sirinissearchingforbooks's review against another edition
5.0
/!\ disclaimer: those are quotes from the book, they might contain spoilers.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my head ever since.
'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'
He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that.
- page 1
I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with that summer.
- page 4
'I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a – of a rose, an absolute rose. Doesn't he?' She turned to Miss Baker for confirmation: 'An absolute rose?'
This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose.
- page 15
Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I saw him too, looking up and wondering.
[...]
All I kept thinking about, over and over, was "You can't live forever; you can't live forever."'
- page 36
Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her.
- page 59
Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
- page 61
He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.
- page 92
His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.
[...]
So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.
[...]
But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot.
- page 99
Moreover he told it to me at a time of confusion, when I had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him.
- page 102
He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was...
- page 111
'And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.'
- page 132
'I love you now – isn't that enough? I can't help what's past.' She began to sob helplessly. 'I did love him once – but I loved you too.'
Gatsby's eyes opened and closed.
"You loved me too?' he repeated.
- page 133
When anyone spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colourless way. He was his wife's man and not his own.
- page 137
I disliked him so much by this time that I didn't find it necessary to tell him he was wrong.
- page 144
She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby – nothing.
- page 150
Well, there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care.
- page 151
She wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality – that was close at hand.
- page 152
'Twelve minutes to my train.'
I didn't want to go to the city. I wasn't worth a decent stroke of work, but it was more than that – I didn't want to leave Gatsby. I missed that train, and then another, before I could get myself away.
[...]
We shook hands and I started away. Just before I reached the hedge I remembered something and turned around.
'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.'
I've always been glad I said that.
- page 155
I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone.
- page 166
I was relieved too, for that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby's grave.
- page 171
The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came.
- page 176
She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.
- page 180
I spent my Saturday nights in New York because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive.
- page 182
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my head ever since.
'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'
He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that.
- page 1
I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with that summer.
- page 4
'I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a – of a rose, an absolute rose. Doesn't he?' She turned to Miss Baker for confirmation: 'An absolute rose?'
This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose.
- page 15
Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I saw him too, looking up and wondering.
[...]
All I kept thinking about, over and over, was "You can't live forever; you can't live forever."'
- page 36
Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her.
- page 59
Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
- page 61
He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.
- page 92
His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.
[...]
So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.
[...]
But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot.
- page 99
Moreover he told it to me at a time of confusion, when I had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him.
- page 102
He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was...
- page 111
'And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.'
- page 132
'I love you now – isn't that enough? I can't help what's past.' She began to sob helplessly. 'I did love him once – but I loved you too.'
Gatsby's eyes opened and closed.
"You loved me too?' he repeated.
- page 133
When anyone spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colourless way. He was his wife's man and not his own.
- page 137
I disliked him so much by this time that I didn't find it necessary to tell him he was wrong.
- page 144
She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby – nothing.
- page 150
Well, there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care.
- page 151
She wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality – that was close at hand.
- page 152
'Twelve minutes to my train.'
I didn't want to go to the city. I wasn't worth a decent stroke of work, but it was more than that – I didn't want to leave Gatsby. I missed that train, and then another, before I could get myself away.
[...]
We shook hands and I started away. Just before I reached the hedge I remembered something and turned around.
'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.'
I've always been glad I said that.
- page 155
I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone.
- page 166
I was relieved too, for that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby's grave.
- page 171
The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came.
- page 176
She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.
- page 180
I spent my Saturday nights in New York because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive.
- page 182
maricelalv's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was okay. But nothing otherworldly
lily_rose03's review against another edition
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.75
mfgrth3792's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
7anooch's review against another edition
5.0
Reading the book after watching the movie, I tried hard to separate the images of the movie with those of the book. As is usually the case of course, the book is much better.
This little novel is about the ever changing nature of memories, how a memory can become exaggeratedly embellished in one's mind. It is also about many more things that I would not bother to write because anyone who knows the story knows what it is (roughly) about.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the narrator's, Nick Carraway's, personality. He is both naive and not so, and a bunch of other things that I cannot quite describe, but his style of narration is what gives the novel it's soul.
Lovely book.
This little novel is about the ever changing nature of memories, how a memory can become exaggeratedly embellished in one's mind. It is also about many more things that I would not bother to write because anyone who knows the story knows what it is (roughly) about.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the narrator's, Nick Carraway's, personality. He is both naive and not so, and a bunch of other things that I cannot quite describe, but his style of narration is what gives the novel it's soul.
