This was the first novel by the author to bring him success—indeed, it was from it that Fitzgerald’s career as a writer began. The novel was published when the author was only 23, and in many ways it is autobiographical.
“On This Side of Paradise” tells the story of Emory Blaine, a young man pampered by his parents since youth, swimming in money and marked by selfishness. One day, during another trip to Europe, when he had an attack of appendicitis, at his mother’s request—Beatrice Blaine, so refined and impeccable—they even forced the massive ocean liner to turn back.
Thus, entering adult life, Emory was on one side of it—with brilliant prospects, fashionable views, the possibility of receiving the best education, and the habit of refusing himself nothing. But life—through losses, disappointments, and failures—will slowly lead him to the other side, metaphorically speaking, to the other side from his familiar paradise. Will he find the strength to live a new life?