Rating: 
Summary: My favorite Book
Review: I don't know what I would have done without this book. It has so many genres tapped into one. There is suspense, mystery, action, and of course the main theme of deciet and love. More over it is a love story. The torried affair between Gatsby and Daisy was unforseen, but absolutely pertinate to the story. Two confused people in New York, disturbed and tormented but in love.
Rating: 
Summary: Who can I empathize with?
Review: The Great Gatsby has many twists and turns, chock full of phrases and situations that make sense as the story unfolds that beckons you to go back and reread this story. The story meshes the characters and their setting very well. However, as good as the story was, it was difficult to feel anything but disappointment with any of the characters.
The narrator, Nick, is never fully fleshed out. He seems to be a prop brought in from the Midwest only to be used as an observer of the strange goings on of the rest of the characters. Even his relationship with Jordan is blandly glossed over. With so many different characters to juggle, one wonders if the narrator character could have been dropped completely.
Jordan is ... a golfer, was it? She appears to be another peripheral prop in a mad dash to bring the only three characters who have any flesh together.
Which brings us to Daisy. A girl who one begins to feel a warmth towards but who destroys any goodwill as events reach their climax. She is childish and numb to all but her own feelings. She is beautiful and fascinating, but wholly boring and empty.
Her husband Tom, on the other hand, was a powerhouse of a character. Full of energy and passion and endowed with the wealth of his forebearers, this man has the ability and nature to lead corporations or governments. He squanders it all buying into pop psychology and wrestling with the 'ash' of society. What is most disappointing in Tom is that one can see this gargantuan man slowly turning himself into a stupid ape. How many times did I feel like wrapping my fingers around his thick neck and telling him to shut up?
Finally there's Gatsby. A boy in a man's body. Building himself into the man that he is by careful planning and determination, he finds himself at the crest of adulthood used as a doormat for those who he might consider his friends. He confuses serfdom for gentlemanliness. He throws off the shackles of his past but builds for himself a house of cards. One almost feels happy for him when Wilson makes his housecall to Gatsby's mansion.
All in all, this is a great book. Even without sympathetic characters, the story flows along quite well with little eddys of brilliant storytelling that come together at the end and urge the reader to go back and reread what may have been missed on the first outing.
Rating:
Summary: Very Fresh
Review: It was a fast paced, thrilling ride through all the love and mistakes that we make. A brilliant novel by Fitzgerald.
Rating:
Summary: UNDER THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE
Review: As a crime fiction author with my first novel in its initial release, I must confess to my unabashed admiration for THE GREAT GATSBY. If it isn't the finest novel ever written (which I've been known to argue it is) or the finest American novel (which again I've been known to argue it is) or the finest Twentieth Century novel (which, you know the drill), it is the finest crime novel ever written. I read this book annually. Many other crime fiction writers do the same. THE GREAT GATSBY is perfectly constructed, with ambiguities within enigmas, as it recounts the Jazz Age, capturing that era's ambience splendidly. It is a crime novel, yet, as with the best crime novels, crime does not dominate the entire book. At one level, it is the story of a poor boy who dreams of becoming rich and marrying an American golden girl. On another level, it is the story of the American upper crust personified by that golden girl and her polo playing husband. On still another level, it is the story of a young Midwestern gentleman who matures into genuine manhood one summer amid the parties and social events of East and West Eggs in Long Island. It is the Tale of America. No one has told it better than F. Scott Fitzgerald, either before or since. Ever.
