Tender is the Night

This is my first reading of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. I bought this whilst on babymoon in Florence. I had run out of reading material and as I needed all of my battery on my phone (for just in case scenarios) I couldn't risk carrying on with my e-book novel that has taken me ages to get through.... reading on my phone is simply not the same as reading a paperback!

Tender is the Night is the story of the Divers, an attractive American couple with money who have settled in a post first world war Europe. It is very much telling the story of money and its social and sexual attraction. The story is told in 2 parts, first from the point of view of Rosemary, a budding film star who is attracted to the glitz and glamour and apparently irresistible charm of Dick Diver. The second part of the novel is told from multiple characters' points of view, although mainly from Dick's perspective. The second part deals with the behind the scenes of the domestic life of the Divers, and reveals the problems that arose in their relationship even before they were an item.

It is an interesting book and I can see that when it was published it would have had quite an audience. I didn't really feel like I engaged with the characters at any depth. They weren't particularly well described and all seemed to be particularly shallow. Perhaps that was the author's deliberate point, but from the little bit of knowledge that I have about F Scott Fitzgerald, the Diver's lifestyle is very similar to his own. Perhaps this is why Dick Diver's character is the one that is most rounded...