Originally published serially in Metropolitan Magazine, The Beautiful and Damned is Fitzgerald’s second novel. It tells the tale of Anthony Patch, an awaiting heir to his grandfathers large estate, and his pursuit, and obtainment of Gloria Gilbert. Pursuit and obtainment, eh? Sounds like a “happily ever after” jazz age love story, but spoiler alert, it’s not.

Throughout the novel, Anthony Patch is dependent on the large inheritance expected after his grandfather’s death. He sits around lazily and cockily, drunk on self assurance. He meets and falls in love with Gloria Gilbert. Gloria is quite similar to Anthony, she’s young, beautiful, and full of desires, but she also has a hint of the same decadence that troubles Patch. Naturally, they generally get along well and get married. They spend their honeymoon travelling and simply indulging in shared passion.

Eventually, however, having no true aspirations or goals in life, both Gloria and Anthony’s lives decay. They indulge in a slew of alcohol fueled parties. Attending these parties results in his grandfather disinheriting him, thus disrupting Anthony’s assurance of obtaining the large inheritance upon his grandfather’s death. While trying to battle this in court, Anthony is called to a military training camp located in the south. While at the training camp, Anthony has an affair and Gloria stays faithful. He returns to find his marriage worse, and begins the life of a true alcoholic.

The novel ends shortly after Gloria convinces the court to reverse their decision, resulting in  the Patches still becoming ridiculously wealthy. Unfortunately, money wasn’t able to buy true happiness. The Beautiful and Damned witnesses Patch’s much pursued marriage with Gilbert eventually dissolve into an indifferent bond clouded with alcoholism and unsatisfied desire.

Although not exactly what one would call a “light read”, The Beautiful and Damned is a piece that is definitely worth the time it takes to be read. It isn’t the generic “all’s well, end’s well” novel, and it, at times, will leave readers rather frustrated at the bitterness found on each page, but it depicts the harsh reality that not everything will work itself out. Sometimes that’s just the way life goes, and the fact that Fitzgerald manages to capture this is what makes the novel such a beautiful piece.