Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

79 reviews

carlycormier_'s review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it... It faced-or seemed to face-the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”


During quarantine, I've taken up reading again and I am very glad that I have. I am, however, upset that it took me as long as it did to read this brilliant little book! I flew through it in a day I was so hooked. I was reluctant to pick this one up out of fear that I would envision or compare it to the film (which I saw ages ago). Fitzgerald's superb writing is a big reason why I was able to separate the two and enjoy this more.

It’s a story of false hope, ego, disillusionment, hypocrisy, the idealization of love from naive eyes, romanticizing the mundane, unreliable narration, and the collapse of a rose-colored bubble. Fitzgerald fills this story with poetic imagery that dances across the pages, pulling you in deeper and deeper.

To annotate the book in this review would not do it justice. Simply spectacular and way better than any movie could hope to be.

 It was as dazzling as you would expect it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death, Car accident, Alcohol, Classism, and Murder

caribbeangirlreading's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

2023:  Re-read this book for my Classics Book Club. As always, we had a spirited discussion as to the themes of the book. However, I still did not enjoy reading it and I still hate all the characters - Gatsby is a con-man. Daisy is NOT a victim. Tom is still a horrible human being. Gatsby and Daisy's relationship is toxic AF. Daisy and Tom deserve each other and all their unhappiness. And Nick . . . This time around I really noticed something that I had forgotten from my first read, that Nick is our narrator, and he's a very unreliable one. He "thinks" he's above the superficial and vapid lifestyle of the rich and famous of East/West Egg, but he's in fact just like them. He just doesn't have the money.

2013:  Intellectually, I can see why this book has remained a classic.  It is a scathing social commentary on life in the 1920s, and maybe even specifically of upper class society in the northeast US.  But emotionally, I despised Gatsby, and Tom, and Daisy, and Jordan and many of the other secondary characters so much that reading this book was more torture than pleasure.  I had to force myself to finish this book (over 2.5 weeks!) just so I could say I have read it.  And then F. Scott Fitzgerald's book will join the ranks of the classic American novels that I despise, i.e., every book ever written by his friend and contemporary, Ernest Hemingway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Gun violence and Racism

laurenkgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse

thelibraryofanolive's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

snooze fest tbh and i had no idea what this man was saying most of the time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Racism

marageorge'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Toxic relationship

w333d_w0rm's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I haven’t read the great gatsby or watched the movie in a long time. This is definitely THE classic. The ending broke me …

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Alcohol

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

hayleyvem's review against another edition

reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Classism, Gun violence, Blood, Car accident, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, War, and Alcohol

readingsponsoredbybts's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Death, War, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Toxic relationship

joygarcialim's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

3.25

The story of a mass of toxic characters, being observed by Carraway- it’s impressively written, well ahead of its time. The narration was wonderfully crafted and Fitzgerald truly has a way with writing that makes it sombre, even without referencing much to Carraway’s own emotions as the novel unfolded.

For such a short book though, it started off really slow and the build-up to the climax was slow too. 

I don’t really think Fitzgerald wrote with the intention to flesh out the characters, there is a lack of backstory to all of them except Gatsby. As much as I hated Daisy and Tom, Carraway was ostensibly acquainted with them yet didn’t have much to say about them. The dialogues were confusing at times too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism

hdoomk's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Infidelity

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, and Gaslighting