This Side of Paradise (version 2)

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)

Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book's title is taken).

World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others.

In the rapidly changing technology of the war era, the financial underpinnings of the Blaine fortune began to fall apart. The deaths of Amory's parents left the finances without a rudder and as Amory's situation deteriorated he came to realize he had only his interest in literature to fall back upon.

Meanwhile, a series of young women traipsed through his life, attracted to his handsome face and bright wit like moths to a candle. But Amory could never master the role of being a real person... and, one by one, they traipsed out.

This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel and was one of the nation's most popular books in the year it was published. It has some definite parallels with Fitzgerald's own life, and is in some ways an autobiography. Summary by Mark F. Smith)

Genre(s): General Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Book One, Ch 1 – Amory, Son of Beatrice Mark F. Smith
00:29:36
Play 02 Chapter 1, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:25:21
Play 03 Chapter 1, Part 3 Mark F. Smith
00:21:32
Play 04 Chapter 2, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:35:17
Play 05 Chapter 2, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:38:29
Play 06 Chapter 2, Part 3 Mark F. Smith
00:38:57
Play 07 Chapter 3, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:39:36
Play 08 Chapter 3, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:21:46
Play 09 Chapter 4, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:31:34
Play 10 Chapter 4, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:25:35
Play 11 Chapter 4, Part 3 Mark F. Smith
00:30:10
Play 12 Book Two, Chapter 1, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:29:41
Play 13 Chapter 1, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:39:06
Play 14 Chapter 2, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:30:00
Play 15 Chapter 2, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:21:32
Play 16 Chapter 3, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:27:19
Play 17 Chapter 3, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:18:57
Play 18 Chapter 4 Mark F. Smith
00:22:18
Play 19 Chapter 5, Part 1 Mark F. Smith
00:27:32
Play 20 Chapter 5, Part 2 Mark F. Smith
00:37:36