Anthony Patch is the idle heir to a vast fortune. His wife, Gloria, dazzles society with her good looks. Satisfied by privilege and beauty alone, they are beholden only to the βmagnificent attitude of not giving a damn.β When Anthonyβs inheritance is withheld, it causes an irreparable rift in their marriage, threatening their fragile paradise. Oblivious to their future, he and Gloria have little left to define themselves but their ever-receding pasts.
A bitter critique of the empty pleasures of postβWorld War I CafΓ© Society, The Beautiful and Damned endures not only as a cautionary tale but as a social artifact of the decadent Roaring Twenties.
AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literatureβs most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.
Revised edition: Previously published as The Beautiful and Damned , this edition of The Beautiful and Damned (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.
**
From Library Journal
How can a reader not lose patience with Anthony and Gloria Patch, the "beautiful couple," as they squander their money, idle away their days, and drink themselves into blissful oblivion? Although the obvious parallel between the fictional Patches and the real-life Fitzgeralds is somewhat intriguing, anyone reading the book would be sorely tempted to close it long before the final scenes of degradation. Not so, however, with the audiobook. Peter Marinker's sympathetic narration is so effective that the listener, gradually and almost reluctantly, begins to feel a measure of compassion for Gloria and Anthony-almost as if they are naive children who can't understand what is happening to them or why. Marinker's rendition of Gloria's soft voice is especially persuasive. By the end, it seems as if Fitzgerald's flawed second novel has been redeemed by audio. For most serious literature collections.
Jo Carr, Sarasota, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation. * The New York Times *