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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great word crafting. The sentences were beautiful, full of imagery
One of the greatest books written by an American.
There’s a reason why this one is a classic. The Jazz Age from the inside out.
One of the greatest novels of all time!!!
I know this is supposed to be one of the great novels, but to me it was just a bunch of whiny rich people who didn’t interest me at all.
This is probably the greatest American novel of the 20th century, hands down.
One of my all time favorite books, I have read it countless times through the years and still get lost in it every time I read it. Excellent book by one of the best short story writers ever.
Well written but disturbing. It sadly depicts what a hedonistic life leads to.
I read it twice and am sure I will read it many more times, as there is so much to take from the story and the exquisitely crafted prose. Nick Carraway’s narration is intriguing. He lives next door to Jay Gatsby, and early on he is mesmerised by the string of lavish parties that are held in his next door neighbour’s house. It feels as though he is spying, until Gatsby invites him into his opulent world, where he observes, trying to keep his distance, until he too becomes an important part of the story. His passive, transparent nature, make him a good choice as narrator. And because he is a good listener, others confide in him and confess their secrets. Gradually, Gatsby trusts him, and, in his loneliness, he confides in Nick who is conflicted by his own and Gatsby’s lifestyle. Fitzgerald saw right through America in the 1920’s and wove his insight into a masterpiece, showing what a great writer, he was. He knew what a crazy world it was, and he made it accessible to the public, some of whom weren’t able to accept it. It showed what a great writer he was.
Well written classic
This is my go-to book. I like to read it at least every other year. I’m mesmerized by the writing, the characters, the setting and atmosphere. The narrator is marvelous. The pain of it is overwhelming, and yet I want to feel it again and again.
Just a great book!
i read it because I’m trying to absorb ‘The Classics’
and be a pretentious, pseudo intellectual
high praise indeed
There are plenty of reviews about this classic book, but what strikes me most is that the rich, bored, manipulative couple survives this sad tale unscathed and closer than ever, while all the victims left in the wake of their boredom/unfaithfulness/excesses are tossed aside like the trash they are considered to be.
I’ve read this twice and I realize I am in the minority when I say I didn’t like it. In my opinion it is over-rated.
Sorry to disagree with almost everyone who’s read the Great American Classic. I found it insipid.
This is a classic but could be written today. One of my all time favorites
Terrible book. Nothing good to say about it. Wish I could have the time back. One of the top 5 worst books I’ve ever read.
I do not have time for a long review that would do the book justice and my perspective will likely be very different from most other viewers so it is unlikely to be of interest to most of you. So let me make this brief.
For you literary types, you may wish to begin by looking at the last sentence, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” It does not give anything away but it should remind readers who may get a bit bored while reading that Fitzgerald can be quite good, even if the alliteration that provides the rhetorical effect had been used by many other writers before him.
The characters could be better but they are fine. The plot is also fine. But as the narrator notes in the paragraph before the end, Gatsby’s pursuit of a future that he is not destined to have is only partially tragic. His goal was to obtain Daisy Buchanan and the world that she stands for, shallow as it may be. But Gatsby, like most of us, is on a treadmill and run as he may, the promised land recedes before him. It is not his criminal activity that is the problem but the fact that he, like most of us, is unsatisfied with what stares at him in the mirror each morning. He chooses shallowness over substance and pays the price.
I have recommended to my friends that they read this book after they read Garet Garett’s, The Driver. The protagonist in that novel, Henry Galt, is based on the James J. Hill, the type of man that Gatsby’s father thought that he could have become. Ironically, the Wall Street types hated Galt for being an honest man who cared only about his work and making money for his shareholders. The same types, loved Gatsby for wanting to be a worthless and shallow character like they were. Read the book. But also read, The Driver.
overrated