Tender Is the Night

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

Published in 1934, Tender Is the Night was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how excellent much of it is," Ernest Hemingway said to Maxwell Perkins. "I will say now," John O'Hara wrote Fitzgerald, "Tender Is the Night is in the early stages of being my favorite book, even more than This Side of Paradise." And Archibald MacLeish exclaimed: "Great God, Scott...You are a fine writer. Believe it - not me." Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative - Tender Is the Night, Mabel Dodge Luhan remarked, raised F. Scott Fitzgerald to the heights of a "modern Orpheus".

©1933, Charles Scribner's Sons (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Plummer's skill with varied voices and accents is without equal. She navigates Fitzgerald's glamorous world with panache, immersing the listener in the intense characters' personalities. The result is an entertaining production in which the narrative is as alive as the characters themselves." ( AudioFile)

Great Novel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. This is a book about a life - the good, the bad, the relationships, the triumphs and the disasters. It is beautifully written and has so many phrases that stick in your memory.

What other book might you compare Tender Is the Night to and why?

There is no other book quite like this one. It is totally a 20th century book. Maybe the best of Henry James.

What about Therese Plummer’s performance did you like?

Yes. She managed to convey all of the emotional intensity of the pivotal moments in the story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end of the book is as moving as literature can get.

Any additional comments?

Too often, Fitzgerald is thought of as a one-book author, but this book deserves to be read and re-read.

Perfect Pair

Another great audiobook! A beautifully written story by one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century - it's a little long, but I sped it up with 1.25x. Therese Plummer (on of my favorite narrators) told an amazing story.

Excellent novel; main character poorly voiced

This is a truly excellent novel. I'm glad Audible has it. The performance is often excellent, especially in conveying Rosemary's naive enthusiasm for the Divers in the first section. In that respect it's almost too perky, and for some readers (like another member of my family) that'll make the book unlistenable. I think it's okay. What's not okay is the absurd decision to voice Dick Diver with an sort of put on Irish accent. He's an utterly American character, so this is wildly inappropriate. I keep thinking of Liam Neeson every time he opens his mouth, saying he's "comin'" and "goin'" and so on. It's absurd, a real struggle to listen to, and makes the book harder to enjoy and absorb. How could the performer, and producer, have possibly decided that was correct? The voicing of the other characters is good to excellent. Still, I would have returned this one, with regret, if there were another reading available.

Such a long listen, and worth every minute

I loved the lengthiness of the story and the way F.S.F. crafted the back story for Dick & Nicole.This has been my most recent 'bedtime story" because it was nice to relax and unwind with a classic (though it was difficult to stop listening) - the narrator was wonderful. This title will be in my Listen Again list.

Thought provoking

I'll have to ponder this one for awhile .,, I wish I'd read in an English Lit class, so I could share in analysis of this work. It was very well narrated.

Ick

What is Fitzgerald's obsession with characters whose names rhyme with "ick"? At leat Nick Carroway is human and relatable; Dick Diver is snobbish, proud and yet corrupt, and utterly incomprehensible. What is he after in life anyway? Perhaps this is the aha moment, the meaninglessness of life as seen through the modernist lens--but at least Gatsby left us with something to hold onto, even if that something was ephemeral--at least it was beautiful too. Dick is neither humane nor comprehensible nor grandly tragic--he is simply mundane and self-preoccupied without even claiming the merit of being fascinating.

Rosemary is a little better; the narrator captures her breathless dewy freshness perfectly. With other characters, however, the narrator is as incomprehensible in her choice of inflection as Fitzgerald is in his character creation. Characters continually seem surprised not only in their wording but also in the performative rendering, and listeners are left wondering what the constant shock is supposed to convey. Not having read in its entirety a print version of the book, I am left wondering how much the bizarre inflection contributes to the overall feeling of being unmoored. And perhaps this is intentional too, with the narration attempting to render in an aural and tangible fashion the moral, social, artistic, professional, and even existential bewilderment the characters constantly express and experience. I just don't get it, though. What is the point?

Awesome

love the quality of Fitzgerald's lines, the alliterative musical feel and movie like description. you can feel the breeze as you read

Loved it!

Great read! I loved the characters. I love his approach to character interaction throughout the story. It also really dealt with many sensitive issues. If you are considering it, just do it!

Fascinating Fitzgerald

Would you listen to Tender Is the Night again? Why?

Yes, there are many details and stories that make for compelling reading.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a bit mysterious and built to the climax. I really wanted to find out what happened.

Any additional comments?

I read The Paris Wife and A Moveable Feast prior to this, so some of it fell into place easily--with the couple and the mansion built in France based on the Murphys, friends of the Fitzgeralds. But I guess there is some biographical information slipped in as well. Writers are curios creatures.

Rollercoaster of a Tragic Romance

looking for an ethereal,.vivid and linguistically profound book? look no further, in a 3 act play you witness a full range of emotions. the narrator was skilled and fit the story nicely.