The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginevra King, His First Love Book

In high school I did a research project about F. Scott Fitzgerald. I found a lot of information about his wife Zelda who intrigued me. She inspired many of Scott's works and was a lasting influence on his life.

This book exposes another influence, perhaps an even greater one because of how early Ginevra King met Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald fell in love with the vivacious girl and shared a romance with her that helped shape his ideal woman.

The problem with this book is it's brevity. It details the backgrounds of both participants in the relationship and discusses their lives after the romance ended. For the time they were together, letters that were saved and diary entries are used to explain the relationship. However, although the author says that Ginevra King influenced Fitzgerald's works and gives examples, he never explains why she made such an impact.

I was disappointed that although Ginevra King was shown to be as much an influence on Fitzgerald's work as Zelda, she was shown to be less eloquent, vivacious, beautiful and articulate. Out of the five letters in the appendix of the book and the other many diary, story and letter references, I found one quote from Ginevra that was easy to relate to. The rest was chatter and not worth saving or dwelling over. This only adds to the confusion over why King made such an impact on Fitzgerald's life or why this book was even written.