's singing in the bath with a hint of comic flair. I'm never quite sure about male readers 'doing' female voices, but accepted his version of Gloria. A good performance of one of Fitzgerald 's less polished works.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

the beautiful and the damned

Well written but too pessimistic for me. I really liked Gatsby but this novel I thought wasn't as good, partly because the characters are not that likeable and the fact that the story was quite anticlimactic/depressing. Also in this novel Fitzgerald's characters go off on long tangents talking about things that I didn't quite follow - perhaps they were too clever for me ;). But really what made this novel difficult was that there really wasn't much hope in it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A depressing but brilliantly written book

Scott Fitzgerald's 'the Great Gatsby' must be one of the greatest books of the 20th century, and if you enjoyed it, then this book is for you. The story is set out in the blurb above, so I wont repeat it. Suffice it to say that it is a gripping if grim tale and quite brilliantly written - I kept winding back, as it were, just to hear bits of Fitzgerald's sublime prose again - I wish I could write half as well as that! Stunning stuff.

The narration by William Dufris is superb just right for the book. He brings it all alive.

Four stars for me as the story is quite depressing and doom-laden, but you cant stop listening.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The Decline and Fall of Anthony Patch

The characters created are brilliantly realised and although narrated a bit fast, you are drawn in. The life of society people in New York is portrayed in its wit and pseudo profundity. Then it all goes wrong.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wharton, Fitzgerald, Yates, Updike??

So much in East Coast and contemporary American Literature is owed to F Scott Fitzgerald that it is worth straying beyond the bounds of The Great Gatsby to get his take on Caf? Society and the state of mind of marriage and money and status. A great and underated book that links the chain of great American writers who have placed New York at the centre of literary culture. Essential reading for those in the know.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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couldn't get past chapter three

This man is OBSESSED with Jewish people. it's uncomfortable and distracting and I'm tired of hearing his antisemitism over and over in so short a time. His treatment of women is not much better. DNF.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Depressing!

I finished it as I like to complete all books but boy was this a depressing one and not a great story either. I wouldn't recommend it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t finish because of the narrator

What a horrible and annoying way of narrating female parts of the dialogue. Don’t think I can tolerate it enough to finish listening to this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

I really enjoyed revisiting this book. It captured the atmosphere and selfishness of the characters wonderfully well. A classic.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

Takes you to another world, another time and place. Very moving and memorable. Beautifully written.

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