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It's a shame that Fitzgerald never lived to see his novel become one of the most successful literary works of all time. In fact, according to the afterword in this text, by the time of his death, his book had all but fallen out of circulation. I was inspired to reread THE GREAT GATSBY after reading Ernest Hemingway's A MOVEABLE FEAST, in which a detailed account of Fitzgerald talking to Hemingway about his "new" novel, The Great Gatsby, transpires. Hemingway is impressed by the quality of the book and declares it exceptionally good but also notes that Fitzgerald laments his bewilderingly tepid sales.



THE GREAT GATSBY is narrated in first person by a man named Nick Carraway, who seems to be a stand-in for Fitzgerald himself: educated, but not possessing much money, and hobnobbing it with those who are much more privileged than he is. His cousin is Daisy Buchanan, who is married to a bigoted narcissist named Tom, who is also having an affair with a married woman. Charming.



Nick's neighbor is a nouveau riche man named Gatsby who is well known in the area for throwing incredibly lavish parties that people attend with the same sort of wide-eyed wonder as one would a theme park. Unbeknownst to Nick, the overtures of friendship Gatsby extends his way aren't exactly guileless; Gatsby is utterly obsessed with Daisy and has been for years, and would like for Nick to arrange for the two of them to meet, as it turns out that they had a relationship when they were young and Gatsby was poor, and he's thought of her ever since. They meet and Daisy is as stunned by his lavish displays of wealth as everyone else, and also remembers all the good times she had with young Gatsby, and the two of them begin an affair of their own.



This is a tragedy that is also about classism, and how good breeding often excuses the rich. It's also a tale of love and obsession, and how passion can quite literally consume those who open themselves up to consumption. Gatsby's money attracts people to him, as does his charm, but he never really lets anyone know him except for Daisy, who is so selfish in her love that she isn't really ever quite willing to give of herself to anyone. Even her own child feels like an afterthought, mentioned only once. One really can't help but feel like Daisy is in it mostly for Daisy and doesn't give a fig for anyone else.



The most sympathetic person in the book is actually Nick, whose love and admiration for Gatsby is of a much purer form than that, ironically, which Daisy has for him. Nick is a stand-in for the reader, who discovers the story in pieces in real time, as we do, when disaster inevitably causes all of these fractures to cave in. Gatsby never really understands that what he is in love with is an illusion and a projection of his own wishes and desires. I felt kind of like Daisy is an extension of his desire to be one of the rich, and that his desire to marry her stems partially from his desire to be fully accepted into high society.



The writing in THE GREAT GATSBY is truly gorgeous and had me immediately buying up some of Fitzgerald's other works. I read this when I was a teen and much of the nuance was lost on me (and I also struggled with the vocabulary). I remember giving this a three-star rating originally, fixating mostly on the romance and missing basically everything else (as teens can sometimes do). THE GREAT GATSBY definitely gets better over time. I can see and understand the allegations of antisemitism within this work (there are other archaic references to people of other ethnicities that would be considered highly offensive now), and while the age of this book doesn't excuse those words and descriptions used, I do think that the context and the time in which this book was written makes it easier to understand why they are there. What a stunning portrait of doomed love. I am in awe.



4.5 stars

Update Nov, 2019: Well, I knew I would like this better when I *finally* got around to reading it again.

***
Let's just call this a "need to reread" book. I remember thinking it was just okay when I read it. But then, that was back in high school when the teachers made us pull it part and dissect the language. I was bound to hate it. And everyone seems to love Gatsby, so hopefully a revisit will help me see why.

The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald is a classic—one of my favourite. I listened to it as an Audible release narrated by the entire cast of professional readers by the book and watched a movie.
Why did I like it? First, we can see people who are the exact product of their society. Also, how ignorant and arrogant can guests that enjoy and overstay their welcome. What to unrealistic expectations can lead? Where is there true love between Mr Gatsby and Daisy? Who is Daisy? The only person who got the invitation was the only one who carried it. After all, the main character could not correctly process the wholeness of the complexity of what has happened while partying in the inner circles of High Manhattan society. We know that he suffered from alcoholism and psychiatric disorder in the end. And this is how this book starts.

