Zelda: A Biography

Poor Zelda

I never thought I'd even want to read about Zelda Fitzgerald because I read all about Hemingway first and he didn't like her and I admit that influenced my opinion of her. Then one day I read that she died in a fire in mental hospital. That piqued my interest so I bought the book and am glad to say was not disappointed. I still don't "like" Zelda, but do understand her as a person more because of this extremely detailed book. It is one of the better biographies I've ever read. F.Scott Fitzgerald is part of the package of course. After reading Zelda, I don't feel the need to read his bio, Nancy Milford has told me everything I ever wanted to know about him too. I like reading about the 20's and all those glamourous Americans abroud in the years between the wars. This book gives you all the details, and I was not surprised at all that none of them really had as grand a time as the pictures make it look. What a price they all paid for all the debauchery. I liked the book, it provoked a sense of pity for this fragile, mentally ill china doll that was Zelda. I won't read it again, not because it's not good, but because it is more of an educational book than one I turn to for pleasure. It is the most thourough book I've read on life between the wars.

Informative Read...

Scott and Zelda were the ¿it couple¿ of the twenties. Milford uses both narrative and the selected writings of both the Fitzgeralds to paint a marriage that is glamorous and troubled from the beginning to each of these stars tragic ends. High recommended for any fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, women¿s studies or for those wanting a glimpse into a vanished age.

Left me with as many questions as it answered

Love the writings of Scott Fitzgerald and have always heard rumor of Zelda and their tragic romance which sounded intriguing to me so I decided to read this book. It was very interested and written very well, except that there were many things that I did not understand about Zelda after I finished reading the book; mainly, how did she start out being such a strong person and then finally end up in the state that she was in. The book did not make that clear to me, I was able to speculate a lot of reasons why this may have come about from the information that she gave but was never clear about it. None-the-less, I did enjoy the book, interesting whether you are interested in the Fitzgerald's, women's topics, that certain era in history, or just a good story, this book would fulfill any of those need.

incredible

i actually picked up this book at random... and couldn't put it down. the excerpts from zelda's letters and writing are amazing. it was interesting to hear the back-story to some of the greatest books of all time.

Another excellent window into the lives of American writers and writing in the early 20th century

Once again, Mitford does not disappoint. I picked this up casually as I am teaching a bit of Fitzgerald (F. Scott, that is) and thought it might provide interesting insight into the work. Finding that I just couldn't put it down, I read it in two sittings. While Mitford tries valiently to remain neutral, the conclusions one must of necessity draw from the facts she persuasively sets forth puts an entirely new face on the canon and renders the Fitzgerald's decline and early deaths far more understandable. I found the portions dealing with Hemingway of particular interest. An excellent read, hugely interesting to those who read and study the Fizgeralds' work.

my favorite biography

From the author of the recent award-winning, best-selling Savage Beauty (a bio of Edna St. Vincent Millay), this is the exhaustively researched story of the original flapper. Zelda's life reads like fiction. But how else could it read considering she was the tortured wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald? That's not to say that Scott wasn't a little tortured himself. It's no use debating who drove who to destruction. You have only to read a bit of Fitzgerald to solve that mystery.

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