Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Great Gatsby

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

17 reviews

caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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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atlantisblauw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Took until about page 140 for it to get interesting, but I did like the ending. Fitzgerald is a good writer, there are some beautiful sentences in there and he's good at writing flashbacks and other jumps through time. His characters are credible, but quite flat.

Ironically, Gatsby is presented as the mysterious one but you learn more about him than all other characters combined.

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hayleyvem's review against another edition

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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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hdoomk's review against another edition

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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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blueberryelf's review against another edition

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1.25

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tifftastic87's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-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

1.5

I genuinely don't understand how this book is one of the "great American novels." Maybe there is something to take away about how wealth is a disease or that being a socialite doesn't mean you are liked, likeable, or capable of friendship. But there has got to be a better way to do that then to tell the story of wealthy people getting drunk, complaining, fighting and running around on their spouses.

Nick, the narrator, reminds us so many times that hes one of the few honest men, that I fail to believe he is a reliable narrator at all.

Gatsby, whom we know so little about until the end, is honestly a man who is so stuck on the past when he "fell in love" with an 18 year old barely legal Daisy that he spent his whole life accumulating wealth to get her attention. He throws wild parties just to hope she'll come.

The women, Daisy and Jordan, are pretty much here for decoration and to be an object for the men to either fight over (Daisy) or be guided by (Jordan). The exception is Myrtle who is there to simply show you how horrible Tom is and for Nick to describe as fat and bossy.

She carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can.

Tom is a racist, white supremacist piece of garbage who cheats on his wife, abuses his mistress and just talks trash about everyone.

I disliked every single character in this book. I loathed every page. I am so glad I was never forced to read this in school.

Only giving it some credit for the accuracy in which Fitzgerald describes drunk people and the way he sets scenes.

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