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

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Great Gatsby [Annotated] by F. Scott Fitzgerald

432 reviews

mwesthaven's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

dani_the_noodle's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

Content Warnings

angel____'s review against another edition

2.0

medium-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

If you've ever wanted to read a book that will make you hate everyone and everything with few exceptions, read this. All the characters are well written to be flawed, however this had the opposite of the intended effect for me. I hate all these people and wish nothing but the worst for all of them. Except Jordan and Daisy they get a pass. Don't get me wrong the plot and overall writing is good, but the characters are almost to believably horrible to the point you don't care what happens to them at all even the narrator and protagonist are horrible.

Real lines from this book that ticked me off include (TW Antisemitism and Misogyny):

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.

A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head and regarded me with two fi ne growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril. After a moment I discovered his tiny eyes in the half-darkness

Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply

I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pickout romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives,and no one would ever know or disapprove. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness.

The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God

Content Warnings

pnwpotato's review against another edition

3.0

funny mysterious sad 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

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

What's old (1920's) is made new again (2025) in that quote. The wealthy living their lives as they do and generating a fallout around everyone else on some scale or another. I appreciated the writing of the book, didn't care for the casual racism though.

Content Warnings

miwes's review against another edition

4.5

emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jerbarger's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense medium-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

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made... I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child.”

People often leave out the last sentence when quoting that bit, and I think it’s a shame. Comparing being rich to being a child is just as damming as saying rich people are careless. Also, I cannot stress enough that this is exactly the plight we are in right now with the people running this country.

Good reread, although I technically listened to the 2025 100th year anniversary audiobook version. Really sad that Fitzgerald is one of those artists who never got to see the true height of his success. As for the American Dream? I don’t like to kick something while it’s down—even if it never was up in the first place, really.

Content Warnings

gxuosi's review against another edition

2.0

emotional reflective sad fast-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

i wanted to give this book another shot after just hoe badly i hated it in highschool english. it’s been 16 years and it’s definitely not as a bad as it used to be, but i still just do not like this damn book. the people are all unlikable which is fine by me, but the narrator does no favors to how this story is told. buried under lists of names of people who don’t matter, nonlinear memory, and 1920s excess is a honestly good story about rage, infidelity, grief, and a whole lot of entitlement. but god it’s a miserable read.

Content Warnings