Finished: The Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald) The last novel by Fitzgerald, which was incomplete at the time of his death, is the story of Monroe Stahr, a Hollywood producer, and is supposedly based on the real life "wonder boy" producer Irving Thalberg. Fitzgerald's writing is always very powerful, but you can tell he was not done with the story or with possibly rearranging parts of it. His notes are included at the back of the book and it's very interesting to read those and see what he was intending for the major characters, especially Stahr. The story is narrated by his business partner's college-aged daughter, Cecelia, who fancies herself in love with Stahr. She tells about how powerful he is, how he changed movies, how successful he made them after the depression, how he interacts with people, and at the same time, how vulnerable he can be when he falls for a woman who is the spitting image of his late, dead wife. We see a bit of him pursuing that woman, and her falling for him, but warning him he doesn't know everything. Then, it turns out she's got a fiance and is getting married the day after they are intimate! Cecelia then decides it's time for her to swoop in and make her move. The book ends there rather abruptly, but the notes suggest that they do have an affair, but only for a few weeks before he breaks her heart. They also indicate that he takes a trip to the northeast, and falls ill and dies due to a heart that he has overworked because he won't ever take a break. I imagine the story would have been much clearer (obviously) if Fitzgerald had been able to actually complete it. What he did write, though, is his typical, excellent prose. :-)