6
Oct
2009
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Somehow, in my years of schooling, I never read this book. So whatever I say here comes from the notes my Aunt scribbled in the margins 30+ years ago, wikipedia, and my own daunting brain. Therefore, my analysis may be questionable. Just sayin’.
But OMG I totally loved this book. I read it easily in two days–it’s less than 200 pages. I wonder if that is why it’s used in school so often. Ever notice that a lot of books taught in school are really short?
F. Scott Fitzgerald narrates the book via his character, Nick, who is sort of a roman clef. In fact, every character in this book is based on people he knew. His wife IRL, Zelda, is the love interest, but not HIS love interest. Which would have been helpful to realize going into it that just because she (her name is Daisy in the book) is based on Fitzgerald’s wife, does not mean that they will hook up at the end.
Instead, Fitzgerald marries Zelda/Daisy to a real jerk (but very handsome and rich) named Tom and Gatsby (who may or may not be great…I’m actually thinking no, is not great, but whatever) knew her before and wants her back.
Gatsby is a self-made man in a time and place where how you got your money and how long you had it are very important things. Seriously, I thought that I was in a Jane Austen novel they were so obsessed with whether or not Gatsby really went to Oxford.
But that’s one of the themes, I guess.
Oh, and did I mention that Tom is racist? I kind of wonder if Fitzgerald made him a racist because he wanted us to dislike him right off the bat or just because it was written in the 1920’s and lots of people were openly racist. Maybe he wanted to show of that he/Nick and Zelda/Daisy are not racist and very cool and progressive. At any rate, Tom’s diatribe on the subject makes the narrator uncomfortable and Daisy rolls her eyes.
The prose is fairly straight-forward, though there are great ash-heaps of metaphor–which I mean literally. There are big ash heaps and they signify decay.
I must say, I finally feel justified in my hatred of yellow cars.
Buy The Great Gatsby on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(My reviews in blue)
The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Adaptation by Nicki Greenberg
A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway
Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald by Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda: A Biography Nancy Milford
Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli
Other works by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Flappers and Philosophers
This Side of Paradise
The Pat Hobby Stories
Babylon Revisited: And Other Stories
The Collected Short Stories of F.Scott Fitzgerald
Spires and Gargoyles: Early Writings, 1909-1919
The Vegetable: Or, from President to Postman
Tales of the Jazz Age
The Basil and Josephine Stories
The Beautiful and Damned
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
May Day
Tender is the Night
All The Sad Young Men
The Crack-Up
The Love of the Last Tycoon
Taps at Reveille
F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters
With Zelda Fitzgerald:
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I think saying what you feel in your own words, regardless of how they form or are conveyed, means much more than spewed automoton rhetoric. So on that note, well done.
I will be adding this to the list over on my blog.
Thanks for participating!
You know, somehow I haven’t either! I really need to amend that,
I love that you have “my” cover of the book — the one that I was used to and prefer to see. I think it is such a great cover. And I did read this in school — at least twice — and remember liking it but I wonder now if I would “get” it.
I loved this book in high school, but I don’t remember a whole lot now. I think it’s time for a revisit!
You know, you might not have missed much by not reading it in high school. I read it in high school and didn’t like it, but I have re-read it since and found that it improved with time.
I read this book a month ago for summer reading for my AP Language and Composition class. Did you get the feeling that it was just a really well-written soap opera. Seriously, all the cheating and murders felt like something I’d witness if I turned on General Hospital or All My Children. I did like it though, it kept my attention.
I had never read this in high school either (well, because it was in Asia), but have read it a few months ago and loved it. Really excellent book. I’m actually saving his other books for when I’m done with this year’s challenges.
Are you planning to read more by him soon?
I’m with Nicole. I read it in high-school, and felt it so-so. Then I reread it in college and LOVED IT. Ha, I actually just wrote a little poem that hinges entirely on the reader having read the book, but I figured it was one that most had.
Love
Is it serious?
As serious as a party.
Have you read The Great Gatsby?
I like you more and more each day, J.T.! You know, Gatsby is one of my favorite books. In fact, it is the first classic that I fell in love with. I think I was the only one in my high school class that adored it!
Biblio Brat: I’m still determined to finish my list from the banned book challenge, even if September is over…however, I’m finding it a bit slow-going.
Nymeth: Amend! Amend!
Jenners: This is my favorite cover for it, too. The one I have is way different ’cause it’s so old, but I like this one better–very decadent, very sad.
Rebecca Reid: I hate it when that happens!
Nicole: I guess that goes with the theory that you will like or not like certain books based on the time in your life that you read them.
Jenna: OMG yes!!!!! I was actually (somewhat drunkenly) telling some friends about it and enthusiastically described it as a soap opera. Oh, but um, drinking is bad…
Claire: I don’t know. This was his first novel of his that I read, but I read some of his short stories in college. Babylon Revisited is excellent.
Ben: LOL, thanks for that. Did you make that up on the spot?
Rebecca: Why thank you!!! Are you back now?