“My affection goes with you – Rolling Junk – with you and with all the faded trappings that have brightened my youth and glittered with hope or promise on the roads I have travelled – roads that stress on still, less white, less glamorous, under the stars and the thunder and the recurrent inevitable sun.”
Hello and Happy Sunday.
How was the egg-hunt? Or have you spend the day reading? I read a lot the past two days. I realized that if I am in the same room as my son and he sees me reading he picks up one of his books, sits down next to me and “reads” as well. Perfect. Win-win! I decided to write a small book review on this beautiful Sunday because I read this amazing book and I have not written a review in a while. Keep on reading if you would like.
I picked up a copy of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Cruise of the Rolling Junk at the Leipzig Book Fair and could not wait to start it. I just knew I would not be disappointed. I have read Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby and enjoyed both books immensely. The Cruise of the Rolling Junk is a small book that I read pretty quickly and I was intensely affected by his words. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American writer of many short stories and novels which have been seen as evocative. However, he is seen by many as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and a writer of the “lost Generation”. He was married to Zelda Fitzgerald.
The story is very simple but beautifully written. Zelda out of a sudden has this passion for biscuits and fresh peaches from her hometown in Alabama. Trying to please his wife no matter what, Scott agrees and both take off from Connecticut and drive in their somewhat unstable car that they call “Rolling Junk” for simply please to Alabama. Things do take a different turn throughout their travels and you learn a lot about Zelda as well as Scott and their troubles within themselves and with each other. I think that this road trip is very romantic, crazy but idealistic and Fitzgerald just knew how to describe nature pleasantly and colorful. His writing is brilliant and the reader can dive deep into post-war American culture and all their dreams throughout this time. The way they both drove around together, sometimes fighting, arguing and trying to constantly fix this car reminded me a bit of Sisyphus. Do you remember the story? Sisyphus was condemned by the Gods to roll a stone up and down a hill continuously. Isn’t this the most meaningless task ever? But what could one do but roll on and on anyway. He just realized many times that he could not fix the car which broke down so many times but he kept on trying and trying to just roll on in a way. And he in a way felt like he was condemned to drive to Alabama – as he even says in the book. I think Scott’s marriage to Zelda can be analyzed with this approach. I don’t want to get to deep into this but I think that it is some sort of a junk(ness) of being or absurdity that we have to accept in a way before we can “move on”.
The book is beautifully done with several pictures of Zelda, Scott and the Rolling Junk while they are on their adventure and reminds me a bit of On the Road by Jack Kerouac which is also a great read by the way. Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald are very well depicted in Woody Allen’s movie Midnight in Paris. Get your copy of The Cruise of the Rolling Junk here. Below I added a documentary on F. Scott Fitzgerald that I liked. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVB0qWLCnEo&list=PLfe7zpjR9oZuxACVQiKQ_OD2-LH5gtMPZ
