F. Scott Fitzgerald /

Gr. 9^-12. Intended as "comprehensive research and study guides" to the best of each author's works, books in Bloom's Major Novelists series offer biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on novels considered classics. In these volumes, the biographical information is brief, but it provides insight into the personal backgrounds and philosophical leanings of each writer. Sections designated "Plot Summary" are a bit misleading as they contain more commentary than story summation; character descriptions are expertly done in Fitzgerald but only adequate in Faulkner. Not surprisingly, the strongest sections are the analyses. Encapsulations of major critical essays (usually two pages each) cover important themes that students need to understand to appreciate the works. The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night are successfully covered in the Fitzgerald volume; coverage is not as thorough in Faulkner as it deals with more works--Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, and, especially, Absalom, Absalom! Each volume ends with a list of works by and about the author. --Roger Leslie

Gr 9 Up-Packed with portions of essays, none longer than a short commercial break, and only a few any more taxing for average readers, this slender analysis of The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night will be useful to novice researchers. Providing relatively detailed plot summaries, a list of major characters, and selections from 15-to-17 essays on each novel, the book contains practically all the information a sophomore needs. The volume concludes with a list of Fitzgerald's works, a bibliography, and a thematic index. Libraries that already own Bloom's Fitzgerald volume in "The Modern Critical Views" series (Chelsea) may pass on this one, but it may be just what more timid students need. The main drawback is also possibly its greatest strength: how predigested it feels.-Herman Sutter, Saint Agnes Academy, Houston, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.