Oh Eleanor, you have my heart! “Here am I with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony. If I were born a hundred years from now, well and good, but now what's in store for me.” Fitzgerald has me with his writing style and sprinkles of wisdom: “Don't let yourself feel worthless; often through life you will really be at your worst when you seem to think best of yourself.” This was Fitzgerald’s first book. It’s messy and needed more editing. And as many reviews say, yes, The Great Gatsby is so much better, but he wrote Gatsby 5 years later. He had time to learn his craft and thus he did. Nonetheless, he already shows his genius in This Side of Paradise. Comparing it to Gatsby, is not exactly fair.