Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Book--But Not Without Qualification
Review: It is Mr. Fitzgerlad's great misfortune to find that his acknowledgement as one of this young country's few authentic literary masters should be to have his work forced upon millions of the nation's TV reared, comic book-glutted High School students. Wholly unprepared to see the author's work in a cultural or artistic context (for to do that they would have had to read legitimate novels in the past), they doubtless rush for the Cliffs notes or else plagiarize reviews in abetting encyclopaedias for their sham book reports. This sacrilege is as nothing, though, when compared to the frustrating denunciations of "right-thinking" young people who, ignorant of changing historical and cultural trends, can't understand why Fitzgerald had his characters express themselves as people really spoke and NOT according to the politically correct scripts that are so common nowadays in the hangover after the nightmare illusion of Free Speech.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome for adults, but we shouldn't force kids to read this
Review: Anyone remember a skit that Andy Kaufmann did on Saturday Night Live? He came out on stage holding a copy of THE GREAT GATSBY, sat down on a stool, and told the audience that he had never really understood the book when reading it in school, and proposed that he and the audience read it aloud and discuss it, so that he could understand what it was all about. Maybe that is needed here.I am not anti-kids or anti-teens. But high school students need constantly to remind themselves that they are not experienced readers, and that their opinions on books should be proffered with a necessary dose of humility--humility that they might not yet have learned to be a first rate reader. To pass a judgment on THE GREAT GATSBY like "it isn't so great" or "this is a bad book" or "this is boring" says absolutely nothing about the novel but a great deal about the presumptuous oaf uttering the statement. THE GREAT GATSBY--like ULYSSES, THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, LOLITA, MOBY DICK, MIDDLEMARCH, or Proust--provides the measure of what a great novel can achieve. But one isn't born able to read and appreciate great books; it is a skill achieved over the course of time. My advice to all the high schoolers who want to trash this book out of revenge for having been forced to read it: wait a few years, learn to read novels, gain a little more understanding of history, grow up a little, and then go back to it. The book will have remained the same, but you will have grown up sufficiently to get the point. Hopefully.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK. A GREAT WRITER.
Review: I read these "reviews" of an American masterpiece where people are comparing the Great Gatsby to a soap opera when the story is so much more epic than the brainwashed masses who sit in front of TVs can recognize. First of all, it was written before soap operas so how could it be unoriginal. Second, its lyrical prose is among the best of any novels. Third, it is boring and pointless only to those idiots who want car chases, explosions, sex, and moronic dialogue about 70s pop culture. This book is amazing.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting & romantic novel
Review: At first I didn't want anything to do with this book. It was assigned as summer reading for my American Studies class. Before reading the book, I came online & read some of the reviews it received. I saw that a lot people thought this book was excellent. Well I have to agree with them. Fitzgerald moves a little slow in the beginning, but this story is so romantic and it didn't bore me at all.
Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: i read this book my sophomore year in highschool. i loved it. it is one of the best books that i've read that depicts the "american dream."
Rating:
Summary: A story of a rich man and his devotion to the woman he loves
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a wonderful book, which I couldn't put down. Though it may only be a story of a man, he was indeed a memorable one.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time and a pointless Read
Review: When I first read this book, I thought it was very bad. Then in class it caught my interest again. I do not know why. I wasted much time reading critical appraisals, but they are all junk. So is this book. I don't care what anybody says there are *SEVERAL* parts that *DO* seem to be "scribbled drunk" and are nearly unintelligible. The book is filled with all kinds of errors, particuliarly chronological. There is also plenty of *PREJUDICE* and *RACISM* in this book. Wolfsheim is singled out as "a small, flat nosed Jew" despite the fact that he never mentions this. Nick also constantly refers to his "tragic nose". What garbage. Also when Tom talks about the "Superior Nordic Race nobody seems to care *IN THE LEAST* about the horrible things he is saying. Nick's maid is refered to as "my Finn", which is so racist as to be almost unintelligible. Daisy and Gatsby are proposterous characters. The idea that they can never get together *MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER*. I don't care about society standards that is completely ridiculous. That Daisy would even think of staying with Tom dates this book *HORRIBLY* at the very least and more realitically turns into *A VIRTUAL CARTOON*. How and why Gatsby would do what he did is not believably in the least. Gatsby would never have gone to Oxford if he had truly cared about Daisy. The Confrontation makes absolutely no sense. Tom calls Gatsby a bootlegger with a drink in his hand. That is *THE WEAKEST WRITING I HAVE EVER SEEN.* Don't bother to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Read it once; read it twice; read it thrice!
Review: Despite its brilliant description of the American Jazz Age and its equally skilful characterisation, The Great Gatsby is primarily a novel of ideas. Underneath its simplistic overtones, lies a novel rich with both physical and symbolic action. Gatsby, the main character of the novel, is possessed by a magical fascination of wealth -- the substitution of attractive but false goals. In other words, he believes that youth (represented by his object of affection, Daisy) can be perpetually recaptured if one can merely make enough money. In this sense, Gatsby's vision is like the American dream itself. However, Nick, the narrator of the novel, is able to perceive and objectify Gatsby's idealism. He is capable of seeing clearly into the self-destructible nature of Gatsby's fascination. The novel's success is partially due to these two opposing sets of values and their clear, unambiguous nature. To fully appreciate this novel, I'd recommend reading scholarly critiques for a better understanding. You'd be surprised at how much this novel entails.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest American Novel...Period
Review: I first read this book in High School because I had too. Since I have revisited it over and over. A classic romantic tragedy that should touch everyone in America, for it addresses the American Dream, its fragility and it quietly asks how much are we willing to capitulate to reach our perception of that dream. Gatsby is someone with whom we all can identify, afterall, who hasn't had something sad happen to them in their past that somehow haunts them. Yet, he has overcome the loss and been successful, although his scruples are questionable due to his mysterious associates. His connections here touch our obsession with the mob. The cad that Daisy's husband is should appeal to every red blooded American male's instinct to be the Knight in Shining Armour. The ending brings into focus the reality of consequences when our personal integrity is compromised by our emotional weakness to live in and revisit past conflicts. Daisy while somewhat colorful, is all too real, in that she lives in denial, not unlike Scarlett O'Hara. In addition the omiscient eyes are always looming, watching. The color of the time is described and the glamour of the atmosphere is very tangible. You'll feel like you've lived in the twenties and danced at one of Jay Gatsby's parties!
Rating:
Summary: The Great Gatsby wasn't all that good
Review: First I would like to say that I was assigned to read this book in a rather ordinary American high school, which isn't really the best place to be exposed to a book of any kind. Also, I read it some time ago, so the details are a bit foggy, but I do remembermy overall impression of the book. The story of this book really didn't impress me. I figure that this is because it isn't really that orginal, at least in my eyes. There are so many story with similar plotlines (Guy X likes Girl Y who is married to and unfaithful husband, Guy Z, and various thing that are supposed to be interesting because of this) (sounds like a soap opra) My main complaint is about the writing style: it is written in a way that excites English teachers, and bores the rest of us (everyone I know [rather inteligent high school students with a slant twards math and science) This was written quickly and without much thought other that I didn't like the book and would rather be reading something written by Issac Asimov, Douglas Adams, or some other author that doesn't write boring fiction that ends up or resembles that which does end up in high school english class
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