Reviews

"A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about... like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees."

This is such a beautifully written book and interesting exploration of the American dream in contrast to what it means to dream and hope for the future. Gatsby is a man always focused on his past to further his future. He literally grafts events from the past into his hopes for the future, becoming a sort of self-made rich person to enact this elaborate scheme. But in this desperate cling to past events and irrational hopes, he forgets people's humanity and how other people view time (focusing on the present and how that will morph into the future). I think Gatsby's is one of the most interesting characters I've seen in a long time. The narrative and plot too, being not solely structured by plot, but also driven by the gradual exploration of Gatsby's character.

While this book can seem messed up sometimes for seeming to appraise and excuse a lot of the most problematic behavior of the American wealthy class, upon closer examination, it pokes and prods at this behavior and does critique it. The scene early on in the novel when Nick and Jordan are hanging out with the Buchanans comes to mind -- though Nick takes issue with some of the offensive or even just vapid things that are talked about, he still doesn't do anything, being attracted to wealth for the same reason he moved to the East -- it's how he envisions his future. Gatsby's whole concept of time and fulfilling his dreams have to be fulfilled by obtaining a certain amount of money and status in his eyes. It's during his five-year-long pursuit of money and power that his dream becomes hollow, he forgets who he is, and life loses meaning for him. It's this infatuation with money that leads characters to disconnect with themselves and prevents them from taking meaningful action. Though Gatsby's character has a lot of emphasis in the novel, I appreciate that Fitzgerald doesn't exempt him from a critique of money.

I would recommend this book to fans of cool description :)