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Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The plot of Tender is the Night can basically be summed up by that old saying about how if you marry your wife for her money, you’ll work hard for a living.

Well, that, and alcoholism is bad.

In TITN, psychiatrist Dick Diver marries certified nutso Nicole, even though he really should know better, considering he meets her when she’s institutionalized. But, what the hell, he thinks, she's cute and rich.

I didn’t go to med school and all, but even I can tell that this is a Bad Idea.

The novel begins some number of years after the Divers are first married. The couple is frolicking on the French Riviera with a pack of friends who seem to do little more than drink and sun themselves on the beach. Then a movie starlet, Rosemary, shows up, and – with a little push from her mommy – sets her sights on Dick. Eventually, Dick and Rosemary have an affair, which only serves to make Nicole crazier.

Nicole eventually does get better, but only after Dick has plunged himself into alcoholism and ruined his career, in one of those warm, fuzzy endings literary novels are famous for.

TITN started off strong, but lagged in the middle and then completely ran out of steam by the end. I’m giving it a B.

Posted 23 June 2006 at 08:09 AM