The Last Tycoon
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Our Price: $7.03
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.92 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: F. Scott FitzgeraldEditor: Edmund Wilson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01-31
ISBN: 0141185635
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Reviews of The Last Tycoon
Book Review: Interesting But Incomplete.
Summary: 4 Stars
Fitzgerald is considered to be an important early 20th century American writer. I bought and read Fitzgerald's five major novels ("This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon") plus one book of short stories plus the biography "Some Sort of Epic Grandeur" by Matthew Broccoli.
His first major novel, "This Side of Paradise," along with "Gatsby" and "Tender is the Night" are considered to be great novels, and I enjoyed the reads. The other two have serious flaws. Interestingly, the Bloomsbury Guide does not rate any of the five well known Fitzgerald novels as masterpieces. His best or most complicated work is "Tender is the Night," but it is less well known than "Gatsby" which became a successful film.
Fitzgerald wrote about half a dozen novels and over 100 short stories between approximately 1917 and 1940. The short stories were done largely to make money to support his life style. In later years, he worked on a number of Hollywood film scripts. He died poor in Hollywood in 1940 at an age of just 44, leaving an insurance policy as his main asset.
The present novel was written by Fitzgerald at the end of his short life. It reflects his own life as a screenwriter although here the protagonist is a dynamic producer, not a writer.
This is a very unsatisfactory novel to read because it has one major flaw: Fitzgerald dies at page 150 leaving the reader hanging mid-air, seemingly in the middle of the unfinished story. It is edited by Edmund Wilson and Wilson suggests different endings, but it does not quite work.
It is an interesting read for two reasons. Firstly, other than his over 100 short works, Fitzgerald has just a handful of novels so there is the curiosity factor. Secondly, it is interesting to see how he develops as a writer. Here in "The Last Tycoon" the great prose and romance is largely gone. It seems more or less like any other Hollywood story. He seems to have lost that romantic identification of the earlier work. Perhaps he was tired.
Summary of The Last Tycoon
A mysterious woman stands and smiles at Monroe Stahr, the last of the great Hollywood princes. Enchanted by one another, they begin a passionate but hopeless love affair.Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.81
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.70
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
Tender Is the Nightby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner; Published: 1995-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Sagaby Edward Rutherfurd
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradise (Enriched Classics)by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2010-09-14; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.19
Price in other shops:
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust (New Edition) (New Directions Paperbook)by Nathanael West
New Directions; Published: 2009-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collectionby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner; Published: 1995-09-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.32
Price in other shops:
The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Simon & Schuster; Scribner; Published: 1999-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.55
Price in other shops:
The Love of the Last Tycoonby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner; Published: 1995-04-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops: