The Great Gatsby

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Summary: Among the top ten American Novels
Review: THE GREAT GATSBY is a beautiful classic that should be read over and over again. Fitzgerald's masterpiece shows the story of the lost American Dream. With much symbolism and beautiful words, this novel tells the story of a man named Jay Gatz who through illegal activity became rich so that he could win back his first love Daisy, who lives on East Egg with her husband Tom. Tom is abusive and cheats on Daisy with Myrtle, and Gatsby watches the green light on Daisy's porch with desire from his mansion on West Egg. Gatsby knows what love is and believes that the only reason she married Tom instead of him is because he did not get back from the war soon enough and Daisy liked Tom because he was rich. With some funny parts but also some very sad parts, this novel paints a beautiful picture of the American Dream that has been lost and torn apart. Although this was written during the twenties, its theme is applicable to our lives today. I highly recommend this book if you are in high school or older so that you can understand the full meaning of this book and see more than the plot because there is a lot of symbolism in this book that borrows from Shakespeare and the Bible. This edition of the book has notes in the back, notes on the text, and a history of the author. A masterpiece that should not be passed by!

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Summary: To be fair....
Review: If I was a high school student forced to read this and have to answer test questions on it, I would not think so highly of this book. However, now thirty and coming to this on my own I found a book that has righfully earned it's place among our few American classics. At first, Fitzgerald's poetic and economic prose takes some time getting used to. I found myself rereading certain passages. It did win me over though, after the first page where the narrator defines personality as "an unbroken series of successfull gestures." He has other witty observations throughout and I was surprised to see how funny the book could be at times.
Symbolism aside the story is a decent, readable one. The premise is a young man starting out in 1920's New York after the end of Worls War I whose next door nieghbor is the self-assured but mysterious Jay Gatsby. This may seem boring to some, but I hesitate to say more at the risk of giving anything away. Trust me, there more to it. At first it meanders, seeming to string a series of almost random but interesting vignettes depicting the jazz age. For those who may want to give up on the book at that point, I say don't. Fitzgerald has been setting the reader up. The other shoe drops halfway through the novel. Also a note on the characters. Even though you may not agree what the characters are doing, at least it invokes a reaction. Which is more than I can say of the "classics" that I was forced to read in high school.
The themes in Gatsby are very poignant. Showing us how fragile dreams and perceptions, both self and outside, can be. And that sincere intentions do not always come from honest sources. Is this the "Great American Novel"? I don't know, I have a few more books to go before I make that assumption. What I can tell you is that I has a pleasant time reading this one and see why many people think so.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Gatsby
Review: The book The Great Gatsby was a wonderful book which told the story about one mans desire to win back the heart of his one true love. That man is Gatsby who is trying to win back Daisy's heart and make her leave Tom.Tom is the one who Daisy married when Gatsby left, so Gatsby reinvented himself and became rich hoping that Daisy would come back. One night Tom and Gatsby got into a fight leaving Daisy scared because she loved them both, she ended up doing something that Gatsby had to take the blame for. This book tells the story of tragic love and loss. I gave this book a 4 stars because I thought that it was a great book and it shows that people will do anything for true love. I would have to recommed this book for people in Middle school and in high school.

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Summary: Looking at The Great Gatsby
Review: Gosh, what can I say about The Great Gatsby. This classic book, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was a required novel that I had to read for my Introduction to the Novel class. It is a story about a man that discovers that he wants so much more in life than most people had. He wanted success, wealth, and a trophy wife. Put in the lovely Daisy Buchanan, the woman in which Jay Gatsby found his love of wealth and his love for her. However, to thicken the plot, Daisy is already married to the cold, hard Tom Buchanan. When Tom finds out about the affair between Daisy and Jay, he throughs a fit in a deluxe suite at the Plaza Hotel. But what does Tom have to complain about, he is also engaged in an affair with his mistress, Myrtle. It is through Myrtle's early death that Jay Gatsby's life also ends in sorrow. One pitiful scene occurs before Gatsby's death, he is waiting outside Daisy and Tom's bayside home, dressed in a pink suit, hiding in the shadows in case some emotional fireworks go off. The Great Gatsby is a fine classic, and it is quite thought provoking about life in the 1920's and today. No small wonder that my English professor wanted the class to read this novel. Even though we are a small class of six people, we certainly had about to say about The Great Gatsby.

