A review by cassidee_omnilegent
Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor
4.0
“I always thought it was us women who were the fools,” I whispered. “But I was wrong, it’s been the men all along, hasn’t it?”
Beautiful Little Fools is an amazing retelling of The Great Gatsby. If you’ve read Gatsby, you probably love it or hate it. I personally have always loved it, though I do see the problems with it. This larger-than-life story about flawed people during the roaring 20s has always been intriguing to me. Now we get a version from the women in the story, mainly Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine (Myrtle’s sister), though Myrtle has a chapter or two, as well.
There’s doubt cast upon how Gatsby actually died, which brings in a Detective named Frank, who investigates all of the women.
This cast a new light on Daisy and her vapid-seeming personality. Although Daisy could be cruel at times in the original novel, I always felt there was more to her beneath the surface. The title Beautiful Little Fools is based off one of her most famous lines and that line always struck me as Daisy being more self aware and less fragile than we are led to believe. This novel does a great job of bringing that point about. Daisy and the other women are living in a male-dominated world and making it in their own ways.
Jordan is a woman of her own means and this novel brings her even more into the light as a revolutionary woman for the times. I don’t want to spoil her storyline, but I had a feeling where her personal life was going to head with this one and was pleased with it.
Catherine has a freedom that the other two women do not. She’s been able to be her own person since day one, but watching Myrtle go through multiple abusive relationships is a constant source of anguish for her. Gatsby has more ties to the two of them than we see in the original novel.
Did one of these women get to Gatsby before George did? We are taken on quite the ride to get to the conclusion. Gatsby is obsessive and delusional in the original novel but he’s also painted as a generally good guy despite his faults. This novel casts him quite differently and changes up some of the scenarios. Gatsby is the most prominent villain in this version, taking those flaws already present and making him downright malicious. I think it’s a great example of how two people can spin the same story differently and I quite enjoyed it. Our author also really highlights the way the men are the fragile, dramatic ones. Daisy and Myrtle especially are portray originally as these breakable, hysterical little women when they’re really at the mercy of these men and their erratic behavior.
This is quite the read and frankly, I was eager to get back to it every time I set it down. Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the review copy!
Beautiful Little Fools is an amazing retelling of The Great Gatsby. If you’ve read Gatsby, you probably love it or hate it. I personally have always loved it, though I do see the problems with it. This larger-than-life story about flawed people during the roaring 20s has always been intriguing to me. Now we get a version from the women in the story, mainly Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine (Myrtle’s sister), though Myrtle has a chapter or two, as well.
There’s doubt cast upon how Gatsby actually died, which brings in a Detective named Frank, who investigates all of the women.
This cast a new light on Daisy and her vapid-seeming personality. Although Daisy could be cruel at times in the original novel, I always felt there was more to her beneath the surface. The title Beautiful Little Fools is based off one of her most famous lines and that line always struck me as Daisy being more self aware and less fragile than we are led to believe. This novel does a great job of bringing that point about. Daisy and the other women are living in a male-dominated world and making it in their own ways.
Jordan is a woman of her own means and this novel brings her even more into the light as a revolutionary woman for the times. I don’t want to spoil her storyline, but I had a feeling where her personal life was going to head with this one and was pleased with it.
Catherine has a freedom that the other two women do not. She’s been able to be her own person since day one, but watching Myrtle go through multiple abusive relationships is a constant source of anguish for her. Gatsby has more ties to the two of them than we see in the original novel.
Did one of these women get to Gatsby before George did? We are taken on quite the ride to get to the conclusion. Gatsby is obsessive and delusional in the original novel but he’s also painted as a generally good guy despite his faults. This novel casts him quite differently and changes up some of the scenarios. Gatsby is the most prominent villain in this version, taking those flaws already present and making him downright malicious. I think it’s a great example of how two people can spin the same story differently and I quite enjoyed it. Our author also really highlights the way the men are the fragile, dramatic ones. Daisy and Myrtle especially are portray originally as these breakable, hysterical little women when they’re really at the mercy of these men and their erratic behavior.
This is quite the read and frankly, I was eager to get back to it every time I set it down. Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the review copy!