This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, as well as the work that would catapult him onto the literary stage. This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 and was an instant success. The novel was rejected twice by Charles Scribners' Sons in 1918 and 1919; at the time, Fitzgerald had been fiddling with the titles The Romantic Egotist and The Romantic Egoist (the latter lends its name to the first portion of the book).

The novel chronicles the life of young Amory Blaine, and is divided into two books, separated by an interlude. The first book runs through his affluent but effectively fatherless childhood; Fitzgerald dismisses his father within the first three sentences of the book as a lost and fairly useless man whose impact on Amory is limited to "his height of just under six feet and his tendency to waver at crucial moments". Amory's mother is the chief influence on his life, as well as his local Monsignor and countless women. Amory's romantic adventures are invariably presented from an aloof perspective, from the age of fourteen on up. Amory looks for love but invariably fails to find it, and sinks back into himself. The "egotist" title becomes more and more fitting as the book moves on; Amory cannot find fault anywhere but outside himself.

The book's interlude is in the form of two letters, sent after Amory fights in the later days of World War I. One is from the Monsignor to Amory, expounding on Amory's inability to fit in as a member of his or any world. The second originates from Amory and is sent to one of his friends discussing the latest developments in his life.

The second book follows a similar pattern to the first; Amory conducts two more major affairs, both of which he takes much more seriously than his previous engagements. He is invariably left alone, however, waking up in hotel rooms dazed and hung over with the termination of each relationship. His mother is dead, and his money and investments are drying up. I suppose I should not mention how the book ends.

The book, as all of Fitzgerald's books are known to do, displays a great number of parallels to the life of the author. Amory attends Princeton, as Fitzgerald did, fought in World War I (briefly), as Fitzgerald did, and saw himself as a romantic completely unable to find love. Amory's tempestuous romances echo the pitched relationship between Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre, which would later be emulated in The Beautiful and Damned and The Great Gatsby.