Sometimes great classics (often by American writers) fail to grab me and I’m afraid this was one of those times. The novel follows the dubiously named psychiatrist Dick Diver, his wife and former patient Nicole, and the young actress Rosemary who he falls in love with, over a period of several years in and around southern France. Most of the characters seemed frankly unpleasant people to me, and while there are some dramatically violent moments they don’t seem to lead to much. The Great Gatsby had much the same observations to make about society but I thought did it better.