F. Scott Fitzgerald tale 'West of Sunset' draws critical praise

The novel about Fitzgerald's time in Hollywood has received mostly positive reviews.

'West of Sunset' is by Stewart O'Nan.

The book “West of Sunset” by Stewart O’Nan is drawing critical praise for its portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s time in Hollywood.

The novel was released on Jan. 13 and was selected as one of Amazon’s best books of January. “I'm a bit of a Fitzgerald fan ... and this is just extremely well-done," Amazon editorial director Sara Nelson said of the title. "It's the ultimate historical novel.... [Fitzgerald's] Hollywood years are so interesting.”

And the book is drawing critical praise elsewhere as well. Shelf Awareness reviewer Julia Jenkins wrote of the book, “O'Nan brilliantly, sensitively portrays Fitzgerald's internal drama with a tone of wry wit and doom. The nuances of Zelda's character are apt and appropriate, and appearances by Dorothy Parker, Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart add color and humor. O'Nan's characterization and dialogue are spot-on, and his choice of the less-glamorous years of his subject's life yields a beautiful, elegiac novel worthy of its model.”

Meanwhile, Library Journal reviewer Reba Leiding of Virginia’s James Madison University Library found the book to be “a realistic piece of historical fiction….Fitzgerald comes across as a haunting, multifaceted, sympathetic character” and Kirkus Reviews called it “a sympathetic portrayal of a troubled genius... O'Nan has masterfully re-created the feel and ambience of the Hollywood studio system in the late 1930s.”

Publishers Weekly, however, received the title less well. PW's reviewer wrote, “The book is thoroughly researched, featuring a huge supporting cast of famous players … but it feels more like a television docudrama than a fully realized novel.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to F. Scott Fitzgerald tale 'West of Sunset' draws critical praise
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2015/0115/F.-Scott-Fitzgerald-tale-West-of-Sunset-draws-critical-praise
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe