Name: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
Rating: 3.9 (60 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250028655

Therese Fowler

A tale inspired by the marriage of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald follows their union in defiance of her father's opposition and her scandalous transformation into a Jazz Age celebrity in the literary party scenes of New York, Paris, and the French Riviera.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

Therese Anne Fowler

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE TELEVISION DRAMA Z: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we're ruined, Look closer...and you'll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera—where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein. Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby's parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott's, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler's New York Times bestseller brings us Zelda's irresistible story as she herself might have told it.

Patrick Book

This was pretty soapy, but having zero frame of reference for the private lives of F. Scott and Zelda aside from his writings I guess that's not surprising. In all, a rather compelling story of a woman who simultaneously lived in the shadows and in a spotlight that didn't quite show her for what she really was.

Amanda Rocha

I just finished “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald”, and it really illuminated the passion of their glamorous and dramatic love story. Fitzgerald dedicated many of his works to her, his muse, and many of her words found ways into his works. Despite her deteriorating mental health, and his struggles with alcoholism and infidelity, there is no doubt of the love between #Fitzgerald and his beloved.

Kwan Ann Tan

Words fail to describe this book. I have always been a staunch Team Scott supporter (blame tumblr and its somewhat biased view) but this book has turned me into a Team Zelda fan for life. 

Fowler has managed to portray Zelda differently from the general view of her-- we see Zelda as the normal one in this relationship, until her breakdown, that is. We see a completely different side of Scott (I have to say, I absolutely hated him in this book) and we see him as a jealous, overbearing and selfish husband who is an ABSOLUTE hypocrite. We see things from Zelda's point of view-- how consuming Scott's relationship with Ernest Hemingway was and how truly 'beautiful and damned' the pair of them were. 

Indeed, Zelda needs more love from the literary world, and I'm glad that this books exists to exonerate her from any stupid beliefs that she wrecked Scott's career. Now do excuse me while I go and read 'Save Me the Waltz'.... :)

Nicole Blazek

** spoiler alert **
           Not as well written as The Paris Wife, but still very enjoyable. Makes me want to learn more about Zelda...

I just don't like historical fiction that follows the lives of real people. Give me a biography, or go ahead and base a character off of the real person, but write a good story. Tell me a good story, please!


I loved the beginning, and the marriage slowly falling apart was well portrayed. I just think that we could have used more of something. It needed more action and less fighting. The parties were boring and the book felt like I was reading a gossip column when Hemmingway showed up. It just seemed bridled by the need to fit the real Zelda's life.

Jan Talkington

What an interesting indulgent life so many creative people lived in the 1920’s - 30’s. The golden couple through much of that time was the Fitzgeralds. There’s no secret of the turbulence they also lived in. A well written historical fiction story.

Scott Taylor

Mrs. Fowler offers an eloquent telling of the fantastic life of the world famous flapper couple through the lens of Zelda. Her tale is one that I had not known till reading this book and now, well I certainly view Scott in a different light. The writing makes this not so much a historic biography but a story, one that had me turning page after page eager to know the finer details of such a prolific couple. Mrs. Fowler does a good job of shinning a light into the dark lives of the Fitzgerald's and proves Tolkein's saying of "all that is gold does not glitter." There were a few parts however that seemed to drag on.

Renee Blankenship

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE TELEVISION DRAMA Z: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we're ruined, Look closer...and you'll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera—where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein. Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby's parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott's, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler brings us Zelda's irresistible story as she herself might have told it.

Laura

I'm a little obsessed with the 1920s, and especially the Fitzgeralds. Also, I wanted to watch the show, so I figured I should give this novel a shot. Going in to this novel, I had high hopes, excited for the chance to spend a few light hours reading about this couple whose toxic relationship maybe have very well been the death of them. 

My first problem with the text was apparent straight off. Zelda's narrative. I think third person or omniscient would have been a better choice for this novel, relieving Fowler of the pressure to have to mimic the voice and thought process of someone as complex as Zelda. And the first half was so dreadfully boring. I found my mind wandering often whenever I tried to read it, and the anachronisms of the dialogue made me feel like I had an itch on my back right where I couldn't get at it. Both Zelda and Scott didn't feel like themselves for some reason. Both seemed dumbed down, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why until I went on Goodreads to read the reviews. The word "whitewashed" appeared in quite a few, and I agree that it fits this book perfectly. Zelda's portrayal in this reminds me of Tarnish's portrayal of Anne Boleyn. Both books changed their interesting, complex, historical women into sanitized versions of themselves, declawing them so they could seem like victims of the patriarchy instead of who they really were. Zelda didn't need that any more than Anne did. I mean, this is the same chick who accused Scott and Hemingway (Hemingway!) of having a homosexual affair together.

Another problem I had with this was that Scott got blamed for Zelda's mental state, or lack thereof. Her insanity was not Scott's fault anymore than his drinking was hers. From my reading and own research into Scott and Zelda's relationship, I came to the conclusion that they had a twisted, toxic relationship. Both were at fault, Zelda was not the sole victim and Scott was not the sole abuser. In my opinion, they were perfect for each other- both selfish, immature, and narcissistic children who may have been creative geniuses (or at least Scott, I've never read anything by Zelda, but it's hard to argue against his genius, even if you don't like his personality), but were absolutely horrible to each other.

I couldn't finish this book, I'm sorry. I got so annoyed with Fowler's portrayal of their relationship and felt pity for Zelda herself to be forced into this victim box. What I want is for a book to have an honest portrayal of fascinating women in history- women like Zelda or Anne- without the author feeling the need to look at them through a feminist lense, where everything that happens to them, and anything even remotely bad they do, is all because of the men in their life. All that does it take away their personality. And that makes me sad.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OF THE JAZZ AGE NOW AN AMAZON ORIGINALS SERIES STARRING CHRISTINA RICCI 'If ever a couple ... became an era, it was F Scott Fitzgerald and his glamorous "flapper" wife, Zelda. They were the Jazz Age' Independent When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen and he is a young army lieutenant. Before long, Zelda has fallen for him, even though Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. When he sells his first novel, she optimistically boards a train to New York, to marry him and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Each place they go becomes a playground:New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera - where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein. Everything seems new and possible, but not even Jay Gatsby's parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous - sometimes infamous - husband? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler brings us Zelda's irresistible story as she herself might have told it. 'Utterly compulsive reading' Stylist 'Brilliant' Daily Mail 'Superb' Independent *Therese Anne Fowler's bestselling novel of the Gilded Age, A Well-Behaved Woman, is out now*

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

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