Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Therese Anne Fowler has written several novels, starting with Souvenir in 2007, and most recently It All Comes Down to This in 2022. Her novel Z was published in 2013 and was the inspiration for the television series Z: The Beginning of Everything, starring Christina Ricci (you can watch it on Amazon Prime). Z follows the lives of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald from the point of view of Zelda, starting with Zelda just before she met Scott and ending shortly after Scott died. They lived quite the life and this novel deals with addiction and alcoholism, body shaming, chronic illness, confinement, death, some domestic abuse, an eating disorder, homophobia, infertility, abortion, and pregnancy, infidelity, mental illness, sexism and misogyny, racism and racial slurs, self harm, suicide, a toxic relationship, dysphoria, abandonment, and classism, although much of it is told through rose-colored glasses and there is nothing particularly graphic.

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald were married in 1920, after meeting in Georgia while Scott was awaiting discharge from the U.S. Army in 1918. Zelda moved to New York to live with Scott and the pair quickly became well-known, some might say notorious. Young and beautiful, and with Scott starting to make a name for himself in the literary world, they were frequently reported on for their wild behavior. Z follows them through Scott's first successes, the wildness of their early marriage, their friendship (or not so much) with Earnest Hemingway, the accusations of infidelity (not always unwarranted), the disappointment of Zelda's own creative projects, Scott's alcoholism, and Zelda's mental illness.

This was a very interesting in depth look at the life of the Fitzgerald's. Although I know some about the pair, I've never really looked into their histories and found this book fascinating much of the time. It is written from Zelda's point of view and I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated with a charming southern accent. Unfortunately, there's only so far an accent can take you and I found myself flagging for the last third of the book. It seems like it really glossed over some of the allegations of the Fitzgeralds, including the complaints of plagiarism that has followed F. Scott Fitzgerald around. I also would have liked to have a foreword or afterword concerning how the author put her narrative together, how much inspiration was taken from the letters of Zelda and how much is pure conjecture?

I'm giving Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald 3.25 stars out of 5. It really started to lose my attention towards the end and is ultimately a story of two troubled, but interesting figures told by an unreliable narrator.

For more from Therese Anne Fowler, see her website at https://thereseannefowler.wordpress.com/

Pairs well with peach preserves and learning to dance the Charleston.