December 17th, 2012 – Book: the Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
by Rob Smith, Jr. on Dec.17, 2012, under Books
The Last Tycoon (An Unfinished Novel) together with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Fitzgerald’s fictitious tale pulled from the life of Irving Thalberg sure does flesh out Thalberg’s manner and ways around a studio. I read this at the same time reading Roland Flamini’s ‘Thalberg’ about Irving’s life. Reading Fitzgerald was like reading Flamini as both illustrated the legendary producer’s life. Fitzgerald follows Thalberg closest with the studio scenes in the book. Otherwise Thalberg’s manner is well drawn out, though the personal circumstances noted in ‘The Last Tycoon’ are purely fictional to Thalberg’s life.
I’m not nutty about the writing. There are certainly good lines and passages, but as a whole it is clearly in the development stage.
Well worth reading if you are a Thalberg fan.