Rating: 
Summary: Overrated "classic"
Review: This book is a fun read, but an overrated classic that has been pumped up. Even though there are plenty of "cliff notes" for this book, there really is not much below the surface (follow the green light).
Rating: 
Summary: Life Without Meaning
Review: Firstly let me say I found this book unusually interesting and unlike many "classics" easy to read. The tale is a romance, Jay Gatsby longs to be with Daisy, a girl from a different social world that he knew for a short period of time mamy years before. On a different level the book describes the pointless existence of the idle rich and their dissatisfaction with their lot, although set in the 1920's it is still applicable today in many ways. The characters Fitzgerald paints are shallow and undeserving, having achieved their wealth through inheritance or crime. The author clearly is critical of his creations, but at the same time seems to be entranced by their mixture of style without substance. My one dissapointment was the lack of any character I felt I could identify with or empathise with, even the narrator Nick Carroway came across to me as having few if any endearing qualities. Probably just my personal prejudice in a novel rather than any literary requirement.
Rating:
Summary: Great literature versus a great attempt to be literary.
Review: Fitzgerald wanted to be famous. He wanted to shine brightly in his own generation, even be immortalized by the next. Be a brave soldier? But the War had ended. Drink and dance on tables with the most beautiful wife in the land? Yet what was Serious and Important about that? And Fitzgerald did have a wonderful way with words. His college novel _This Side of Paradise_ was uneven yet exuberantly sincere. His short stories possessed an easy flow. I imagine he was more likeable than Hemingway, and the sort of fellow one might wish to write The Great American Novel. And so we have given him that distinction. But does he deserve it? He did read Keats and borrow a line from his favorite poet for a title to a novel. Yet Fitzgerald's attempts at lyricism are a pose, an effortful attempt to show the world that one is Timeless and Literary. Elsewhere, his prose is flat. His echoes of iambic pentameter are nothing new; one hears them in most novelists who wrote in the English language up to his time. Otherwise he has little rhythm. Even the opening sentence of the book is a commonplace observation with no appeal in sound or content. Certainly Fitzgerald created one of the great characters in Jay Gatsby. Yet break down the novel paragraph by paragraph and one sees the beads of sweat, feels in each sentence Fitzgerald's *effort*. In the end, it's a great effort. But great literature, from Ovid to Congreve to Henry Green, shows a certain effortlessness. Fitzgerald's reputation remains so high because we value hard work, and rather than relishing language, we wish to focus on the social relevance of literature. This is a book about Greed. The American Dream. Any individual Dream always beyond one's reach, a dream for which a man gives his life. Yet all these fabulously wealthy people doing so many important things seem superficial in comparison to the little worlds created by Jane Austen, E.M. Forster and Henry Green. My general feeling about F. Scott Fitzgerald is that of a handsome, talented man writing in a fascinating era. Yet every time I pick up _The Great Gatsby_ I feel sad that the language isn't as fine as I thought it was in high school or college. Ernest Hemingway, on the other hand-- always deemed simple, like reading a newspaper-- is the Great Author of that era who holds up the best. Fitzgerald said Hemingway was the greater genius whose writing came effortlessly. Yet I feel Hemingway holds up better because he struggled so much early on with a style that slowly developed into his unique craft. Had Fitzgerald not died in his mid-forties he may have worked out that craft, which had been weakened by personal troubles and hastily written stories for _The Saturday Evening Post_. For me, though, the Fitzgerald we do have is at its best in those tossed-off tales, with wit and style and that likeable charm of a likeable literary figure, but not the author of The Great American Novel. Who is that author? If not Richard Wright, then no one to this time.
Rating:
Summary: A classic and a good read
Review: Read The Great Gatsby because it's a quick read, it's entertaining, and showcases Fitzgerald's ability as an author. It is easy to become enthralled with the lavishness and mystery of Gatsby, but the center of the book remains with the protagonist's analysis and understanding of human nature.