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Summary: A Sophmore's review
Review: I finished this book during biology and have nothing negative to say about it. It had great symbolism, plot, and all the necessary elements to be considered a classic example of modernism. I disagree with the person who said that teenagers cannot appreciate classics. It is true that some of us are immature, but that cannot be said for all. The Great Gatsby is one of the best books I have read this year, along with The Scarlet Letter. I would recommend this book to anyone who can understand the language.

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Summary: The Great Gatsby--review
Review: What a highly original and moving book this is, even today. Now, consider when it was initially written and what the world was like then and you can understand why it made such an impact on society. But I think it's even more relevant today as we've evidently not learned some of our lessons about greed, humanity, and fame. If anything, we've gotten worse. What would poor F.Scott think?

Of all the books we've read in class recently, I have to say that Gatsby was my favorite, probably due to its length and concise writing. The list of the others we've read are all good--not a bad one in the bunch, but Gatsby was the best. My other favorite was "The Bark of the Dogwood."

Our classes reading list:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men
The Bark of the Dogwood
Great Gatsby
Flowers for Algernon

Thank you!

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Summary: Fitgerald's Great Gatsby
Review: Rich man Jay Gatsby has everything he could possible want, money beyond imagination, a waterfront house on long island sound, and parties at his mansion day and night. The one thing his life is missing is the one thing that he desires most-Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby tells the story of greedy upper class people who have only desire to get more and further distance themselves from the lower class. Jay Gatsby throws all his extravigant parties but has only one goal in mind-attracting Daisy. Her husband Tom is already wrapped up in an affair with low-life Myrtle. The Rich folks' treatment of each other and disregard for others is at the center of Fitgerald's novel. Other themes to look for are his use of weather to set the mood of the scenes, use of colors(especially yellow and green) to foreshadow upcoming events, and the disparity between the upper and lower class. I recommend this book to all young and old, as it is a classic read that everyone should experience at one point in their life.

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Summary: the worst book i have ever read for an english class
Review: This book was boring.I hated it. It was poorly structured, the story is unclear and it is not very memorable. Its the type of book in which once you have read a chapter, you immediately forget what had just happened due to how dull and boring it is. When my yr.11 class whined to our teacher over how much we hated this book, she replied with "This is english advanced..you're not going to read fun,interesting books in english advanced..you're going to read boring, old novels" i don't recommend this book for people aged 17 and under, as there are better and more interesting books (for this age group) out there.

Rating:
Summary: A Book to Span the Ages
Review: I am sorry to have waited so long to read this masterpiece. F. Scott Fitzgerald's crowning achievement is a relatively concise, easily readable gem of a story, which goes much deeper than the average genre fiction (obviously), but not in a dull way.

It is very easy to picture oneself as Nick, the protagonist, attempting to piece together this strange character, Jay Gatsby, and the elaborate world he inhabits. Character development is beautifully accomplished as the book progresses, and there is no wasted scenes or characters. In fact, there is a great deal of substance to the entire story, despite its focus on the lack of substance for the characters presented.

The Great Gatsby will help you understand the lives of the fabulously wealthy in the 20s, but more importantly it will help you begin to understand the real world, and what is really important. Gatsby's "Green light" is each of ours as well, if we would only see it.

If you have a soul, you will love this book, and either way, it will certainly make you think.

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Summary: The quintessential novel
Review: I believe novels should be accessible to people of all tastes, from those who prefer history and biography (as I do) to those who prefer science fiction. Truly great novels transcend personal preferences and that is exactly what the Great Gatsby is-- a story of human nature, set in a time of recklessness and ambition that seems to parallel, in some ways, our world today. It is written with soft prose and vivid imagery-- the examples are too numerous to be listed here. As most know the plot, I won't delve into that, but just to add that, considering this shouldn't be a spoiler, one question I have always wondered (and wished to the contrary) is, "Why did Gatsby have to die?" Despite his surely illictly-garnered fortune and reckless nature, the reader cheers for Gatsby, who is far from perfect, but represents a small part of each of us. That is truly the magic of Fitzgerald's piece and I hope, especially if you've never read it before, that you find a little enchantment yourself.