ladyzbyrd's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
An incredible story through varying points of view and jumps in time! Heartache and love, rage and sadness, murder and secrets - the author takes you through them all, step-by-step.
I love the history the author had about the The Great Gatsby and the timing of it all between two pandemics, almost 100 years apart.
Will we see another retelling in another hundred years? It’s certainly inspiring in a way to dream of the future.
I love the history the author had about the The Great Gatsby and the timing of it all between two pandemics, almost 100 years apart.
Will we see another retelling in another hundred years? It’s certainly inspiring in a way to dream of the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Murder
mishale1's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’m trying to write this review especially carefully so it doesn’t come off as my saying this book was badly written. It was well written and clever. It offered a unique new spin on one of my favorite classics. I had been really looking forward to this book when I heard about it.
I can see that a lot of people reviewed this book much higher than I did. But reviews are personal and based on your own enjoyment of the book and I just didn’t love this version of Jay Gatsby. Yes, it absolutely put an interesting spin on the story. And I don’t want to spoil the storyline so I don’t want to go into much detail. I’ll just say that Gatsby was not a good guy in this book and I didn’t enjoy seeing his character that way.
I can see that a lot of people reviewed this book much higher than I did. But reviews are personal and based on your own enjoyment of the book and I just didn’t love this version of Jay Gatsby. Yes, it absolutely put an interesting spin on the story. And I don’t want to spoil the storyline so I don’t want to go into much detail. I’ll just say that Gatsby was not a good guy in this book and I didn’t enjoy seeing his character that way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Physical abuse
Minor: Murder
vanallenemily's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident and Stalking
maria1085's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
Fans of The Great Gatsby will love this story told from the perspective of three women. We read this for book club and we all really loved the writing, and the women’s individual stories. We felt that it stayed true to the original Great Gatsby. I really liked the strong female characters and friendships between them. I loved the time period of the early 1920s in this book. Now I need to go back and reread The Great Gatsby. This book reminded me how much I liked that original story. Beautiful Little Fools gives a voice to the women in Gatsby’s life and moved seamlessly through each POV. If you want a spin on a classic story then this book won’t disappoint!
Fans of The Great Gatsby will love this story told from the perspective of three women. We read this for book club and we all really loved the writing, and the women’s individual stories. We felt that it stayed true to the original Great Gatsby. I really liked the strong female characters and friendships between them. I loved the time period of the early 1920s in this book. Now I need to go back and reread The Great Gatsby. This book reminded me how much I liked that original story. Beautiful Little Fools gives a voice to the women in Gatsby’s life and moved seamlessly through each POV. If you want a spin on a classic story then this book won’t disappoint!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Murder
delvie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It's a feminist revenge fantasy retelling of the Great Gatsby. I don't mind the concept in theory, but in practice, it felt a little on the nose. Every female main character was a victim and every male main character was a villain, and there was very little nuance between those two extremes throughout the book. It's Gatsby meets Chicago with dogmatic characterization.
The voice actresses did a phenomenal job, but it felt like they were telling me they were characters from the 1920's (by referencing legislation and necessary historic cornerstones) instead of showing me (via vernacular, relevant furniture, architecture, etc.).
As a Gatsby fan, I don't feel better for having read this book. It felt like a weird satire of "let's tell HERstory instead of HIStory," and it didn't do it for me. I'll just watch the movie instead next time.
The voice actresses did a phenomenal job, but it felt like they were telling me they were characters from the 1920's (by referencing legislation and necessary historic cornerstones) instead of showing me (via vernacular, relevant furniture, architecture, etc.).
As a Gatsby fan, I don't feel better for having read this book. It felt like a weird satire of "let's tell HERstory instead of HIStory," and it didn't do it for me. I'll just watch the movie instead next time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia
machenn's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, and Alcohol
serenas_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Injury/injury detail, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Rape and Adult/minor relationship
mysterymom46's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
character is blackmailed sex between adult and teen on pagesarabee_reads's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
kamin8882's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
"I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.
When I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy!! The Great Gatsby mixed with Big Little Lies, sign me up please !! Thank you so much to Netgalley, Harper Perennial and Jillian Cantor for an ARC of this amazingly brilliant book!
I have always loved The Great Gatsby, the book and the movie (especially with Leo <3) so I was super excited to read this book from the ladies POV!! Jillian Cantor did an amazing job diving us into the whole stories of Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle and her sister Catherine, while also giving us a little mystery. Who really killed Jay Gatsby? Was it George, the grieving husband? Or was it one of the many women Jay had hurt in his long and selfish journey to win Daisy back ??
What I loved the most about this book was that you got to see why and how everything ended up the way they did.... the events and feelings leading up to Jay Gatsby's murder, made everything make sense. In fact, it made me love the female characters more, unlike the original where I was left thinking the women of the story are selfish and flashy. I loved all the details Jillian Cantor added to this story to make us really understand what life was like for the leading ladies, and make them completely more relatable, vulnerable and human. Even the detective, investigating Gatsby's death just to earn a buck to spoil his lady, added such a unique spin on this amazing story. I loved it !!!
"I always thought it was us women who were the fools... but I was wrong, it's been the men all along, hasn't it?"
When I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy!! The Great Gatsby mixed with Big Little Lies, sign me up please !! Thank you so much to Netgalley, Harper Perennial and Jillian Cantor for an ARC of this amazingly brilliant book!
I have always loved The Great Gatsby, the book and the movie (especially with Leo <3) so I was super excited to read this book from the ladies POV!! Jillian Cantor did an amazing job diving us into the whole stories of Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle and her sister Catherine, while also giving us a little mystery. Who really killed Jay Gatsby? Was it George, the grieving husband? Or was it one of the many women Jay had hurt in his long and selfish journey to win Daisy back ??
What I loved the most about this book was that you got to see why and how everything ended up the way they did.... the events and feelings leading up to Jay Gatsby's murder, made everything make sense. In fact, it made me love the female characters more, unlike the original where I was left thinking the women of the story are selfish and flashy. I loved all the details Jillian Cantor added to this story to make us really understand what life was like for the leading ladies, and make them completely more relatable, vulnerable and human. Even the detective, investigating Gatsby's death just to earn a buck to spoil his lady, added such a unique spin on this amazing story. I loved it !!!
"I always thought it was us women who were the fools... but I was wrong, it's been the men all along, hasn't it?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Adult/minor relationship