Rating: 
Summary: Deserving classic
Review: A wonderful book that has aged gracefully. I enjoyed the simplicity thereof, and the beautiful prose that the author applied in just the right amount. Also appreciated was the humour- an element that is sorely lacking in many older books.If you enjoyed this, do try Remains of the Day by Ishiguro and anything by Julian Barnes.
Rating:
Summary: Lost at Sea
Review: Fitzgerald's words are like waves and I was only along for the ride. There was certainly more to get out of this book than I did, but it left a strong, satisfying feeling with me when I finished. When I awoke I was face-down in the sand.
Rating: 
Summary: The American Classic
Review: Gatsby is simply the greatest American novel. Enough Said. I believe the Publisher's Afterward, by Charles Scribner, is excellent as well.
Rating: 
Summary: It was OKAY...I guess!
Review: I had heard about this book a long time ago and knew that it was supposed to be one of the great "classics," but I hadn't ever actually gotten around to reading it. Well, recently a friend of mine reccommended it to me, saying that it was the best book he had ever read...so I finally decided to read it. After finishing it last night, I was left with one question, "What was all the fuss about?" It's alright, I suppose, but why it's considered a classic I have no idea. As a lover of history, I found it interesting as a commentary on the life and times of the 1920s, but at times I was left confused as to what was going on and found the plot line drab overall...There are some interesting ideas included, but they are very poorly developed. Also, there are notes included in the book about how Fitzgerald was poor with geography and made a lot of errors that had to be revised later on. If he couldn't even write a book on his own, why was it even published in the first place? Bah! I could take it or leave it, personally.
Rating:
Summary: Glamour and Grand, a Gatsby worth reading
Review: The Great Gatsby is a beautifully written story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is narrated by the simple Nick Carraway and tells of the intricate lives of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald creates a perfect mix of love, happiness, wealth, betrayal, and suspense. Through the use of the characters and their love, the reader can picture the times of the roaring twenties. From astonishingly gorgeous parties of the wealthy Jay Gatsby, to the simple beauty and innocence of Daisy, Fitzgerald convinces the reader to truly believe his writing. He writes with a style that creates beautiful and sometimes frustrating images for the reader. His descriptions utilize precise detail. As one reads Fitzgerald's words slipping across the page, one can witness exactly what is being described. Fitzgerald's techniques of using descriptions and detail prove helpful. Moving beyond style, the book pushes past the basic storyline and becomes very symbolic. The characters, setting, and events that take place are all telling of the American dream in the twenties. It depicts people who let wealth determine their lives. It emphasizes how money and people's desire for money can stand in the way of true happiness. The Great Gatsby is a well-written novel that creates a telling depiction of life in America in the 1920's.
Rating:
Summary: Did Gatsby Go Too Far?
Review: F. Scott Fitzgeralsssd's The Great Gatsby is a commentary on the human pysche. What reasonable man would host expensive parties for an extended period of time, in the hopes a woman would hear about it and come? Did Gatsby need a shrink? I think so. I know that love will make you do strange things, but after Daisy ran over the woman in the road and insisted on going to her own home instead of Gatsby's, my man should have cut his losses. Gatsby vowed to take the blame for the hit-and-run, waiting in the pool for Daisy to call. Had he not met Daisy as a young man, what would he have lived for? It was sad to see someone's life so empty.
