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lizzycatslibrary's review against another edition
3.0
This is my second time reading The Great Gatsby. I read it when I was in high school and I wasn't too impressed. I thought I should give it another chance as I figured maybe my literary taste has evolved and changed and maybe I would be able to appreciate The Great Gatsby more. The verdict? It was only okay. Don't get me wrong... I enjoyed it and there were good parts to it... but I also feel like I miss the entire worship I am supposed to have for this book as a person who loves literature. I liked the characters, the setting, the time frame, and pretty much most of the things about it. Liked it... just didn't love it.
I AM looking forward to the film rendition of it coming out this year. :) Now that I have re-read the book I feel prepared to judge the movie accordingly! ;)
I AM looking forward to the film rendition of it coming out this year. :) Now that I have re-read the book I feel prepared to judge the movie accordingly! ;)
jonisayin's review against another edition
5.0
From the back flap ... Set in 1925 Jazz age Long Island, Narrator Nick Carraway depicts his interaction with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his obsesseion to reunite with his former lover Daisy Buchanan. It really is a story about how careless people are, and emphasized with the final lines: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us ... So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back carelessly into the past."
deblaroche's review against another edition
5.0
No wonder this is a classic! I loved it as much as I remembered loving it when I read it in high school. I had forgotten how tragic it was, though, since the party scenes at Gatsby's house are the descriptions that really stick with you. I hope the new movie version does it justice...
marcio's review against another edition
4.0
The 1920's. A time of constant celebration, at least for those who had more than a few to survive. It was jazz time either and was considered a good decade (that has been preceded by the end of WWI and the Spanish Flu pandemic), even in economic terms. I remember reading in Galbraith's The Great Crash of 1929 that pieces of swampy land in Florida were sold like water, even if it was the worst place to invest money. Bank loans were granted, one only had to ask for them.
But like all good parties, in the end, there is a mess all over and someone will have to clean it. In times of abundance, we do not notice or prefer not to realize that not everything is going well. Voltaire in his Candide said through the Leibnizian Pangloss, "everything goes for the best in the best of all possible worlds" to conclude the book with the phrase "but it is necessary to cultivate our garden".
The Great Gatsby is a very good portrait of that decade, starting with Fitzgerald's writing style, which gives the impression that he wrote it in flux, nonstop as if he needed to have a constant eye in the actions happening along with the book. It is the very best thing in the book, that is, Fitzgerald's style.
The story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to the estate of enigmatic multi-millionaire Jay Gatsby. He knows of the wild parties Gatsby offers every weekend in the summer of 1922, till he received an invitation from Gatsby himself. Little by little Nick and Gatsby become good friends and as the weeks evolve into Fall, Nick gets to know a lot more about this particular man that Gatsby is. Until tragedy strikes.
Strangely enough, the novel, published in 1925, feels like a portrait of the decade of 1920, from beginning to end. From its success to its failure. From its celebrations to its despair.
Gatsby, while creating a persona to achieve his main goal, regardless of the illegal steps he took to gather his fortune, remains a man's man, a loyal person to a friend and to the one that he loves. Caught in a web stitched by fate, the characters in the book seem to be performing a Greek tragedy, and it is a tragedy that strikes in the end.
It is such a great and interesting read that I want to get to know the other works by Fitzgerald.
But like all good parties, in the end, there is a mess all over and someone will have to clean it. In times of abundance, we do not notice or prefer not to realize that not everything is going well. Voltaire in his Candide said through the Leibnizian Pangloss, "everything goes for the best in the best of all possible worlds" to conclude the book with the phrase "but it is necessary to cultivate our garden".
The Great Gatsby is a very good portrait of that decade, starting with Fitzgerald's writing style, which gives the impression that he wrote it in flux, nonstop as if he needed to have a constant eye in the actions happening along with the book. It is the very best thing in the book, that is, Fitzgerald's style.
The story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to the estate of enigmatic multi-millionaire Jay Gatsby. He knows of the wild parties Gatsby offers every weekend in the summer of 1922, till he received an invitation from Gatsby himself. Little by little Nick and Gatsby become good friends and as the weeks evolve into Fall, Nick gets to know a lot more about this particular man that Gatsby is. Until tragedy strikes.
Strangely enough, the novel, published in 1925, feels like a portrait of the decade of 1920, from beginning to end. From its success to its failure. From its celebrations to its despair.
Gatsby, while creating a persona to achieve his main goal, regardless of the illegal steps he took to gather his fortune, remains a man's man, a loyal person to a friend and to the one that he loves. Caught in a web stitched by fate, the characters in the book seem to be performing a Greek tragedy, and it is a tragedy that strikes in the end.
It is such a great and interesting read that I want to get to know the other works by Fitzgerald.
rae607's review against another edition
5.0
I reread "The Great Gatsby" along with my younger daughter, who was reading it for the first time as part of her 11th-grade English class. Though her teacher insists the only overarching theme here is class, I find the book full of longing. The poor long to be rich, the newly rich long to be accepted among the establishment, and members of the establishment long for novelty and fun, no matter the literal or metaphoric cost. And above all, of course, Gatsby longs for Daisy. I came away from this encounter with the novel finding that I could no longer identify with Nick Carraway at all; in fact, there's not one likable character on these pages. Still, the indelible impression the book leaves on the imagination makes it worth returning to Fitzgerald and seeing what he has to offer in whatever season of life you may be living.
hairymclary28's review against another edition
4.0
It feels like a very personal book. I read it in one evening, which is probably why I found it so absorbing. But it's really interesting, because it's got a lot of stuff that you can link to Fitzgerald's life. And it's also really melancholy, especially the ending. It's quite a short book, but I can see why it's a good one for Higher English. The themes are really interesting, and the style's very poetic. It seems to be all about secrets and lies, and how the past will always catch up with you somehow, and about destruction and pain and what humans will do to each other. And thoughtlessness. Yeah, it's an interesting read.
jes8284's review against another edition
3.0
I could follow the story, but it was a very wordy, descriptive book. Movie was more enjoyable, and I don't say that frequently, but glad I read it first. Definitely an English class book.
maggiegould's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it took awhile for me to get into this, I found. Which was a shock, because I was *so* excited to read this. I had only ever heard good reviews about it, so of course I expected good things! But once I got into it, I started to really enjoy it!! I was shocked to find out the pov wasn't Jay Gatsby...that threw me through a little loop. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book - Daisy has to be by far my favorite character (I could never find myself liking our narrator, Nick)