Weekend Writing: Reviewing Therese Anne Fowler's "Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald"

When I began reading Therese Anne Fowler's historical fiction novel, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, I was excited to learn more about one of the most notorious couples in literary history: Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. As I have expressed before on the blog, I love F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing. I prefer The Great Gatsby over his other writing, but I also find his biography interesting to examine.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald
(photo/Famous Biographies)

But I was eager to learn more about his wife--Zelda. I already knew Zelda was a Southern Belle, and I knew the couple didn't exactly have a happy marriage. But I was still excited to read an entire novel about Zelda. I knew I was going to learn new information about the Fitzgeralds, and I wasn't wrong.

Fowler's novel begins by explaining Zelda's early childhood as Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, and then it moves forward with Scott and Zelda's courtship at the end of World War I. The two got married and Scott had sudden fame as the best-selling author of his first novel, This Side of Paradise. The Fitzgeralds proceeded to take America by storm, becoming a power couple and everyone wanted to be "like the Fitzgeralds."

But if you asked Scott and Zelda, they weren't perfect. They knew they weren't role models. They didn't have a happy marriage. In 1925, Scott published The Great Gatsby and it was met with disappointing sales and mostly uncomprehending reviews. That's when their marriage began to spiral into something more destructive. Scott's drinking raged out of control and Zelda's behavior, somewhat unpredictable, became erratic.

In 1930, she had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized. She spent the next decade in and out of psychiatric clinics and everyone around her was worried about her. At the same time, Scott's alcoholism controlled his life. As we know, Scott and Zelda's lives didn't end happily. In 1940, Scott died of a heart attack from his alcoholism and Zelda died in a fire at a mental hospital in 1948.

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (photo/Newsfeed)

Fowler's novel has been criticized for not being completely accurate about Scott and Zelda's personal lives. Names are wrong throughout the work, as are dates that could be easily checked. People in the 1920s didn't say "come on," but Fowler includes this remark in passages of dialogue.

Fowler missed the mark with a variety of details about Zelda's personal life. Her version kept preaching moderation but the real Zelda would have laughed at those passages. In the book, Zelda urges Scott to spend less money on liquor and drink less. But Zelda's letters at the time actually admit how much she's been drinking, what she's been buying, how much fun she has while drinking, and the letters seldom mention their daughter, Scottie, whereas Fowler's Zelda frequently mentioned Scottie.

The real Zelda was famous for her elaborate "performances" at parties, including the times she threw off her clothes at the drop of a hat, danced on tabletops, and "necked" with other men, but none of these details appear in Fowler's version--perhaps to present Zelda in the highest standard. The real Zelda would have been insulted at being portrayed as a prim and proper Victorian maiden.

Therese Anne Fowler's "Z: A Novel of Zelda
Fitzgerald" (photo/Kasy Long).

But perhaps Fowler elaborated and changed Zelda's details to highlight her as the protagonist. Scott is presented as the "antagonist." He's the drunkard. He spends too much time with Ernest Hemingway. He gets jealous and angry over his writing and often takes it out on Zelda. That's the picture Fowler presents to readers because, since it's a novel about Zelda, we're supposed to root for the Southern Belle. We're supposed to love her and want her to find happiness.

Written in the first-person POV (point of view), readers feel as though they're talking directly to Zelda. The broken "character" is desperate for someone to talk to, and that's us. 

Yes, I would have preferred if Fowler's historical fiction novel would have been more accurate. After all, it's still a historical novel. But despite the novel's flaws, I still enjoyed reading it. In fact, I very much enjoyed the novel. I loved reading the words that felt like they belonged to Zelda Fitzgerald. I loved learning more about her story before she met Scott and the life they shared together. I felt connected to Zelda, and whether or not Fowler elaborated on various passages, the novel was still a beautiful, heartbreaking tale of everyone's favorite flapper girl.

-KJL-