Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anne Collins

303 reviews

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A literary classic, Gatsby centres around the party host and smuggler Jay Gatsby. A man of "new wealth" in the rich part of Long Island, he secretly harbours a deep love for the wife of a nearby family, whom he has known for years. As the narrator Nick Carraway learns more about the enigmatic Gatsby, the more events begin to conspire to topple the self-made man from his throne.

I first read this book in English class in high school but did not remember a single part of it. I enjoyed re-reading it now and remembering all of the symbolism, the plot, the characterization of both Gatsby and Nick. I would not recommend it if you struggle with purple prose, as Fitzgerald can get flowery with descriptions or use some (now) obscure term for seemingly no reason. The plot is fairly straightforward and predictable, and because of the third-person narration it is hard to understand Gatsby's motivations. An enjoyable read nonetheless!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Alcohol, Violence, Gun violence, Infidelity, Car accident, Physical abuse, Blood, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, Racial slurs, Addiction, Classism, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Colonisation, Cursing, and Genocide

ellie_girl2929's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Car accident

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Racism, Death, and Murder

jenmaysiereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

amberg25's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Addiction, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexism

jthyme's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Daisy is a bitch. This would be an instant 5 star if Jay and Nick should have gotten together. Clearly they make out to be a better couple and I will die on this hill

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism

zams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I put this on on audio because I thought it was a quick way to sneak in a short little classic to polish the stats and get it under my belt since I've never read it before, but boy was I pleasently surprised.

I think this short book had more depth for most of the characters and more drama than any full length romances I've read. It also gets to show how different relationships - romantic or platonic - can be, and how unlinear they are.
I don't find most classics gripping, and that was also the case with this one, but it was most definitly entertaining.

What I didn't like was that the "bad" mistress as well as all jewish people have seemed to be described as ugly or rude. I also found the sole attendence of certain events of our narrator as a bystander sometimes a little weird, and I get that's for narrational purposes, because how else would he know, but it's been a little weird sometimes. I also was a little confused because I thought that Jordan was a person of color, since she was described as "tan", but considering the comments and reactions of the other characters I figured that she was in fact not.

I could go on about the abundance of commentary on society, wealth and relationships this book has made, but this is still supposed to be a book review and not a discussion round, so I simply won't, but I'm definitly looking forward to a re-reas sometime in the future 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Racism

dmrains's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Classism, Alcohol, Racism, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Gun violence, and Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship and Domestic abuse

wheatlyre's review against another edition

medium-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

4.25

I will preface my review with the fact I read The Great Gatsby in a classroom setting, with a chapter-per-week pacing, as it was for an English assignment, and very little out of class reading; which I feel should be noted, as the way I interacted with and read the book was slightly different than how I would in a recreational/normal environment.
I liked The Great Gatsby quite a bit, and while I found my feelings for most of the characters to be on a spectrum of apathy to (just barely not) hatred as people, they are interesting characters, and you could find a lot of depth through speculation over them. There are a few lines and descriptions that I found quite revealing regarding the underlying feelings and motivations of some of the characters, especially

Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby (aka James Gatz), and Tom Buchanan

, but that you might normally ignore or look past.
While I did enjoy it, there were some areas that felt slightly dull or dragged out, to the point I felt I had to skip though a bit my first read through, then re-read after finishing the chapter for additional context in the later scenes.
Nick Carroway, the narrator, skips through the summer while telling the story. He keeps the timeline linear, so it could feel a bit off-putting in the moment when he would mention seemingly random events between parties and dinners with acquaintances, but the events do all have actual meaning for being there, biggest reason being to build characterization and foreshadow future reveals or events. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Car accident

Moderate: Sexism, Bullying, Misogyny, Drug use, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism and Bullying

ilovebooks1967's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A classic.

There are mentions of white supremacy however these are said by a character that no one is supposed to like; the author challenges this ideal.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Colonisation, and Sexism

makiba's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Classism, and Car accident

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol