Joseph Roth "The Radetzky March"

"The Radetzky March" is Joseph Roth's brilliant tale of the declining years of the Austro-Hungarian and the Hapsburg Empire as told through the fortunes and misfortunes of three generations of the Trotta family. This touching drama of parents and children, the state and it's citizens, men and their deeds. The eldest Trotta was a Slovenian lieutenant who, as fate would have it, saved the young, soon-to-be Emperoror Franz Josef on the battlefield. This is a novel about the eternal cycle of the rise and fall of human affairs and empires.
"The Radetzky March" is generally considered to be masterpiece. Joseph Roth has written a beautiful, complex novel with humour and tragic irony.
Ann.

F.Scott Fitzgerald "This Side of Paradise"

"This side of paradise" is Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, written when the author was twenty-four, brought him immediate popular success on its publication in 1920. It tells the story of Amory Blaine, story of his life, but more than that it is the story of his search for love of others and finds only himself. In the first part of "This Side of Paradise" we see young man going to Princeton, full of himself, living a college life, falling in and out of love.
What really made this book important is the second part, after college and after Blaine had done military service during World War I in France.
"This side of paradise" is also autobiographical novel.
Lili.

Kate Chopin "The Awakening"

Writing in the late 1800s, Kate Chopin describes a young woman's dissatisfaction with her roles as wife and mother. Edna is the main character, and she becomes unhappy with her life. However she finds her life boring and wants to be more independent. She is not in love with her husband, though he is a very respectable man. After taking a trip to a resort for a summer, she falls in love with the handsome Robert, who falls in love with her.
"The Awakening" is a defining work of feminism. It features the awakening of Edna to find her true self.
"The Awakening" is a beautifully written brilliant story.
Olga.

F.Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby"

"The Great Gatsby" is a great american novel and one of the best books of the twentieth century. I think the biggest surprise about The Great Gatsby was what a pleasure to read it! Fitzgerald’s writing is absolutely poetic, his plot and his characters are always interesting and the book is almost never boring. It is a portrait of America between the two World Wars, a nation searching for meaning and trying to achieve the American Dream. "The Great Gatsby" takes place during the 1920's. This is a period of women rights, gangsters, new technologies, especially radio and cars. In some ways it is a love story and it also shows the dynamics of the class system.
Ann.