I'm a Bookworm

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This book examines how one person can gain strength by destroying another — in this case, a married couple. Dick and Nicole Diver seem like happy, wealthy American expatriates to outsider Rosemary Hoyt, who meets them while on holiday on the French Riviera.  Through spending time with them however, she pieces together their unusual story.

Dick Diver was an aspiring psychologist who married one of his rich patients, Nicole. In exchange for caring for Nicole, who is in a fragile state, Dick receives the life he’s always wanted — with a partnership in a Swiss clinic and a beautiful, comfortable home life. However, Dick’s superior position begins to wane once Rosemary meets him. Partly because of the strain of his situation, he begins to act in uncouth ways, to let his emotions get the better of him, and to drink heavily. By the end of the book, Nicole has divorced Dick, remarried and is stronger and more stable than she’s ever been. Dick is left alone and financially berefit.

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing because of the way he portrays the wealthy classes in the early 20th century. He isn’t just another author who writes about Sex and Scandal, however. His writing glimmers with questions about the undercurrents that push and pull his characters. He leaves enough space between his descriptions for multiple interpretations of the protagonists’ motives and for questions about their true identities. As with all good art, perhaps what you don’t say is just as important as what you do say. In the case of Tender is the Night, the question could be– is a life of comfort and wealth worth the sacrifices one must make in order to obtain it?

–The Reader