after reading "z", i discovered a handful of novels dedicated to zelda fitzgerald have been published recently (i am assuming) to run on the coat tails of baz lurhman's "the great gatsby" release. and of course, adoring zelda as i do, decided to read all of them. the second one i chose was "beautiful fools" by r. clifton spargo.
"beautiful fools" as it said on the cover is about the last of affair of zelda and f. scott fitzgerald. as i learned in "zelda", the fitzgeralds took a trip to cuba (after zelda did not go on the institution's cuba trip),and though they did not know it at the time, it would be their last trip together. this novel is a fictional tale about that trip, though the complexity of their relationship was based on truth. and of course the title, is from "the great gatsby", words scott took from zelda's lips at scottie's birth and put them on daisy's lips. and though it was zelda's wish for scottie to be a beautiful fool, it's safe to say that both zelda and scott were beautiful fools so the title is appropriate.
the trip to cuba is disastrous from the start. zelda saw it as an opportunity to save their marriage by proving she was well, while scott used it as a means to escape his life in hollywood and his mistress. spargo created a handful of incidents that exasperated their already strained relationship. scott meets some shady characters and puts zelda and him in some sticky situations, i won't spoil it but lets just say there is a barroom brawl and some cockfightings. but zelda does create a handful of awkward situations herself, including a trip to a clairvoyant. however, regardless of the events that occur, scott and zelda would have had a troubling time regardless due to their relationship woe.
as i discussed in the post for "z", fowler discussed how people are divided into camp zelda or camp scott, however, spargo did an excellent job in "beautiful fools" of demonstrating how scott and zelda were both guilty of ruining their marriage. as i read i was frustrated with zelda's neediness and erratic behavior and scott's drinking and money-wasting. they were both on self-destruct mode. as wonderful as they started off in their youth, they both had an equal hand in their demise. which again reminded me of my very own zelda-scott relationship, i once had a disastrous trip to mexico with the same friend i talked about in the "zelda" post. just like scott and zelda, drinking added a lot of drama to our trip. after the trip, we both spent time convincing ourself the other was responsible for the drama that occurred but looking back, we really were both to blame. oddly enough, we did manage to scrape our trip together by putting aside our differences. and even though i though it was the end of our friendship, it survived it. (though only for a year or so after). but even with all of its drama, i can look back at the trip and not be bitter and recognize it as experience that occurred at no fault of anyone but just the way life went.
the trip ends with zelda (though thought of as fragile because of her condition) taking charge and taking care of scott and the mess he gets them in. and i guess that is what i admired about the fitzgeralds in this story. they were not perfect but they managed because they truly loved each other. as scott in the novel said, "she was the only thing he truly loved in the world but his love was twisted and wounded and he could never again make it a simple, straightforward thing." and that is what happens with love sometimes, it gets injured but does not seize to exist. and at our lowest points that love will be strong enough to help us endure.
i enjoyed "beautiful fools" more than "z" because spargo is the better writer. while fowler's zelda felt forced, spargo's zelda was as colorful as i assumed the real one would be based on all i have read so far. my only critique is that i got tired of all the war and fascist talk but i mean those topics were probably on the tips of everyone tongues during that time. but all in all, a novel, i would assume scott and zelda would not be ashamed to appear in.
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