Rating: Summary: This is one of the best books ever written!! Review: Anyone that has not read this book is horrible deprived in every way that I can think of. This book has just about everything that one could possibly want in a book. It has romance, wealth, parties, anger, jealousy, revenge, searching. It has it all!! It is the story of a very wealthy group of people in the twenties. One in particular (who is quite mysterious to those around him) is in love with a married woman. She falls in love with him too, when she discovers that he lives very near her. THere is a showdown between Gatsby and Daisy's husband that ends in a very interesting way. There is so much more to this book than just this bit that I have alluded to. There is so much more that to try and write a true review of it would create a whole new book in and of itself. I just hope that some of you out there read this and decide to read it. It is truly one of the best novels ever written!
Rating: Summary: face it; Gatsby is the best Review: If Catcher in the Rye is not the world's best book, then the Great Gatsby is. Maybe it is anyway.
Rating: Summary: Great beginning; covers wide range of social commentary Review: Looks at social system from the Anglo-Saxon viewpoint, prevalent at the time. A good read
Rating: Summary: Great Review: Fitzgerald does an incredible job creating a multifaceted love story. Many people's dream of reliving the past is reflected in Gatsby, while Nick gives us an unbiased view of the ordeal. Fitzgeralds style is captivating and rich, moving forward at a good pace and ending the book VERY well
Rating: Summary: The ultimate privileges of the rich Review: In a world where a football star can commit murder and get away with it,
and a family of rich and famous politicians can trash those who stand in
the way of reelection, Fitzgerald could never have been more correct. When
he wrote in "Gatsby" that the rich are different, he seems to have had some
sort of prophetic genuis. They certainly are different. The way in which Tom and Daisy were able to leave their problems behind is not so dissimilar to
the kind of privilege which is flaunted by those who abuse such privilege
today. I can't help but feel that even Fitzgerald could never have
imagined the depth of arrogance which our rich and infamous have reached
today.
Rating: Summary: Fitzgerald's incredible idealism: a stockbroker with a heart Review: Few books can be as consistently incredible as Gatsby. The idea of a stockbroker/promoter who has a heart must send chills of fear down the managers of the great Wall Street firms. Yet, it is so, and is
decisively the realm of fiction.
Gatsby is the prototypical social mountaineer, climbing and climbing
in the 1920s towards an impossible dream: having the love of a flip
and indecisive Southern gal, and being accepted for who he dreams he
may be within his questing heart. Like the best American novels it
is replete with greed, over consumption of limited goods, graced by
a cynical narrator, and clever in its jaded appraisal of life.
Ultimately the book comes down to one central issue that is not
explained: "Why would a great man have so much love for a selfishly
undeserving woman?" Gatsby has grandeur but his love has nothing.
It's a spoiled book in that sense, and without the quality of virtue
in Daisy, the book becomes a cruel mistake that can only end in death.
Fitzgerald's style is elegant, brief, he never makes mistakes in judgment, and his narrative is impeccable. The book rushes forward
like a Greek tragedy and ends just as Sunset Boulevard begins: with
Gatsby dead in a pool killed by that which he loved. Somehow there
is some great truth in the idea that in great American fiction the
use of coincidence is always deadly, and satisfaction never easy.
Plato would have used the book as an exemplar in his proof of the ideal, Aristotle would have merely laughed, yet inwardly agreed -
the book is a cautionary tale; but more importantly hagiography.
....C.K. Dexter Haven.
Rating: Summary: I was forced to read this: Review: To the person who said students shouldn't be forced to read this, Im glad I was. I am 23 now, and still remember reading Gatsby in high school. Of course, I read Shakespeare for pleasure, I always liked reading. When you grow up poor books are a great friend! I may have never read this if it hadn't been assigned. Its short, and its a classic. Perhaps those trashing it should reread it when they are mature enough to handle it?
Rating: Summary: A rich story Review: "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most exquisite books I have ever read to date that deals with most if not all aspects of love and the challenges of life. There is so much to learn especially for us in this modern world where so many people use the word "love" without really knowing what it truly means. The author is so descriptive that I sometimes felt as if I was in the story. He made it easy for readers to penetrate the souls of the characters and relate to their lives.
The character development is prodigious, while prose is outstanding. I felt as much for Gatsby as I have for any other character. He had always had high aspirations, but his dreams were taken away from him by the fact the he had to fight a war, and he could never be the same again. Gatsby's ambition is to have his former love, who is now married to an unfaithful husband, a quest that saw outstanding twist and turns in the story to make it the great read we have heard so much about. This book is truly inspirational for everyone irrespective of race, gender, age or occupation. I highly recommend it along with:
DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE USURPER AND OTHERS, THE SCARLET LETTER
Rating: Summary: A rich story Review: "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most exquisite books I have ever read to date that deals with most if not all aspects of love and the challenges of life. There is so much to learn especially for us in this modern world where so many people use the word "love" without really knowing what it truly means. The author is so descriptive that I sometimes felt as if I was in the story. He made it easy for readers to penetrate the souls of the characters and relate to their lives.The character development is prodigious, while prose is outstanding. I felt as much for Gatsby as I have for any other character. He had always had high aspirations, but his dreams were taken away from him by the fact the he had to fight a war, and he could never be the same again. Gatsby's ambition is to have his former love, who is now married to an unfaithful husband, a quest that saw outstanding twist and turns in the story to make it the great read we have heard so much about. This book is truly inspirational for everyone irrespective of race, gender, age or occupation. I highly recommend it along with: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE USURPER AND OTHERS, THE SCARLET LETTER
Rating: Summary: A Tragic Love Story Review: Finally I can say that I've read this great book!
Essentially, THE GREAT GATSBY is a tragic love story. In this novel, we are shown the extremes to which a person will go when they are in love. Gatsby is desperately in love with Daisy -- a gal way "out his league" and social standing -- so that he transforms his entire existence (reinvents himself) to win her love, even sacrificing his life. Of course, in the end there may be those who ask: Was Daisy worth it?
There is nothing to replace the experience of reading this great, beautifully written novel. All the drab film adaptions fall short, maybe because the beauty is not in the somewhat slender story, but in the telling, the language Fitzgerald uses, exquisitely rendered lines that you'll find yourself re-reading for their intense beauty. The final closing pages, in particular, are amazing -- prose that is closer to poetry. This is a MUST reading experience -- by the end you'll agree: a shining jewel of literature. Pick up a copy of this classic book!
Another novel I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Fitzgerald, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, compelling romance of sorts I can't stop thinking about. THE LOSERS CLUB and THE GREAT GATSBY are by far my favorite two Amazon purchases this year.
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