Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Beautiful Little Fools

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

4 reviews

lexivharms's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

If you’ve read The Great Gatsby recently you will not like this book. It felt like the true motives of the characters were entirely deleted. If you’re a true fan of the original classic, you will be bothered by this book. I almost DNF’d this book and it would’ve been my first one in years.

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review

Go to review page

emotional 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? No

2.75

Review:

It is difficult to review this book because I think someone’s enjoyment of it will rely heavily on how they approach a feminist reimagining of The Great Gatsby. Personally, I found it impossible to throw off the weight of Fitzgerald’s novel while reading Beautiful Little Fools, and I was constantly comparing the two, wondering whether I could imagine Fitzgerald’s characters acting this way. Since the characters in The Great Gatsby are all some shade of shallow and terrible, they do not lend themselves to sympathetic retellings that flesh out their characters. At some points, I felt that Beautiful Little Fools did a really good job at adapting the women’s stories, and at others I felt Canton made some truly bizarre decisions that made a mockery of The Great Gatsby.

For example, I really liked the idea that Daisy used her affair with Gatsby to get back at Tom rather than out of any lingering affection for Gatsby. I also liked the book's initial depiction of Gatsby as an obsessive man who carelessly wields his power to get what he wants: a "nice guy" whose exuberant, slightly threatening charming intensity bends people to his will. However, as the book went on, Gatsby became more of a caricature of your everyday "powerful male villain," which I felt flattened his character considerably.

Putting aside the legacy of The Great Gatsby hanging over this novel, I thought that the writing was pretty good, and the plot reimagining was impressively creative. My only criticisms are that the detective chapters were unnecessary, and that the feminism was a bit basic and on-the-nose at times.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Beautiful Little Fools if:

· You have not read The Great Gatsby or you didn't like the The Great Gatsby

· You are open to a reimagining of The Great Gatsby that frames the original book’s events in radically different terms

You might not like Beautiful Little Fools if:

· You struggle to let retellings of classic stories stand on their own

Content Warnings

tanjalunney's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

Content Warnings

kayceeraereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Content Warnings

More...