Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Great Gatsby [Annotated]

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Great Gatsby [Annotated] by F. Scott Fitzgerald

432 reviews

littlefish's review against another edition

4.75

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

corgheist's review against another edition

3.0

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

While this book is not for me, I can see why people would like it.

That said, it's clearly a product of its time, and some of the racism/antisemitism is pretty jarring to read in current day.

Content Warnings

readingwitharielle's review against another edition

2.0

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a reread before I read Beautiful Villians by Rebecca Kenney. It had been about 20 years since I first read the book so wanted a refresh. And I honestly wish I hadn't. Between the eugenics, slurs, antisemitism, and racism I wanted to DNF this at multiple times. The only character I felt anything for was Gatsby at the end. The story was dull and I was either bored with the characters or disgusted with them.

Content Warnings

professional_forgetter's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

toris_in_her_own_world's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I wish I was a rich person living in New York during the 1920s 😩. The imagery is so rich, as well as symbolic. There were no shallow characters, they all had backstories and emotions. Nick was everything though, I love how he progresses from “well it’s fine no one is perfect I won’t judge” to “woahhhh these people are crazy I gotta get away from them.” I mean he literally recognizes that Jordan is a cheater and liar and he’s just like “that’s just how women are sometimes, it’s ok” ?!? Gatsby was so sweet though, tis a shame. Hated Tom and how Daisy acted when he was there, although Daisy was such an airhead she wasn’t that much better when he wasn’t. I love how caring Nick was for Gatsby, even at the end.
“We beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”

Content Warnings

mookayla's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous challenging sad

Loveable characters: No

Now I can finally say I've read The Great Gatsby (although I still haven't watched the movie). I went in blind, not knowing the classic story outside of a retelling I read; and it definitely surprised me. As exciting as it was, It still wasn't my cup of tea though.

Content Warnings

joyd77's review against another edition

2.0

reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Plodding. Joyless. It was difficult to root for any of the characters, yet none of them was compelling enough to dislike either. I simply did not care about these boring, careless people. Gatsby was pathetic, making me wonder if the title was a joke -- like naming a slave Caesar.

Content Warnings

1stdecan's review against another edition

3.0

challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was much more difficult to read than I thought it would be, but I'm not sure if this is because I find the writing very convoluted (especially in the first half; I think sometimes the writing is just very confusing and could benefit from a stricter use of commas and/or better phrasing) or if it's because the book is supposed to be a challenging read. This was written many, many years ago and writing back then was very different from today, so maybe that's the reason why I didn't enjoy Fitzgerald's way of writing the story that much. The prose was indeed poetic at times, but it's not what I thought it would be judging from the praise others give to this book.

The story bored me more than a little at times, I will admit that. And yet, I find the reflection/meaning/symbolism behind the story quite good, so I'll rate it as a solid 3 only because of that.

Perhaps I'll enjoy it more if I ever re-read it, but this first read was not very satisfying.

Content Warnings

treehuggerhannah's review against another edition

4.5

dark reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

snugglor's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The tension keeps rising and rising throughout this book, as the characters live this lavish lifestyle, for which the narrator judges them immensely, and we, the readers, can't help but feel that somehow it all must come crashing down because it cannot be sustained.

I thought that aspect of it was really well done, but that said, I didn't love this, but maybe that's because the narrator really dislikes so many of the people he meets (and I get it, that's kind of the point).

Content Warnings

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