Review: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler

A novel of the woman dubber "The First Flapper" - Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, wife and muse to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set against the glamorous backdrops of the Roaring Twenties, Z is the story of the woman who lived large and ached to find her own identity in the shadow of her celebrated husband.

Therese Anne Fowler was born in Illinois and is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she earned a BA in sociology and an MFA in creative writing. She taught undergraduate fiction writing and was editorial assistant for the literary magazine Obsidian III before leaving to write fiction full-time. Therese has two grown sons and two nearly grown stepsons, and currently lives with her husband in North Carolina.

This book has been on my list for a while. I am a big fan of the 20's, Jazz age and stories about the people attending the Stein Salon in Paris. The Fitzgeralds have been very important in this period. Besides the books written by Scott the couple were often seen on parties attended by other big names of that period like Hemingway and Picasso.
The first fifty pages introduces Zelda Sayre a Southern belle from Montgomery, Alabama. She is a very charming woman with only one goal and that is to find a rich husband. Though F. Scott Fitzgerald charms her she does not feel that he is her man because he can never become rich being just a writer. The atmosphere of the South really jumps of the pages. I like Zelda but do not fully understand her yet. She is a complicated woman who seems to have planned her whole life and willing to do whatever necessary to get what she wants.
This behavior continues throughout the story though it becomes clear there is more to her than just a calculated woman. Fowler grabbed the known facts of the movements and life of the Fitzgeralds and filled the dialogue herself making it a story of fiction. Still with the known things it feels realistic. She gave both Scott and Zelda a voice and even though the balance for picking sides was more on Zelda's side as we knew more of her "thoughts" it was clear some irrational decisions were made on her account too. The atmosphere in the book is very strong and I really felt like standing in a corner and seeing it all happening.