Reviews with content warning for Death - Beautiful Little Fools

It's a feminist revenge fantasy retelling of the Great Gatsby. I don't mind the concept in theory, but in practice, it felt a little on the nose. Every female main character was a victim and every male main character was a villain, and there was very little nuance between those two extremes throughout the book. It's Gatsby meets Chicago with dogmatic characterization.

The voice actresses did a phenomenal job, but it felt like they were telling me they were characters from the 1920's (by referencing legislation and necessary historic cornerstones) instead of showing me (via vernacular, relevant furniture, architecture, etc.).

As a Gatsby fan, I don't feel better for having read this book. It felt like a weird satire of "let's tell HERstory instead of HIStory," and it didn't do it for me. I'll just watch the movie instead next time.

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machenn's review

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mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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serenas_reads's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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audge's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

idk, i just ate it up. this is now included in the Good For Her universe.

thought this retelling stayed true to the original source but has expanded the gatsby world in a great way. i just find all the women's perspective interesting. the chapters aren't that long so that made me more intrigued. there were some little things from the original story that was twisted and i was into it. not perfect but i thoroughly enjoyed it.

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kayceeraereads's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense

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

5.0

I was ecstatic when The Great Gatsby entered public domain in the last few years and could not wait to get my hands on the books that were going to come out of it. Scott’s work left so much up for interpretation and to the imagination (I can still hear my English teacher in high school asking me about that green light), and I was absolutely not disappointed. If you are not familiar with The Great Gatsby, I would certainly read the spark notes of the story, or take some time to read it before picking this one up (or reading this review, which contains spoilers for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original work).

George Wilson shot Jay Gatsby. That’s what everyone agrees happened, until Detective Frank
Charles finds a diamond hairpin at the scene. Now, the women surrounding Gatsby’s secretive life are under a microscope as the detective tries to figure out who it belongs to and what really happened on that August day in West Egg.

The Great Gatsby is turned on its head and takes on a new feminist retelling with Jillian Cantor’s Beautiful Little Fools. This version of the tale focuses on Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine (Myrtle Wilson’s sister) and makes them the main characters instead of props for the men in the story. We get to see how all of these women ended up together that summer and how it all led to the death of Jay Gatsby.

To me, this was a perfect book (and I adored the original work, despite my issues with the author). It was well paced–especially for a mystery novel, it kept me on the edge of my seat even though I knew that Gatsby would always end up dead in his pool. I applaud Cantor for fleshing out all of the characters (except for Nick, who’s head I was very glad to not be in in this version) and making them so much more complex. We get to see Daisy’s pain and what drove her to marry Tom; the reason for Jordan’s aloofness and chronic lying; the humanization of Myrtle through the eyes of her sister; and how none of the men were “good” and put what they wanted before the women. Where the original was a critique on greed and the consumption of Americans in the 1920s, Cantor’s version is a feminist take on what it was like to be a woman in the 1920s and how they were at the mercy of the men around them, unless they take their lives (and other’s deaths) in to their own hands.

This has become a new favorite for me that I plan on revisiting!

Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Perennial, for this ARC!

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