Rating:
Summary: League of its own
Review: This book has been through quite a bit. It has been praised as the greatest American novel, the World's greatest novel, the most brilliant piece of fiction ever, and the most insightful, lyrical, plainly gorgeous book that has ever been written by a human being--or no, "even GOD himself couldn't have written a better story!!!" Of course, you have to take all of these recommendations into account before you read this book; you must also take into account that Fitzgerald didn't like this book, and that he didn't want to be remembered by it, and that the symbolism that scholars find so haunting is just a collection of plain personifications of the four main characters, which all in all gives no divine insight at all. But, like all great novels, <Gatsby> was an underground classic, and if you adore this book as much as I do, it might still be considered an underground classic. You read this in school, right? Nobody likes what they read in school; in fact, I think people don't like what they read in school simply to contradict the teacher and, in doing so, contradict the society that tells them to read instead of watch TV. Well, I read this book before I had a chance to read it in school, and I found it mesmorizing. I had no idea that it was a "classic"--what I knew, and it was enough for me, is that my mom told me she loved it when she read it--and I had no intentions of writing a great review on Amazons and giving it 5 stars so the Gatsby maniacs won't come beat me up. This story is very simple, but its simplicity is refreshing. Fitzgerald is a sensational writer--all of his work is wonderful, and this is no exception. Believe the hype. Dress in white. Attend the party of the century.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read, But Not Perfect
Review: I gave Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby a shot recently outside of school. There are both things I love about the book and things that I found a little tedious. On the positive side, I enjoyed the social insight, the lyricism, the story in general. Fitzgerald was truly blessed with the gift of words, and the use of imagery gives this classic much staying value. It is just so real it comes alive in your head. The story of Jay Gatsby, who has grown wealthy (on the shady side of the law as it turns out) and his love for Daisy Buchanan is still affecting today. I disliked how it took a while for the story to get really moving, it was a little tedious sometimes. But don't let that spoil it for you. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful novel about repulsive people
Review: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a classic of American literature. Many people have read it in school, but I came upon it later in life. I admire the beauty of the language and the story. No need for me to comment on the symbolism, etc.- many others can comment more intelligently.After reading it twice now, and appearing in a bit part in a stage production of the novel, I have had time and opportunity to reflect on the book. What sticks with me are the characters. Tom Buchanan is a blustery bully, but very vital and interesting. His wife Daisy is beautiful, period. Gatsby is a fool who refuses to grow up. The "love of his life" is taken by another man and he should just get on with it. He is attractive and magnetic- he could find any number of beautiful, intelligent women to be with, but he fixates on the unworthy Daisy. His tragedy seems to be his inability to live in the present. So that gives us Tom and Daisy in the category of People I'm Glad I Don't Know and Gatsby in the category of People Who Need a Vigorous Kick in the Seat. However, the character who ended up making me angry was Nick Carraway. He is so often mentioned as some kind of Greek chorus. This is not how I see him. I see Nick as the one person who could have done something or even just said something that might have averted the tragedy of this story. He does nothing. He sees people make bad decisions and do stupid things and doesn't say a word. In fact, he helps things along. Obviously, Fitzgerald would never have written it any differently. Gatsby with a happy ending would have been forgotten immediately if ever published at all. It's a wonderful read, and part of the American Lit canon. I do recommend The Great Gatsby, but I can't get the bad taste of Nick Carraway out of my mouth.
Rating:
Summary: Ironies of Gatsby
Review: The Great Gatsby is a book full of ironies. Gatsby was great because he was pure in his pursuit of love, yet as the tragedy unfolds, he had to pay for his "greatness." Fitzgerald cleverly depicted a whole range of characters who are your typical everyday people with slightly accelerated and dramatic events happening around them. After all the book is set in the Roaring 20's. Gatsby himself was the touchstone character. He provided the contrast to all the characters around him. As one party scene in the book presented, most people were phonies - yet, Gatsby remained uncontaminated. He pursued love. And his failure was Fitzgerald's condemn of the world in which the Roaring 20's was, or rather how it always is. When reading this book, you see the society, you see your own life, and you'll see the fireworks produced by the deft writing that only Fitzgerald brings. It has something for everyone. And you'll see your bit of world, though less glamorous, perhaps, is no less colorful than the one painted by the author.
Rating:
Summary: Summertime read
Review: I finally got around to reading this classic because it was recommended by the Washington Post Book World as good summertime reading. The plot does parallel the seasons and numerous references are made to the weather, including one of my favorite passages from the book: "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." This book is so well crafted that reading it made me realize how much has been lacking in other novels I've read lately. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Gatsby wants what we all want
Review: I decided to read The Great Gatsby because it is a classic, and when I was supposed to read it in high school, I got the Cliff Notes instead. The story still did not impress me much, but it is a short read and well worth it in the end because the message is one we can all learn from. Gatsby is in search of his true love, which is something all of us look for in life - that relationship of heroic proportions that seems almost surreal and timeless. Perhaps the last page is the best clincher of the book: "Gatsby believed in the green light (true love), the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...and one fine morning ----- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." How true it is...beat on my friends.
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