Rating: 
Summary: face it; Gatsby is the best
Review: If Catcher in the Rye is not the world's best book, then the Great Gatsby is. Maybe it is anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Great beginning; covers wide range of social commentary
Review: Looks at social system from the Anglo-Saxon viewpoint, prevalent at the time. A good read
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Fitzgerald does an incredible job creating a multifaceted love story. Many people's dream of reliving the past is reflected in Gatsby, while Nick gives us an unbiased view of the ordeal. Fitzgeralds style is captivating and rich, moving forward at a good pace and ending the book VERY well
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate privileges of the rich
Review: In a world where a football star can commit murder and get away with it,
and a family of rich and famous politicians can trash those who stand in
the way of reelection, Fitzgerald could never have been more correct. When
he wrote in "Gatsby" that the rich are different, he seems to have had some
sort of prophetic genuis. They certainly are different. The way in which Tom and Daisy were able to leave their problems behind is not so dissimilar to
the kind of privilege which is flaunted by those who abuse such privilege
today. I can't help but feel that even Fitzgerald could never have
imagined the depth of arrogance which our rich and infamous have reached
today.
Rating:
Summary: Fitzgerald's incredible idealism: a stockbroker with a heart
Review: Few books can be as consistently incredible as Gatsby. The idea of a stockbroker/promoter who has a heart must send chills of fear down the managers of the great Wall Street firms. Yet, it is so, and is
decisively the realm of fiction.
Gatsby is the prototypical social mountaineer, climbing and climbing
in the 1920s towards an impossible dream: having the love of a flip
and indecisive Southern gal, and being accepted for who he dreams he
may be within his questing heart. Like the best American novels it
is replete with greed, over consumption of limited goods, graced by
a cynical narrator, and clever in its jaded appraisal of life.
Ultimately the book comes down to one central issue that is not
explained: "Why would a great man have so much love for a selfishly
undeserving woman?" Gatsby has grandeur but his love has nothing.
It's a spoiled book in that sense, and without the quality of virtue
in Daisy, the book becomes a cruel mistake that can only end in death.
Fitzgerald's style is elegant, brief, he never makes mistakes in judgment, and his narrative is impeccable. The book rushes forward
like a Greek tragedy and ends just as Sunset Boulevard begins: with
Gatsby dead in a pool killed by that which he loved. Somehow there
is some great truth in the idea that in great American fiction the
use of coincidence is always deadly, and satisfaction never easy.
Plato would have used the book as an exemplar in his proof of the ideal, Aristotle would have merely laughed, yet inwardly agreed -
the book is a cautionary tale; but more importantly hagiography.
....C.K. Dexter Haven.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written classic
Review: What strikes me as great about this classic soap opera is its language. Fitzgerald's brilliant descriptions capture readers' imaginations and brings this story to life. The characters are alright at best, the dialogue is so-so, and the plot leans toward dull. But what a talent for language Fitzgerald had! The poetic descriptions alone make this story a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Quite simply, the best American novel of the 20th Century. Fitzgerald was a genuis and this is his masterpiece, his gift to American literature. "The Great Gatsby" is an awesome yet deceptively simple story that explores the frustrations and passions of an entire generation through the words, deeds, and thoughts of a few complex characters. There is so much just below the surface of this book, you can easily read through it and miss the depth. But it is there, to be discovered under Nick's watchful gaze. You have Gatsby's fabricated fabulousness, a persona he's created with his own self-serving mythology. But there is so much he hides, so much he wills Nick to discover. You have Daisy's flightiness and selfishness also hiding her true self because that's how it is for women in her world--fake, flighty, frothy, lacking in substance. She knows the rules and she plays by them. Jordan, Nick and others--their truth is more obvious to us (i.e., Jordan is a cheat). But everything is tragic here, it is a fasade built on Eliot's famed "wasteland." I can't stres this enough--this is a book that must be read, reread, and analyzed countless times in order to understand what an extraordinary achievement it is. It is poetry.
Rating:
Summary: Green Eyed Monster
Review: F. Scott Fizgerald took inspiration from his wife Zelda. He wrote an essay that explains how the various colors relate both to her and to the important themes in his novels. The Great Gatsby is the perfect distallation of these themes and codes.
Rating:
Summary: A rich story
Review: "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most exquisite books I have ever read to date that deals with most if not all aspects of love and the challenges of life. There is so much to learn especially for us in this modern world where so many people use the word "love" without really knowing what it truly means. The author is so descriptive that I sometimes felt as if I was in the story. He made it easy for readers to penetrate the souls of the characters and relate to their lives.
The character development is prodigious, while prose is outstanding. I felt as much for Gatsby as I have for any other character. He had always had high aspirations, but his dreams were taken away from him by the fact the he had to fight a war, and he could never be the same again. Gatsby's ambition is to have his former love, who is now married to an unfaithful husband, a quest that saw outstanding twist and turns in the story to make it the great read we have heard so much about. This book is truly inspirational for everyone irrespective of race, gender, age or occupation. I highly recommend it along with:
DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE USURPER AND OTHERS, THE SCARLET LETTER
Rating:
Summary: A rich story
Review: "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most exquisite books I have ever read to date that deals with most if not all aspects of love and the challenges of life. There is so much to learn especially for us in this modern world where so many people use the word "love" without really knowing what it truly means. The author is so descriptive that I sometimes felt as if I was in the story. He made it easy for readers to penetrate the souls of the characters and relate to their lives. The character development is prodigious, while prose is outstanding. I felt as much for Gatsby as I have for any other character. He had always had high aspirations, but his dreams were taken away from him by the fact the he had to fight a war, and he could never be the same again. Gatsby's ambition is to have his former love, who is now married to an unfaithful husband, a quest that saw outstanding twist and turns in the story to make it the great read we have heard so much about. This book is truly inspirational for everyone irrespective of race, gender, age or occupation. I highly recommend it along with: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE USURPER AND OTHERS, THE SCARLET LETTER
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