Rating:
Summary: A very versatile book
Review: I enjoyed this book, but I did find it mildly confusing in the beginning. The first few chapters were rather descriptive and this was more of a hindrance to me than a help. The story contains a lot of symbolism also. Everything really has some deeper meaning. But you can read it on a more "surface" level too, and just enjoy it as a tragic love story. If you do decide to read it in a more in-depth manner, you will see Fitzgerald's story as one of the "American Dream." The characters are striving for money, love, success and guarantees. They often try to be something on the outside that they really aren't on the inside. The story is told from a rather minor character's point of view and this enables the reader to come to many of his or her own conclusions. The narrator is also easily relatable. The Great Gatsby is a well-written book that gives a strong sense of the author's values and beliefs, which are typical of his time. But the book is very meaningful and entertaining in our time as well.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and rather genius
Review: The Great gatsby is one of the most interesting, or at least most interestingly written books I've read in a long while. Written by expatriot F. Scott Fitzgerald, it depicts the hypocracy of the roaring twenties, and tells us the story of Jay Gatsby, and the love of his life, Daisy. Our narrator is Nick, Daisy's cousin who knew Daisy's husband Tom in college. What is interesting is that Nick tends to reserve judgement on the other characters and their actions, however heinous, from the beginning of the book. Our settting is two islands off of New York, known as the West Egg and East Egg (my classmate thought it a shame that they weren't off Easter Island). The east egg houses the wealthy and well-to-do, whereas the west egg is the less fashionable, and it is here that both Nick and our hero, Jay Gatsby both live. The characters are all fascinating from Jay Gatsby, who began as a "poor boy" who by luck ended up terribly wealthy. His quest to achieve Daisy is mind boggling, and is an obsession, a religion almost, to Gatsby. Daisy, while a little nutty and a few marbles short of a jar, is beautiful and wealthy, and the woman every man wanted to have. It is for these reasons that Gatsby wanted to have her, although he proclaims his wild obsession of having that which everyone covets was love. Tom, Daisy's husband is a terribly dislikeable character, and is supposed to be, but I won't reveal why, that's for me to know and you to find out. Lastly, there is Miss Jordan Baker, Nick's semi love interest. Fitzgerald uses an interesting language filled with imagry and color to convey his messages about class differences, and Gatsby's great struggle. The sad thing is that this story was probably based on Fitzgerald's own life with his wife Zelda, who was later diagnosed as mentally ill (after the book). The grand parties that were hazy in the people's memory because they were so stinking drunk also reflects the lifestyle the author and his wife led. After reading the book, you will know why I think his life must have been rather sad. Before, however, you might note that it is dedicated to Zelda. This book, which contains many parallels to the life of the author is terribly interesting and wonderful in an almost hurtful way. It could be that it's just me, who normally reads romance novels. However, I recommend it to anyone as it is very interesting and it would always benefit one to know about great authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, even if only for dinner conversation.
Rating:
Summary: A Journey back in Time.
Review: The first time I encountered "The Great Gatsby" it was as an assignment in a high school English class. My recent re-read occurred after my son had read it in his high school English class. The reread brought back memories of a form of academic study from which I have been separated for many years. "The Great Gatsby" is an excellent book in which to study the writer's art. In this short book the reader can detect a collection of symbolic details which make the story much more than the tale which appears on the surface: the ash heap, as a symbol of the waste of American society; the green light on Daisy's dock, which means so much to Gatsby as a symbol, until he again meets Daisy, when it again becomes, for Gatsby, as for everyone else, just a light. The characters all play their roles in the development of the story. Shallow figures fill Gatsby's parties, but show their true level of concern for him when they all absent themselves from his funeral. The class distinctions between Daisy, a true upper class maiden, who can never lower herself to accept Gatsby, the aspirant to a class rank which wealth and parties cannot buy. Gatsby's source of wealth is hinted at by his association with Meyer Wolfsheim, the gambler who fixed the World Series. Like others, he will associate with Gatsby in life, but has no time for him in death. The unnatural core of Gatsby's world is illustrated by his act of moving east, rather than the traditional westward migration, in order to achieve freedom and advancement. Tom and Daisy Buchanan represent old money, which will not accept Gatsby and, in the end, destroys him. Nick Carraway is the one character in the book who develops his own moral sense. His role as narrator permits us to see Gatsby's world through his eyes. It is he who sees, and is repelled by, the rotten cores of Gatsby and the worlds in which lives and into which he aspires. He sees the corruption deep inside Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Most of all, we see the innate goodness in Tom. Observing, but not entering Gatsby's world, he is able to understand and judge it. His final evaluation of Gatsby's world is seen when he abandons it all to return to his native Midwest. As I re-read "The Great Gatsby" I remembered what I had not liked about it the first time I read it. The causal acceptance of infidelity seems at odds with what I have always viewed as the ideal as well as the reality. As one studies the commentaries of this book, with all of its symbolisms, I often wonder if the symbols were really in F. Scott Fitzgerald's mind as he wrote the book, or whether they are constructs of later commentators. Either way, they give the book a depth which so many others lack. When my son speaks of other books he reads in English class, he always says "It's no Great Gatsby." The more I think of it, few of novels are.
Rating:
Summary: Moo Moo the Psycho Cow
Review: The Great Gatsby is a book that has one prevailing theme rather than multiple points the author is trying to make. I believe this is the books ultimate weekness. The theme is "you can't relive the past". Okaaay, and? It just sort of stops there, comes to a sudden halt. To me, the Great Gatsby doesn't have any true deep thinking in this area. I feel that the development of themes throughout a novel are very important so I have to say the Fitz just doesn't cut it for me.
|
