Boats Against the Current: The Honeymoon Summer of Scott and Zelda

Boats Against the Current: The Honeymoon Summer of Scott and Zelda by Richard Webb, Jr  192 pages

I’ve been enamored with the Jazz Age, and especially F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, since the first time I read The Great Gatsby. I’m one of the few people I know who really like it. And as I learned more about the couple, I grew fascinated with their lifestyle. There is just something about it that makes me wish I was there for one Gatsby-style party.

This coffee table book focuses on what was probably the happiest time for the lavish-living couple: their honeymoon in Westport, Connecticut.  After having been thrown out of several hotels in New York, S and Z made their way to “The Gray House,” where they continued their wild parties.

While the Fitzgerald’s play an important part of the book, its main focus is to prove that Westport, not Long Island, was the setting for The Great Gatsby. The author, Richard Webb, decided to prove the claim made by author Barbara Probst was true and does a wonderful job substantiating her claim.

Readers learn about the reclusive, multi-millionaire F. E. Lewis, and his estate Longshore, who was, more than likely, Scott’s inspiration for Jay Gatsby. Articles from area newspapers and a few S and Z diary entries make for fascinating reading.   But what I enjoyed most was the section called “Behind the Scenes in 1920s Westport.” It contains brief synopsis about the places and the people which Webb writes and provides a clear case for Webb’s, and Probst’s, claim.

It was heartbreaking to read of Scott’s alcoholism (30+ beers and a quart of gin---day) and Zelda’s need for a mental institution and her ultimate death in a fire at the asylum. 

Boats Against the Current: The Honeymoon Summer of Scott and Zelda receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.