The Great Gatsby

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Summary: this book is misunderstood
Review: i have read a lot of bad reviews for this book and i am trying to understand why. yes, i can see where people are saying this book is shallow but are they really looking into the symbolism in this story. it is everywhere in the novel from the green light to t.j. eckleberg. also, this is a critique of fitzgerald's time. he wanted to show that american society of the 1920's was shallow. this book, i think, is a timeless classic. it makes americans look at their society and think what is going on.

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Summary: Brilliant
Review: "~Although the Great Gatsby is a required read for 10th graders in the state of CO, my class did not have enough time to let us read it as a group. So, my curiousity got the better of me and I soon ran to my local bookstore and purchased a copy."~ awe.

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Summary: ... From the writer's own hand
Review: This book is a wonderful rendition of possibly the most perfectly written work in American literature. It shows copies of the actual handwritten pages that Fitzgerald produced in making the work. With cross-outs and erasures, you can see the writer's mind at work and watch the book develop. This book is not for the casual reader. If you want to read The Great Gatsby you should do it in a finished text. This jewel of a book is for the scholar and fan of The GG. The Great Gatsby is my favorite book. It unfolds a time and place with clarity and kindness that only a time machine could compete with. Love it like a national treasure. Understand it with your heart. It is a finely plotted and calibrated work.

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Summary: wonderful
Review: The way fitzgerald shows the carelessness of the weathy people of the "great" jazz age is wonderful. The way he used Nick Carraway as the narrater was marvelous. I like the way you start to like these characters and then Fitzgerald starts to show the horrible person that they are. I would recommend this book to anyone you will learn alot about the 20's and perhaps about yourself.

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Summary: terrible,terrible,terrible.....
Review: I heard this book was a classic,a must read,so I read it.It was a bad book! I don't think anyone would have published it today.I am not so young as to not understand a "great" novel,so I must say "this is one of the most boring and shallow books ever written".I'll give him one thing-this boredom is beautifuly written.His language is beautiful and captures the mood of the time and place,but it doesn't make up for the complete lack of plot.I read,and read,and read and nothing happened.He had a good idea,Scott Fitzgerald but he didn't do much with it.I have noticed that readers don't like the bad reviews.I suspect they think such reviews are not serious,but please listen to me-IF YOU CAN AVOID THIS BOOK PLEASE DO! There are too many great and good books,there is too little time to read them,so don't waste your time!

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Summary: The Great Gatsby
Review: I enjoyed reading "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was a book that really kept me interestd in it with its exciting plot. Chasing dreams and lost loves, love affairs, lavish houses, and big parties make the story exciting. The characters in this novel really draw you into the story. Some are mysterious, some are cruel, some are kind, but they're all interesting in their own way. Their obsession with wealth, chasing after dreams and goals, and wanting to repeat the past gets the characters into a big mess of problems. Not only is it a very good story, but it is also very well written. The book has deeper meanings to it and many symbolisms that make you really get into what you are reading. You would also enjoy this book if you like history because it demonstrates what life was like in the 1920's. The Great Gatsby was a really great book, and I would recomend for people to read it.

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Summary: Um, BEST BOOK EVER
Review: Are you people stupid? This is one of the best books ever written

Rating:
Summary: THe Great Gatsby
Review: I thought that the book was very interesting. It was about the only book that I was able to read and like in English class. I thought that the ending was unexpecting, and I loved it for that . I love surprises. I really recommend this book to those of you that are thinking of reading it. I really liked it. I hope you will too.

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Summary: I lost fifty pounds reading this book!
Review: I've tried every diet in the book(s.) But Mr. Fitzgerald has hit upon th perfect balance of low-carb dining and exercise. His insights into plums are unparallelled. Thank you Fitzy, you truly are a "great" gatsby.

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Summary: Money Can't Buy Happiness
Review: Supreme Court Judge, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said, "In my thirty years of legal experience, I have never witnessed money helping a victim, although I have seen it pretending to help them." In F. Scott Fitzgerald's American masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby attempts to rekindle his long-lost romantic relationship with Daisy Buchanan, by flaunting his newfound wealth and success. During the time Gatsby and Daisy were apart, Gatsby works for and attains the American Dream-wealth and success. Despite this, Gatsby feels like he lacks love. Thus, he moves to Long Island and takes up residence across the bay from Daisy in the hopes that Daisy will become attracted to him and love him because of his wealth. By describing vivid settings and relationships and by displaying ever-changing tones throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald educates the reader about the myth that money fixes problems of the heart, social problems and past problems. Fitzgerald paints a portrait of 1920's social status by pointing differences between the residences of Gatsby and the Buchanan's. Gatsby represents "new money" and lives on the less exclusive West Egg, Long Island. Tom and Daisy Buchanan represent "old money" and live on the more exclusive East Egg, Long Island. In addition to separating the "Eggs" by social status, the homes of Gatsby and the Buchanan's differ as well. The Buchanan's live in an older, more traditional estate. "Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian colonial mansion overlooking the bay" (11). On the other hand, Gatsby's mansion is a newer home that, "...was a factual imitation Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, sparkling new under a thin beard of raw ivy..." (9). Case in point, the "old money" like the Buchanan's, frown upon Gatsby's "new money." Love and the problems it causes presents itself as the major theme in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The love of Gatsby and Daisy, as superficial as it seems, has a definite possibility of working out. When Gatsby does not return from the Great War, Daisy decides to marry Tom, a man of money and social status. Daisy gets caught up in society and thinks that Tom enables her to live a dream, "For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year..." (158). Consequently, Daisy marries Tom and they climb the summit of the social mountain. However her relationship with Tom proves void of love. Tom fills this void with his mistress, Myrtle, who also finds discontent in her marriage. In fact one character relates the mismatched pairs, "...why go on living with them if they can't stand them? If I was them I'd get a divorce and get married to each other right away" (37). Fitzgerald portrays wealth and social status as false guarantees of success in love. The tone of The Great Gatsby reveals itself through an endless parade of parties and social occasions, which make the reader feel intrigued by the mystery, that is Gatsby. Partying, a definite theme in this book, pops up repeatedly. A refuge to the everyday loneliness that Gatsby feels, his parties are grand in scale and extravagant in taste. "Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruitier in New York-every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves" (43) On the other hand, the first formal encounter between Gatsby, Daisy and Tom proves confrontational. Fitzgerald reminds the reader that serious feeling hang in the balance and the party has concluded. Gatsby has waited a long time to tell Daisy of his feelings and his anxiety permeates as an underlying tone. Anxiety yields to desperation, as Gatsby grapples with the seriousness of his feeling for Daisy, "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!" (137). It does not matter how much money Gatsby amasses because it will never erase the past between Daisy and Gatsby. Gatsby defines the victim in question as Holmes referred it. Wealth did not help Gatsby gain a foothold on the social status ladder. Wealth did not help Gatsby win back Daisy, or erase their past together. By using setting, relationships and tone, Fitzgerald wrote an incomparable novel that teaches the reader some of life's lessons. Fitzgerald breathed life in Gatsby, he absolutely embodied a 'green light,' in his hopes and his dreams. Fitzgerald made it clear that no matter how much a man acquires he always yearns for more and wants something he cannot have. Gatsby, as hopeful as the 'green light' he symbolized, never reached that vision of a future with Daisy. Instead he pretended that money would solve all his problems. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of all. The Great Gatsby brings new meaning to the saying "money doesn't buy happiness."