Fitzgerald's unfinished novel of Hollywood in the 1930s centres on Monroe Stahr a workaholic film producer who falls for a young girl who reminds him of his dead wife. The novel is narrated by the young daughter of the studio head who has a crush on Starr. Had he lived this could have been a novel that would have revived his fortunes. An intriguing but sad read.

Clearly his unfinished masterpiece - full of Scott's usual skill at conveying those little essences of life for which there really is no word. Also his best of all works in terms of describing a situation so vividly with so little verbiage. The notes are published at the end of this copy, showing other phrases and concepts he intended to include but had not yet integrated. His notes reveal that the plot would get somewhat more harsh, bringing in plots of murder, communism, unions, and a plane crash. The telling through both Cecilia and from the third person allows some very interesting perspective. She is a dynamic character in this story, but more because she sees her past through her now more mature (or jaded?) eyes. Her early wisdom: "It's not a slam at you when people are rude -- it's a slam at a people they've met before." Monroe Stahr has both reserve and spitfire moments. He is perfectly portrayed as the last of his kind of totalitarian, but fatherly tycoon's of that time. The overall work is very well integrated with the current history and parallels of Fitgzeral's time (and sickness, and comments about film and writing). He is especially clever for using the relationship between screenwriting and movies to make meaning within the story and about the arts themselves. ( )

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.ht...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott... ( )