This side of paradise

A sensation upon its publication in 1920, This Side of Paradise launched F. Scott Fitzgerald to instant fame and announced the arrival of a new, disillusioned generation. It is the vibrant, semi-autobiographical novel that gave voice to the "flaming youth" of the Jazz Age. We follow the journey of Amory Blaine—handsome, arrogant, and hopelessly romantic—from his privileged Midwestern childhood through his years at Princeton University and into the glittering, restless world of post-World War I society. Obsessed with ideas of success and love, Amory navigates intellectual awakenings, passionate affairs, and profound disillusionment in his quest to discover who he is and what, if anything, he truly believes in. Lyrical, witty, and crackling with intellectual energy, this debut novel captures the spirit of a generation caught between the old world and the new. It remains a brilliant and enduring portrait of youth, promise, and the bittersweet taste of paradise found and lost.