The Last Tycoon

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In a word: theatrical

In a sentence: Hollywood mogul becomes enamored as he works himself to death.

Synopsis: Hollywood director and mogul Stahr is working himself to death after the early demise of his wife. He is then briefly rejuvenated when he finds her doppelganger only to be swept into a whirlwind romance entrapping the two of them, his business partner's daughter, and one of his writers. All this is ironically portrayed by an unreliable narrator (a classic Fitzgerald move) basing most of her information on hearsay and likely fabricating a great deal of the narrative in her own mind.

Reactions: Having read almost all of Fitzgerald's novels by the time (Tender is the Night alone remains on the TBR list), and therefore being intimately familiar with his writing style, this novel was particularly interesting in its rough and ready state. The Last Tycoon was the last novel that the author was writing before his early death due to heavy alcoholism. It was never completed by Fitzgerald and was later published postmortem in its current roughly hewn state.

For myself, although the novel itself is a classic Fitzgerald love story full of heat and tragedy, the published notes after the incomplete draft were far more interesting than the text itself, which admittedly was less captivating than The Beautiful and Damned, or even The Great Gatsby. These notes included an outline of great depth which pinpoints the key plot points almost down to the chapter, which illustrate the incredible amount of thought that obviously went into each of these masterworks. Also included were character descriptions and sketches of important scenes which obviously stood out as significant in Fitzgerald's mind. These were more to the caliber of which I am accustomed to experiencing from Fitzgerald novels, which I'm sure is due in great part to the emotion he derived from these snapshot scenes.

Read if: you desire a unique insight into the development of great novels.