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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Some violence; a fight sequence; not the novel's primary content
Language
Barely any
Mild language in the 1920s literary register
Sexual Content
Some
Some sexual content in the adult literary register
Substance Use
A lot
Significant alcoholism — a central subject of the novel and the Patches' primary means of self-destruction
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological content: the portrait of two people choosing self-destruction over effort, and what that choice costs across a lifetime
What this book is about
Anthony Patch, heir to a vast fortune he cannot yet access, and his beautiful wife Gloria wait out their days in New York's social scene, slowly being consumed by alcohol, parties, and a shared conviction that effort is beneath them. Fitzgerald's second novel is darker and more honest about moral failure than The Great Gatsby — the Patches are harder to romanticize, their decline is more unsparing, and the verdict on their lives is more complete.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Alcoholism as a central and unsparing subject
The psychological portrait of deliberate self-destruction
Reader Verification
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