It's a very gloomy view of a very glittery world.



The Great Gatsby is an early 20th century classic novel, an extraordinary exploration of a shallow society and the superficial scramble for material wealth and social status, and a man who tries to play the game while trying to recapture a lost love and loses himself in the process.

James Gatz changes his name to Jay Gatsby, reinvents himself, gradually lifts himself to vast wealth (through unsavory means) and a higher social sphere. But he still bumps up against the disdain of those in the upper class. Earlier in his life he had fallen in love with Daisy, a lovely and shallow high society girl, but she marries someone else while he’s overseas during and after WWI. Everything he does from that point on is aimed at catching her attention and recapturing her love (her husband being a minor obstacle in this plan). Jay takes questionable actions while pursuing this unworthy object of his affections, while one of his few actual friends, the narrator, watches in concern.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy―they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.…

I think that I admired The Great Gatsby more than I actually enjoyed it, but I’m glad I gave it a second shot after all these years.

I'm supposed to love this book. It's a classic. It's the great American novel… as an English major I'm supposed to just worship every sentence of the book and praise its brilliance.

I don't like it though. I really don't. In fact, I downright dislike this book.

I hate every character in it. I hate the supposedly brilliant prose. I hate the supposedly clever symbolism. There is not a single thing in this damn book that I enjoy.

But Tim, it's a metaphor for the American Dream and… I get it, of course I get it. The symbolism is so blatant, how could I not get it?

Maybe I should reread it? How many times do I need to read it to enjoy it? I read it in Highschool. I read it in college (twice) and read it again years later to give it one last shot. I'm done with it. May I never touch this blasted thing again. 1/5 stars and a hatred that burns with the passion and fire of a thousand stars.

…

Unless of course Gatsby is actually a Green Lantern, who is staring off into that distant green light as symbolism for his secret identity… he is also defeated by something yellow (a weakness of all green lanterns). Maybe when he's off at the parties he's actually off saving the world with super powers! Brilliant! 5/5 stars!

…

No, it's not that fun. Back to the 1/5.

F. Scott Fitzgerald draws an enigmatic millionaire and his sincere passion for a beautiful, but insincere woman in an unprecedented flourishing era. Today happiness largely defined by the acquisition of material things, has been epitomized by this timeless novel.

The Great Gatsby displays Fitzgerald's personal attempt at articulating his colliding feelings towards the Roaring Twenties. In many ways, Fitzgerald like Nick Carraway found the Jazz Age sensuous and restlessly exciting, and like Gatsby, Fitzgerald idolizing the rich, observed how love untimely faced defeat. The novel is brilliant in exhibiting our moral decline.

My senses were entranced by Fitzgerald's riveting prose.

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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IMPRESIONANTE! Sencillamente una obra maestra! Un soñador en busca de un sueño que un buscador de perlas, mató. Aunque en este caso, podríamos afirmar que las perlas y el buscador no eran tales, sino simples hombres y mujeres corrompidos y sin sueños; o con sueños que ninguna ola del mar se tomaría la molestia de acariciar.

...گتسبی به نور سبز ایمان داشت

این داستان بلند رو باید دو بار مرور می کردم (یه بار خود داستان و یه بار اقتباس سینماییش با بازی لئوناردو دیکاپریو) تا عمیقاً عاشق "گتسبیِ حقیقتاً بزرگ" بشم. داستان به خودی خود اینقدر خوب نیست که آدم رو غرق در خودش بکنه. آدم باید دقت کنه تا زوایای شخصیت گتسبی رو بشناسه. اون وقت تازه میفهمه که چرا این گتسبی، گستبیِ بزرگه.

گتسبیِ حقیقتاً بزرگ

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گتسبی، مردی روستازاده است، که با رؤیاهای بزرگ، خانواده ی فقیرش رو ترک میکنه و عازم اروپا میشه. اونجا عاشق میشه، ولی به عشقش نمیرسه.
بعد، تمام زندگیش، با ساده دلیِ کاملِ یه روستازاده، برای به دست آوردن عشقش و رؤیاش میجنگه. از هر راهی که می تونه. اگه این مرد قابل احترامه، نه به خاطر قابل احترام بودن کارهاشه. بلکه به خاطر اینه که نمی ترسه از این که برای رسیدن به رؤیای بزرگش، کارهایی بکنه که جامعه ی ریاکار و دو رو، کسایی همچون "تام"، غیرشرافتمندانه می دونن.
این خصوصیت، این آرمان طلب بودن گتسبی، مخصوصاً وقتی خوب به چشم میاد که با شخصیت های دور و برش مقایسه بشه، از جمله "دیزی" (که ترسش مانع از رسیدن به رؤیای پنج ساله ش میشه) و "تام" که کمابیش آنتاگونیست داستانه.

