Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Great Gatsby by Sean Connolly, F. Scott Fitzgerald

56 reviews

wheatlyre's review against another edition

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

4.25

I will preface my review with the fact I read The Great Gatsby in a classroom setting, with a chapter-per-week pacing, as it was for an English assignment, and very little out of class reading; which I feel should be noted, as the way I interacted with and read the book was slightly different than how I would in a recreational/normal environment.
I liked The Great Gatsby quite a bit, and while I found my feelings for most of the characters to be on a spectrum of apathy to (just barely not) hatred as people, they are interesting characters, and you could find a lot of depth through speculation over them. There are a few lines and descriptions that I found quite revealing regarding the underlying feelings and motivations of some of the characters, especially

Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby (aka James Gatz), and Tom Buchanan

, but that you might normally ignore or look past.
While I did enjoy it, there were some areas that felt slightly dull or dragged out, to the point I felt I had to skip though a bit my first read through, then re-read after finishing the chapter for additional context in the later scenes.
Nick Carroway, the narrator, skips through the summer while telling the story. He keeps the timeline linear, so it could feel a bit off-putting in the moment when he would mention seemingly random events between parties and dinners with acquaintances, but the events do all have actual meaning for being there, biggest reason being to build characterization and foreshadow future reveals or events. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Bullying and Antisemitism

magnolia_berry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

k_shimer's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Grief

Minor: Confinement and War

jobaji's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism and Suicide

Minor: Cursing and War

abi_04's review against another edition

slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rachelmcg2004's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

Half a star taken away from this masterpiece for the jarring and horrible racial slurs and sexism that cropped up on occasion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, War, and Classism

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Gun violence and Racism

atlantisblauw's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Antisemitism, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

faith99's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Car accident, and Classism

Moderate: Grief and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence and Murder

nataliapassos's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Car accident, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Murder