The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career. T. S. Eliot read it three times and saw it as the “first step” American fiction had taken since Henry James; H. L. Mencken praised “the charm and beauty of the writing,” as well as Fitzgerald’s sharp social sense; and Thomas Wolfe hailed it as … Fitzgerald’s “best work” thus far. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when, The New York Times remarked, “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s that resonates with the power of myth. A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of magic, romance, and mysticism, The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.
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It’s been years since I’ve read this, but it will always be one of my favorite books.
A classic!
This is a book that can be read and re-read and you keep finding new paths to go down. Hauntingly beautiful is the best description.
Beautiful writing.
Depressing book.
Honestly, it’s all Daisy, she drives me nuts, at the end of it all, she is a horrible person .
A classic everyone should read
great book for understanding the time period
One of my all time favs. Read in HS. Great story. Movie wasn’t bad either, but book was richer.
Classic look at the American dream
Beautifully written novel.
I often reflect on the direction this author chose to tell this story. It’s always been particularly frustrating that Gasby lost his life, while Daisy’s husband was free to go on as if nothing happened. Actually, Daisy and he husband seemed free to go on like the lives taken never existed.
Sad yet realistic
A much as we humans may want to escape our past—reinvent ourselves—we are our past. The closing sentence of The Great Gatsby sums it up. “So, we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Fitzgerald’s paints Long Island, New York City and the wasteland of Queens in the 1920’s with the overarching greed, shallowness, …
Memorable classic. It captures a time, creates good characters that become like people we know.
Required reading, if only to be immersed in Fitzgerald’s craft, where you will learn that writers do not become writers by learning how to write; it can’t be taught. But beyond that, way beyond that, upon reading it, you will find yourself in a place and time that actually was, but is no more; And upon finishing it, you will know that place, and …
What can you say except it’s a classic that you’ll read again and again.
Excess in the 1920’s.
It’s a classic
Great Classic