Lovely book.
beeboxingboobry's review against another edition
challenging
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
3.0
grneggsngoetta's review against another edition
3.0
I will never understand what all the fuss is about. I understand why it's tragic, sure. I get why Fitzgerald is one of the best writers of his time. I still prefer his short stories, though.
wienerle's review against another edition
2.0
2.5⭐️
Started off reading someone’s analysis of the book for 30 minutes and didn’t realize that that wasn’t the actual story..
Started off reading someone’s analysis of the book for 30 minutes and didn’t realize that that wasn’t the actual story..
pandecanela's review against another edition
4.0
Voy a ser sincera, pensé que iba a ser súper pretencioso? Pero no, es lo contrario. De alguna manera logra ser really on your nose pero sutil al mismo tiempo? Esa es su verdadera magia.
nonabgo's review against another edition
4.0
I love the 20s esthetic so much so that I wanted my wedding theme to be the 20s. So of course I had to add [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494] to my reading list - although I feel that I got to it too late. I kept postponing it and created such a grandiose image in my head that I was somewhat underwhelmed. For some reason I had expected more. I blame it on the movie, with it's fabulous decor and fashion, and my bad idea of reading the book after seeing the movie.
The novel is short and doesn't get into so much detail as to actually help set the atmosphere. We are being told about the parties rather summarily, so I had a hard time putting my imagination to work. In this respect, [b:The Beautiful and Damned|4708|The Beautiful and Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347567298l/4708._SY75_.jpg|2432116] is much more detailed and a better representation of the roaring 20s society and mores - but I have other complaints about that one. There seems to be no perfection when it comes to Fitzgerald's work...
But Gatsby is a different kind of book. Not necessarily a societal reflection, although the entire story is very much determined by the particular era's preconceptions and philosophies. It's a love story of sorts, although quite far from what we think love stories should be like. It's a tragic tale, multifaceted, a reflection upon the important things in life, upon love vs money, upon selflessness and selfishness, about maturity in some respect.
Jay Gatsby is my kind of character. He is complex to the point of mysteriousness. We know and we don't know him. We root for him because he represents the absolute dreamer, the one who does everything to reach his goals, the selfless - in such contradiction with his status and his peers. He creates a world of magic in which everyone is welcome, in hopes of attracting just one person the only one he really wants. But will the magic be enough? Will it attract the moth?
And in the end, do we really root for him? He's a hopeless romantic, unaligned with the times. He does not belong. The rest of the world is too cynical for him to really fit in, no matter how much money he has. In the end, money does not buy friendship, love or happiness.
It's incredible how such a short book can express such a wide array of human emotion. That's really where Fitzgerald shines. The stories he wrote are just pretexts to dissect humanity and strip it to the bone. He also writes in beautifully concocted phrases, which is, simply put, poetry. The last phrase might just be the most beautiful of all.
To me, this book would have been perfect were he to do a little bit more into detail about the society as a whole.
The novel is short and doesn't get into so much detail as to actually help set the atmosphere. We are being told about the parties rather summarily, so I had a hard time putting my imagination to work. In this respect, [b:The Beautiful and Damned|4708|The Beautiful and Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347567298l/4708._SY75_.jpg|2432116] is much more detailed and a better representation of the roaring 20s society and mores - but I have other complaints about that one. There seems to be no perfection when it comes to Fitzgerald's work...
But Gatsby is a different kind of book. Not necessarily a societal reflection, although the entire story is very much determined by the particular era's preconceptions and philosophies. It's a love story of sorts, although quite far from what we think love stories should be like. It's a tragic tale, multifaceted, a reflection upon the important things in life, upon love vs money, upon selflessness and selfishness, about maturity in some respect.
Jay Gatsby is my kind of character. He is complex to the point of mysteriousness. We know and we don't know him. We root for him because he represents the absolute dreamer, the one who does everything to reach his goals, the selfless - in such contradiction with his status and his peers. He creates a world of magic in which everyone is welcome, in hopes of attracting just one person the only one he really wants. But will the magic be enough? Will it attract the moth?
And in the end, do we really root for him? He's a hopeless romantic, unaligned with the times. He does not belong. The rest of the world is too cynical for him to really fit in, no matter how much money he has. In the end, money does not buy friendship, love or happiness.
It's incredible how such a short book can express such a wide array of human emotion. That's really where Fitzgerald shines. The stories he wrote are just pretexts to dissect humanity and strip it to the bone. He also writes in beautifully concocted phrases, which is, simply put, poetry. The last phrase might just be the most beautiful of all.
To me, this book would have been perfect were he to do a little bit more into detail about the society as a whole.