This side of paradise

This is Fitzgerald’s debut novel. It was published when he was only 24. From the book, he was already very mature at that age, a very mature writer and a very mature man. The following are some quotes from the book, all from the beginning. I got lazy later on. From these quotes, you can find an extremely perceptive man.

a culture rich in all arts and traditions, barren of all ideas, (P 4)

She had once been a Catholic, but discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude. (p 6)

New England, the land of schools. There were Andover and Exeter with their memories of New England dead … and a hundred others; all milling out their well-set-up, conventional, impressive type, year after year; (p. 18)

We have no Eton to create the self-consciousness of a governing class; (p 21)

social barriers as artificial distinctions made by the strong to bolster up their weak retainers and keep out the almost strong. (p 32)