Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I must confess that I started reading Tender is the Night back in August, but one thing about this book is that it is written in a manner where I could put it down for awhile, pick it back up, and continue to read without missing a beat. This is a well-written book!

All along I thought that this book was about one of the main characters Dick Diver. Dick is a brilliant psychiatrist who is married to one of his clients, Nicole. We meet Dick and Nicole while they are on vacation, and they meet this young girl named Rosemary. Rosemary is an actress. Dick and Nicole ask Rosemary to travel with them, and Rosemary falls in love with Dick.

Then the books flashes back to when Dick met Nicole. Nicole was stunningly beautiful and was institutionalized; she was Dick's patients. She and Dick fell in love and eventually got married. They had two children. Then....

The plot starts to twist... Dick is accused of infidelity with a patient, Dick and Rosemary have a brief affair, Dick gets beat up and imprisoned, Dick becomes an alcoholic and is asked to leave the clinic where he works....

Near the end of the book, we start to finally hear from Nicole who has been silent most of the book. While Dick is away on one of this trips, Nicole has an affair with a guy named Tommy, and she ask Dick for a divorce and marries Tommy... I was not expecting this at all. 

It became apparent that throughout the book, Nicole was getting the psychological help that she needed from Dick, and at the end of the book, she finally was well and realized that "Either you think--or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you."

So, this book was not about Dick at all but actually about Nicole.

My people, do not think that because it took me a long time to finish this book that it is not a good book. This is not the case at all: reading to prepare to teach, cyclocross, my social life, Homecoming etc.

This is a book that should be read....

My next read is Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma.