A review by writerbeverly
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2.0

A big, fat, meh. What was interesting to me was the look at the parties of the Roaring Twenties. What was not interesting or likable were any of the characters, with the possible exception of Gatsby himself. He was the only one who seemed to deeply care about anything, who had a big dream and was determined to make it come true, by any means necessary. Nick, the narrator, seemed all too conveniently accommodating and non-judgmental, without any passion or commitment to much of anything, a leaf swirled in the pond. He did not feel real to me. Daisy, Myrtle (?) and Tom were one-note caricatures, rather than having any dimension.

I can't help but wonder if many of the people who LOVED this book haven't been sold by The Emperor's New Clothes syndrome - everybody else praised this as a classic, therefore, it HAS to be great. I'm glad I finally got it off my TBR list, but in many ways it felt like much noise and glitter about nothing. Perhaps this means it did perfectly epitomize that era.