A review by clskvarce
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?"
It's been over a couple decades since I read The Great Gatsby, but I was still interested in this reimagining through the lens of the women, and I thought it was executed pretty well, overall. This novel follows the general plot of the original novel, but now, instead of hearing the story from Nick Carraway, we hear it from the perspective of each of the women, Daisy, Jordan and Catherine, who each have their own stories and relationships with Jay Gatsby. And I do have to say, through this lens, the men really are pretty despicable.
Instead of focusing on Jay Gatsby's parties, this is instead a mystery tale, turning his murder on its head. We find out in the prologue that one of the women was holding the smoking gun, but who had the best motive and means to commit the crime? Through it, we also hear from an interviewing Detective, which was a nice touch, more reminiscent of Big Little Lies, where the characters are being interviewed after the fact.
Honestly, this held my attention and interest, and I enjoyed catching some of details from the original. I'd say, old sport, that I'm giving this 3.5 stars and rounding up.
It's been over a couple decades since I read The Great Gatsby, but I was still interested in this reimagining through the lens of the women, and I thought it was executed pretty well, overall. This novel follows the general plot of the original novel, but now, instead of hearing the story from Nick Carraway, we hear it from the perspective of each of the women, Daisy, Jordan and Catherine, who each have their own stories and relationships with Jay Gatsby. And I do have to say, through this lens, the men really are pretty despicable.
Instead of focusing on Jay Gatsby's parties, this is instead a mystery tale, turning his murder on its head. We find out in the prologue that one of the women was holding the smoking gun, but who had the best motive and means to commit the crime? Through it, we also hear from an interviewing Detective, which was a nice touch, more reminiscent of Big Little Lies, where the characters are being interviewed after the fact.
Honestly, this held my attention and interest, and I enjoyed catching some of details from the original. I'd say, old sport, that I'm giving this 3.5 stars and rounding up.