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A review by tellsbooks
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4.0
This is another one of those books that I was supposed to read when I was younger that I didn’t, that I had always had on my list to read and just finally got around to it.
Knowing what I thought I knew about this book, I really wanted to hate it. On the surface, it just seemed like self-absorbed, pretentious, utterly white bread, navel-gazing Americana lit, which is a genre I despise, but honestly, upon reading this book, I loved it.
The thing that I liked about it was how clear of a picture it painted about the falsehoods of friendship and the temperamental nature of lust and love and how people are just always out for themselves. People are always trying to protect their way of living whether or not it’s actually true to who they are as a person. For example, Daisy. How are you going to get with another guy because your guy is missing? I’m not saying that you should wait for him but you had no idea what happened to him, and you were like OK, I haven’t heard from Gatsby, I’m gonna marry this other man, who I don’t even really like! That scenario perfectly highlighted the need for people to live what they deem as the “highlife” whether or not they’re actually happy, content or in love with their partner or their own lives.
I loved the voyeuristic point of view — telling the story from the neighbours focal point was genius & masterfully done. I really enjoyed the buildup.
There was a moment where I was like OK this is getting a little myopic, evil and a tad boring.. and yes, these people are all insipid. That took away from the novel a little bit for me. It’s like Fitzgerald didn’t want to fully expose the characters for who they were except Tom. I focus on Daisy as a character so much because I just felt like it was a statement for Fitzgerald to protect white womanhood at any cost.. she didn’t want to marry Tom and had a meltdown, but she had to because what would have become of her. Like, exactly — what would have become of her? Why is that not even a thought that she could forge her own way forward. I get the timeline too, it might have been unheard of in that era, but I hate that. I hate that female autonomy is something unheard of. She already came from money, technically she could have just waited.. or done something else. Anyway, I digress..
Overall, I vibed with the message about humanity and peoples nature to want what they want no matter what. I really fucked with the main story about questioning who you think you know, and who your real friends are. That hit me on levels. Even decades later, this book is still worth the read.
Knowing what I thought I knew about this book, I really wanted to hate it. On the surface, it just seemed like self-absorbed, pretentious, utterly white bread, navel-gazing Americana lit, which is a genre I despise, but honestly, upon reading this book, I loved it.
The thing that I liked about it was how clear of a picture it painted about the falsehoods of friendship and the temperamental nature of lust and love and how people are just always out for themselves. People are always trying to protect their way of living whether or not it’s actually true to who they are as a person. For example, Daisy. How are you going to get with another guy because your guy is missing? I’m not saying that you should wait for him but you had no idea what happened to him, and you were like OK, I haven’t heard from Gatsby, I’m gonna marry this other man, who I don’t even really like! That scenario perfectly highlighted the need for people to live what they deem as the “highlife” whether or not they’re actually happy, content or in love with their partner or their own lives.
I loved the voyeuristic point of view — telling the story from the neighbours focal point was genius & masterfully done. I really enjoyed the buildup.
There was a moment where I was like OK this is getting a little myopic, evil and a tad boring.. and yes, these people are all insipid. That took away from the novel a little bit for me. It’s like Fitzgerald didn’t want to fully expose the characters for who they were except Tom. I focus on Daisy as a character so much because I just felt like it was a statement for Fitzgerald to protect white womanhood at any cost.. she didn’t want to marry Tom and had a meltdown, but she had to because what would have become of her. Like, exactly — what would have become of her? Why is that not even a thought that she could forge her own way forward. I get the timeline too, it might have been unheard of in that era, but I hate that. I hate that female autonomy is something unheard of. She already came from money, technically she could have just waited.. or done something else. Anyway, I digress..
Overall, I vibed with the message about humanity and peoples nature to want what they want no matter what. I really fucked with the main story about questioning who you think you know, and who your real friends are. That hit me on levels. Even decades later, this book is still worth the read.