جدای از این خصوصیت مهم گتسبی، رفتارهای دیگه ش هم خیلی دوست داشتنی هستن. از جمله خجالت کشیدنش از گذشته ش و دروغ گفتنش برای پوشوندن گذشته ش، انزوا طلبی و غیر معاشرتی بودنش، یا جوانمردی ساده دلانه ش، یا دست و دل باز بودنش.

داستان
هر چقدر گتسبی دوست داشتنیه، رمان دوست داشتنی نیست. البته جاهایی که نویسنده با قلم شاعرانه ش وقایع و اشیا رو تحلیل میکنه، خیلی خوبه. اما داستان پردازی و مخصوصاً پایان بندی، اصلا و ابدا خوب نیست. پایان بندی کاملاً اتفاقیه و نتیجه ی علّی و معلولی وقایع پیشین نیست. جدای از این که از لحاظ قتل و هفت تیر کشی، شبیه فیلم های هالیوودیه.

While choosing what to read next from the community library, my attention was drawn to a skinny spine marked with the title The Great Gatsby poking out from between the other books.

I have seen this on many reader’s favorites shelves which piqued my curiosity about how good it might be and if I would like it too. The way this classic beckoned me from the bookshelf was enough signal that it was my time to read it.

For as short as it was, the narration flowed seamlessly. The characters were developed enough to make them believable and just like with most people, I found them hard to like. There is a movie adaptation, but a film cannot reflect the beautiful writing of the book.

In summary, it is a story about how money does not insulate people from their own defects and that our personal happiness does not come from other people; that our ideas of those people who we think will make us happy are nothing more than mental constructs absent of the truth that they are just as flawed as everyone else. It is yet another classic containing the theme of how living an unauthentic life is a tragic waste of time. Is this the secret ingredient that makes a book timeless? Is “keeping it real” one of the most profound lessons in all of literature?

Apparently the colors yellow and white represent sickness and goodness, respectively. I learned this from my Honors English friends after I had read the book on my own, and was very thankful I didn't have to read this for a class and be forced to write papers analyzing the terrifically brilliant symbolism and prose etc etc. It would have completed ruined an otherwise extremely good and exciting story.

PS: The character Daisy appears good and innocent, but at her core is actually rotted and evil. Daisies are white on the outside and yellow on the inside. DO! YOU! SEE!

What is there to love about The Great Gatsby?

F.Scott Fitzgerald’s writing here leaves only a little to be desired. The characters themselves seem shallow and empty, lacking in morality and you could take all this into consideration and instantly report: ‘well that’s a shallow book if ever I’ve heard of one.’ However it can also be seen that, The Great Gatsby is a scathing social commentary that explores the fruitlessness of pursuing dreams. Particularly dreams that are nothing more than shadows. To that end The Great Gatsby is a brilliant piece of fiction designed to criticise the lack of morality among its rich and selfish inhabitants who parasitically devour the work of the poor.

One of the most beautiful elements in this novel is the depiction of the Valley of Ashes, which ultimately all the characters pass through regardless of being rich or poor. It is a place of equality and reminds one of the idea of the ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ mentioned by the Psalmist David, and in the novel itself Wilson relates those giant eyes to the eyes of God, a God who sees all that men do. Which is such a brilliant image to present to the reader. It is imagery like this that haunts one far after finishing this novel. Imagery remembered emphatically.

It is also the language of Fitzgerald’s work that draws one in. It may not always be flawless writing but it is vivid and alive. Fitzgerald’s is essentially thoughtful writing. It is the language of quotes that act as prison bars to keep the reader enthralled by the novel.

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’”

Of course The Great Gatsby will always be a polarising text due to its characters and the debate about whether it is truly a novel about the American Dream. It is a polarising effect that stems from the allure of the book – the way in which the novel hauntingly hints at something greater while remaining so brilliantly flawed. One certainly cannot fully explain their own fascination with the book, save that it does that rare thing that strong literature should do. It serves, as Franz Kafka said, to be “the axe for the frozen sea within us.” An axe in a forest of frozen dreams – poetically carving up a vision of one man forever haunted by the failings of his own dream.

The Life-Altering Magic of Classic Literature

“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”

Rereading Gatsby rejuvenates me. Do I believe in magic? That an author and the alchemy of time, place and persistence, combine to immortalize not only the story but the telling, in its strokes of language so beautiful and true to transcend human.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's short novel floors me every time in its creation and depiction of Love and Tragedy in language so poignant, eloquent and gorgeous. I wonder, who could be so touched by the gods of mythology to compose:

“His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”

This is art that inspires me and restores my belief in providence that humans can be divined, no matter that it be for a drop in time.

Gatsby deserved better.

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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