Most great writers embed their thoughts, experiences, and musings into their work, and The Great Gatsby is a perfect example. What you find in the book will differ, some will say it's an accurate portrayal of the shallowness of the 20's, others will find a deep feeling of sadness: that no one is ever be truely happy, whether you are a beautiful woman, a football star, a millionaire, or if a famous woman is attracted to you and you live in West Egg.The reason I gave it only 4 stars is because the book seemed a little flat. Perhaps it is a side effect of being concise, but I felt very little attachment towards any of the characters, and although Fitzgerald gave them some dimension, it's been done far better. The Great Gatsby is a book I would recommend none-the-less.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I was forced to get this book for my AP English class and I'll admit that I'm grateful for it. I really enjoyed this book -- it was excellent. A bit tragic and dark, but it really caught the mood of the time period in which it's written.
Rating:
Summary: Gatsby still haunts
Review: The book is called the Great Gatsby but the story is really focused on Daisy - surely a precursor for every 1940s femme fatale. She may have been called the original obscure object of desire. Jay Gatsby hungers for a past where he was happy with Daisy. But is she is part of the moneyed world which is entered by crime or by inheritance. No one really earns it. Fitzgerald seems at odds with the American dream of wealth, but attracted to the glamour and excess of it. The lack of a moral compass in financial matters, can also be seen in the directionless lives of the novel's characters. Gatsby uses his fortune in an ill fated attempt to bring back Daisy. The narrator has empty affairs with people in his office. Daisy and Tom 'smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money ... and let other people clean up the mess.' The author seems attracted to fame and fortune, and yet horrified by it. There is no moral centre in this universe. A very sad novel that has haunted readers for almost 80 years.
Rating:
Summary: Blinded by Ambition, Gatsby a Tragic Figure
Review: Jay Gatsby is a tragic figure blinded by his own ambitions to rekindle romance with Daisy, a woman from his past. The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carroway, who sees from all perspectives the world of the rich: the hollowness of the Buchanons, the "mask" that Gatsby must wear to attain his goals, the many "acquaintences" of the Gatsby parties who only attend his parties because it serves their own purpose of having a good time. At the heart core of this tale is the question of how far one must go to follow the aquistion of a dream, whether realistic or not. Nick admires Gatsby's determination, but he sees the dangers of Gatsby continuing to follow his dream. However, what Nick learns from Gatsby is the most essential part of the book. This is one of those books that starts off relatively slow, but picks up as we move on. It is set in the mid 1920s and has a few flashback references to Gatsby's former affair with Daisy. Overall I would recommend reading this book if you have never done so. I will admit that I was assigned this book in high school, but never even finished it. When I reread it a few years later, I was pleasantly surprised. I think what you should take from a book like The Great Gatsby is what it says about not only life in the 1920s, but the times we live in now.
Rating:
Summary: The Great American Booze Novel
Review: The fact that F. Scott Fitzgerald was an alcoholic becomes very apparent while reading The Great Gatsby. The characters spend all their time drinking and fighting with each other while never gaining an ounce of insight into their tedious and superficial lives. The self-made millionaire, Gatsby, makes his fortune as a bootlegger, etc. It's frustrating to read as everyone is so tragic. It's influence on the work of Tennesee Williams and Edward Albee is very apparent. The big difference between the later two is that in their work you develop a sense of sympathy for the character's tragic lives while in this novel you couldn't care less about anyone.
Rating:
Summary: VERY GOOD BOOK!!!
Review: This is one of the best books I have every read! Right now it is my favorite book! I personally think that this is F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novel. The novel has been revised and some corrections have been made, because the first had some errors. If you have any of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels but not the 'The Great Gatsby' then you are missing out! This is a must have book, and after reading you should watch the movie, it is as good as the book but a little different and better my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: If You Read Only One Book This Year...
Review: My high school English class read this book this year, and at first I figured it would be like the other not-so-interesting books we had read, and that I'd just get the Spark Notes. However, the few people in the class who had read it before raved about it, so I decided to give it a shot. I found it a little hard to get into, but as soon as I did I absolutely fell in love with it, and it has become one of my all-time favorite novels. The honesty and accuracy that Fitzgerald writes with makes The Great Gatsby a timeless piece of literature, and the social comments that Fitzgerald makes are as relevant today as they were in the 1920s. I can honestly say that The Great Gatsby allowed me to see society in a way I never had before. If you read only one book this year, make it The Great Gatsby.
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