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Summary: Metaphorical Message
Review: The Great Gatsby is a book that has a double meaning throughout the entire story and if one does not realize it, one would think it is just another book. The Great Gatsby is all about what Americans would go through in order to reach the "American Dream." Some of the reviews that did not like the book were written because they did not understand the real message Fitzgerald was trying to get across. When Gatsby becomes rich all of a sudden, the book implies he was selling liquor in the 1920's when it was prohibited. Daisy is just intereseted in the money, just like everyone, not caring where it came from. There are many implications in the book but Fitzgerald always tries to say things moderately. If someone reads the book just on the "surface," it is likely the person will not understand the true meaning of the plot and just think it was a story. In order to appreciate the book, one would have to go inside the book to find why each word that is being written is an important component of the story. The Great Gatsby clarifies what the true "American Dream" is and Fitzgerald puts it in a way no one can believe but is true.
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Summary: Just don't go there!
Review: Excellent substitute for valium... The most artificially inflated phenomenon since the 1929 stock market, and likewise this book seems like a worthy instigator of a great depression.
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Summary: Much ado about nothing (well, almost)
Review: After several years of hesitation, I finally read Fitzgerald's classic at the end of which I couldn't help but wonder what the fuss is all about. Suffice to say that the book is probably more famous for what it represents than the literary value of its contents. The plot is trivially simple and at times over-dramatised. The saving grace comes in the form of the spare and lucid writing, and the Roaring 20s' atmosphere that is essentially the central theme of the book.
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Summary: the only good thing about it was its simplicity
Review: Even though I only had to read this for school, I can tell you one thing through my forced reading: the only good thing about this book was that I could read it fast. Fitzgerald puts across some good points, but the book left me without the feeling of having been there and only with images of what happened. He did not do a very good job of emphasizing the important points, and I'm afraid I missed some of them. I would only recommend this book if your intent is a long-term study of writers of the 20th century.
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Summary: Ain't We Got Fun- And Aren't You Ashamed, Tom and Daisy!
Review: Amazon.com, I don't know what was wrong with the last 2 reviews I left. Hopefully, you'll print this one!This book may have been written 80 years ago to this writing, but the message is no less relevant. Greed and the lust of power are dangerous. Our hero Jay Gatsby becomes a victim to the American Dream. All because he has a crush on the conceited airhead Daisy Buchanan. The problem is that Daisy is already married to arrogant rich bully Tom Buchanan. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, remains Gatsby's only true friend. It is not for nothing Nick tries to warn Gatsby of the so-called upper class: "They're a worthless lot! You're worth the whole d___ group put together!"
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Summary: A deceptively simple tale in deceptively simple prose
Review: My youngest sister kept gushing, "Oh, I *love* The Great Gatsby!" so I finally decided to read it for myself. The story started out unassumingly, a rather nonchalant narrative of social encounters and anecdotal asides, and for a long time I wondered where it was leading, but Fitzgerald's prose was as elegant and streamlined as the Art Deco of the era, which after reading Tolkien was a welcome contrast ;-) so it was a pleasurable read, even if it didn't seem to be leading anywhere of any great import. Not every novel has to take your breath away with profundity, after all. The narrator's revelation about Gatsby's past was the first glimpse of "something profound" lying beneath the banal facade. Fitzgerald drew me along from that point on, as event piled upon event, and crack upon crack, until the fragile shell of deception and delusion shattered, and the last few pages of the story indeed took my breath away with the Something Profound that had been lying in wait through all of that "simple storytelling." Jay Gatsby was a character both profound and pathetic, and if any reader finds him irritating, perhaps it is because Gatsby's pathos is one that touches us all a little too close to the heart: losing sight of the boundary between bravely persevering in hope as we pursue wise but difficult goals, and foolishly clinging to illusions in the name of hope. My youngest sister was right: This is a superb, profound tale. Fitzgerald said more in 200 pages than many authors say in over a thousand.
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Summary: The great Gadsby a wonderful book
Review: A book rich in sybolism. Portraying a mans obsetion and an olusion. The excesses and carelesness of the rich, delightful to read.
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Summary: wonderful!
Review: After reading many other classics, i found this one to be surprisingly not boring! This is one of the best books i have ever read. The style of the piece is great. The novel is concise and very straightforward. I really enjoyed it and i hope that you will try it.
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Summary: Great Story, Beautiful Work of Art, & Brilliant Reflection
Review: The wonder of F. Scott FitzGerald's magnum opus is that he has created a great mirror for any individual looking into it. Therefore, a god can see a god and a fool can see a fool. Reading the various reviews from a wide variety of supposed learned individuals, I must say that this masterpiece is not just a well written story or even art, but a great mirror that can reflect whatever an individual may have to offer to oneself. Within each of us, live all the characters that appear in this novel (if we're lucky) from Jay Gatsby to George Wilson. Obviously, some readers (amazon reviewers included) have lost key characters far too early in their life. The style and language of the story is both engaging and active. It stimulates the mind of the reader to create and not just follow, as most common writers will have us do. In a world of sheep that think themselves as wolves, this work may seem less than satisfying. Being given the opportunity to look into a mirror and truly look at ourselves verses shown an idealistic picture and told that that image is we, many will chose the latter. History has shown that most people prefer the illusions of life. As J.D Salinger simply put it "They're all a bunch of phonies..."
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Summary: Great Classic Book Worth Reading Over and Over Again
Review: This book was initally forced onto me as a high school junior, and, like all the other students, I first groaned and braced myself for the worst, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had it read within two days and it quickly became a favorite. I highly recommend it to anyone in search of a good read (with a few psychological aspects)... it's a classic that just doesn't seem like a classic
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