Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Great Gatsby

Why is this book so romanticized? Why do teachers and professors teach on it? Why was it popular enough to be made into a movie? Why do people throw parties with "Gatsby" as the theme? This book revolved around nothing but horrible, selfish people, who did nothing but cheat on each other and put each other down. No one cared about anybody else, they all just did what they wanted and no one cared enough to stop them. I will say that I am impressed by how much the author was able to fit into 110 pages. I was not a fan of any of the characters, they were all very two-dimensional and cheated on each other, or at least knew someone was cheating or being cheated on and said nothing about it. And also, the way that they talked to each other and about each other was horrible even though they pretended it wasn't. I hated this book and I'm glad it was a short read.

Content Warnings

caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

2023: Re-read this book for my Classics Book Club. As always, we had a spirited discussion as to the themes of the book. However, I still did not enjoy reading it and I still hate all the characters - Gatsby is a con-man. Daisy is NOT a victim. Tom is still a horrible human being. Gatsby and Daisy's relationship is toxic AF. Daisy and Tom deserve each other and all their unhappiness. And Nick . . . This time around I really noticed something that I had forgotten from my first read, that Nick is our narrator, and he's a very unreliable one. He "thinks" he's above the superficial and vapid lifestyle of the rich and famous of East/West Egg, but he's in fact just like them. He just doesn't have the money.

2013: Intellectually, I can see why this book has remained a classic. It is a scathing social commentary on life in the 1920s, and maybe even specifically of upper class society in the northeast US. But emotionally, I despised Gatsby, and Tom, and Daisy, and Jordan and many of the other secondary characters so much that reading this book was more torture than pleasure. I had to force myself to finish this book (over 2.5 weeks!) just so I could say I have read it. And then F. Scott Fitzgerald's book will join the ranks of the classic American novels that I despise, i.e., every book ever written by his friend and contemporary, Ernest Hemingway.

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atlantisblauw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

Took until about page 140 for it to get interesting, but I did like the ending. Fitzgerald is a good writer, there are some beautiful sentences in there and he's good at writing flashbacks and other jumps through time. His characters are credible, but quite flat.

Ironically, Gatsby is presented as the mysterious one but you learn more about him than all other characters combined.

Content Warnings

hayleyvem's review against another edition

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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? Yes

3.0

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