Most Americans are assigned to read this novel in high school. Few American high schoolers have the wherewithal to appreciate this novel in full. I certainly did not. It is on a shortlist of novels that should, every 5 years starting at age 25, return to any American's required reading list.

First things first: The opening of The Great Gatsby -- its first 3-4 pages -- ranks among the best of any novel in the English language, and so too does its ending. Both for their content and for their prose, the latter of which is stunning and near perfect throughout the novel.

As for that between the novel's opening and conclusion, two things first. (1) History is fairly clear that the term "the American Dream" did not exist at the time Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, and regardless it almost certainly did not exist in the popular consciousness. (2) Few great American novelists after Fitzgerald have not attempted to write "the great American novel". Most of these efforts are absurdly long and often tortured. The Great Gatsby, on the other hand, is relatively short, fluid, and of seemingly effortless yet pristine expression. At a point in history where Fitzgerald's express focus could hardly have been a tale regarding "the American dream" per se or the writing of "the great American novel", Fitzgerald nevertheless crafts the definitive tale of "the American Dream", as well as, his successors' endeavors aside, "the great American novel". Period.

In not so many pages, Fitzgerald paints a brilliantly cogent picture of the potential pleasures, joys, and benefits an individual might deem achievable -- uniquely so -- in an America filled with possibilities. Paired with that picture, Fitzgerald besprinkles The Great Gatsby with the numerous pitfalls and evils that both stand as a barrier to what's imagined achievable in America, and threaten to accompany that which is achieved. Neither the quest for, nor (if possible) the achievement of, the American Dream is a thing untainted. Nor, in Fitzgerald's view, can it be.

Fitzgerald, frankly, writes all that need be written on this subject; whatever his successors' ambitions may be. And he writes it in prose so perfect, so impressive, and so beautiful, I occasionally find myself at a loss to name a novel in the English language constructed with greater skill, and apparent ease thereof.

In short: The Great Gatsby is an inimitable wonder of American fiction. And, for lack of a better word, an "application" of the English language that has few equals. The novel is astounding.

I loved this book. I finished it in one day.

I wanted to dislike Gatsby but i did actually really liked him. I hated Tom. And really hated Daisy.

cleaning out my cr shelf it turns out im NOT in my classics era but fear not i will be soon

—

am i? entering my classics era???

I first read this book in my highschool English class. I remember enjoying, but since it was for school I was more concerned with getting a good grade than really delving beep into it.
I always knew that I wanted to go back to it, away from the pressure of a good grade. Now I remember why everyone loves this book, and why it is taught so often in schools... And that's because it's bloody brilliant!!

“His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him.”

The sixth stop in the World Tour brings me to America in 1922 and to the classic that is ‘The Great Gatsby’, a novel that depicts the iconic hedonism of the ‘Jazz’ era through the characters, the themes, and the historical backdrop in a way so few books have. Authentic, perhaps because it represents a period in the authors own life when Fitzgerald himself indulged in the raucous and flamboyant lifestyle savoured by many who challenged the social norms, enjoyed the economic prosperity, and lived life unapologetically.

Colourful, flashy, decadent, corrupt, and flapper-tastic.

The Plot

It is the summer of 1922, when New York salesman, Nick Carraway, moves to Long Island, New York. A ‘des res’ inhabited by the ‘nouveau’ riche / new rich self-made Americans. His neighbour is the intriguing and decadent Gatsby who throws lavish parties but in his quiet time appears a recluse, often found staring into the lakes bordering his mansion.

Socialising with his distant relation Daisy, Nick is invited into the circle that will open his eyes to the new American Dream, which is when he meets Jordan and Gatsby. Although all is not what it seems, Gatsby’s means of making money comes to the fore as do many other revelations shining a light onto what now appears the imperfect society.

Attending a dinner arranged by Daisy, it soon becomes apparent to the others and to Daisy’s husband Tom that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby. Creating a sense of bad feeling and anger among the guests, Tom gets into an argument with Gatsby which leads to a sequence of events that is to prove deadly.

Review and Comments

Symbolic and even cynical about the life that evolved around pleasure-seeking when the ‘flawed’ human traits and moral delinquencies within people were to remain as they always were, but somehow disguised under the flapper outfits and dazzling lights.

“A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about.”

At first, the book appears as a lighthearted story of love and romance, glamour and the newfound happiness in wealth and entertainment. However, the underlying poignant message for me was very different and if anything, it pokes fun and ridicule at the ‘fake’ era of glamour, music, and joy, and a less than romantic attachment between the main characters.

A great character study, evocative and important themes, and a wonderful trip into living, what many thought as ‘The American Dream’. However, the American Dream is much more than the book depicted and it certainly isn’t contained within this time period.

Nevertheless, a good era to visit on the World tour, many of which will be in the US at different points in history, and with different groups.

the only thing I got from this is that Nick is gay

2.5

Se me olvidó actualizar la info de este libro en GR, oops. Luego dejo un review por acá, aunque ya expliqué mi sentir en el Wrap up de Los Juegos de Booktube, en el canal.

OH, y no estoy segura del rating que le puse al libro, en estos días pensaré si debo subirlo o bajarlo, sigo muy pensativa al respecto.

If you don't succeed at first, try, try again! On rereading this book 'Fitzgerald's crowning achievement - THE novel of the 1920s, and loved by every generation since' it's like my eyes have been opened and a shroud lifted! From the very first page the writing, the atmosphere and that reliable(!) narrator held my attention and kept it rivetted over all nine short chapters. As well as being a blistering critique of the American Dream, it's also about the narrator Nick Carraway's eye's being opened, just like mine were on truly understanding the story of the great Gatsby!

Personally feel that this story will always stand true for America, the way people are so easily thrown under the bus when their tide turns, despite being so 'invested in' and 'hung on to' when in vogue, see Gatsby; how the privileged live their lives and decimate the lives of the less privileged around them with little regard or indeed consequence, i.e. Tom and Daisy; how striving for the American Dream has no real rules and does not really call for a moral compass or integrity, see Gatsby; and how the enlightened, despite understanding this, do little about it, as the American Dream is a integral part of America itself, see Nick. The cherry on top is the writing and the utterly amazing feat of saying so much in so few pages. F. Scott Fitzgerald, I so stand corrected! 9 out of 12!

This book also underlines one of my strongest bookish beliefs, in that if I ever "don't get" a lauded read, I must one day return at another point in my life and reread it again, especially as my expectations are very much then lowered. If you didn't/don't think much of this book, please read it again one day. This book kicks ass!

2005 and 2022 read
Link to my 2005 one star review

This is a good book, though it is so ridiculously overrated.

There are so many great books out there that will never get the attention they deserve. They will be forgotten and their wisdom heard by only a select few who are willing to go looking for it. So it annoys me when books like this are acclaimed by critics and readers alike as the best pieces of fiction in existence (when they are not.) There’s so much more out there!

Anyway, rant over. The thing I like most about The Great Gatsby is the language, the subtlety’s and the suggestions, the things that are not directly said but are said nevertheless. It’s a true feat of writing and at times it reminded me of a stage piece. The dialogue does not give the answers, but it is the character’s actions and movements (so fantastically narrated) that give the game away: it reveals their internal worlds.

As such this is a book that can easily be skimmed over. The plot is basic and relatively unengaging and consequently I think an inattentive reader has a lot to miss here. It’s all about illusions and false appearances just like real life. The way people perceive us is not how we truly are and sometimes individuals actively work towards creating a desired appearance for the outside world. It’s easily done with enough time, effort and money. What Gatsby creates for the outside is a dream, an ideal life that looks perfect.

However, scratch the surface and it is so very, very, clear that not everything is perfect. His supposed “happiness” is hollow and dictated by the whims of society. It is fickle, egotistical and driven by status and all the silly little symbols that go with it. His success is what society demands success to be; thus, he positions himself into a place where he can chase his true dream. In doing so Gatsby shows us that not everything is as simple as it appears, and that society driven by such monetary values is a dangerous thing because everybody is so detached from what really matters in life. (The object of his affections, for example.)

I enjoyed The Great Gatsby though I certainly did not love it. Its popularity baffles me to a degree, I can think of books from the same era that deserve far more attention. Still, I enjoyed reading it and I’m glad I finally did so.

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