Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Great Gatsby

I picked up The Great Gatsby for the second time in my life and found it a lot more pleasant and beautiful than I remember it was when I read it in high school. Daisy and Gatsby were much more rounded characters than I remember them being and the writing is beautiful in many places.

This story is a tragedy and beautiful because of that. Gatsby is a very good cautionary tale about even when you get everything you want, you can still have an empty life. He had an idea of who he wanted to be both with his riches and with having a relationship with Daisy, but while he managed to get both those things at least fleetingly, it didn't mean anything in the end. Nick ended up being his only true friend and everything else was just a mirage.

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leahb88's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.5

I like the writing style - there was some really beautiful, poetic phrases, but it was mostly descriptive passages that was relatively easy to read (unlike some classics that I simply cannot get through). I somehow missed this in my high school English classes and I’m glad I made the effort to read it now. Yes, relevant themes on capitalism, consumption and class, yes lots of symbolism. Just honestly wasn’t all that invested, didn’t find myself wanting to pick it up.

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autumn_oddity's review against another edition

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reflective sad 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

3.25

Is Nick gay? He seems a little too focused/obsessed on Gatsby. And he admires Jordan's boyish-ness.
All in all its was a decent read.

Tom is cynical, racist and sexist big but for a member of wealth in the 1900s im really not suprised.

Gatsby is definitely wrapped up in an enigma. He's very mysterious, giving him a magician vibe which fits well with the title of this book.

Nick is a little too focused on Gatsby. And his attention is only taken by gossiping with the female characters over whether or not Tom has a girl up in new york. And the other part of his attention is on Jordan who he described as small breasted and boyish. All of these makes me think he's batting for the same team as I. Im gonna go search out some scholars see if they have thought the same thing.

Also loved Daisy. Thought she was kinda funny and

when she started getting on Gatsby over her pig of a hudband i was all for it even if gatsby is pretty flawed himself.

I felt sorry for George. Imagine loosing the love of your life, then discovering she had an affair and theorising that she was murdered? Bless him. And he has such a shitty life anyways.

Myrtle was just trying to do better in life. So Im not gonna villainise her. But I found it hard to feel sorry about her death with how she was treating George just to be with Tom *sick face emoji*

I enjoyed that this book is the story of Gatsby but told throug the eyes of someone else. It allowed for a unique view into this particular slice of Gatsby's life.

The characters were decent but lacked any arc or development. They sort of started crappy. Remained crappy and

then Someone died which resulted in a murder. I guess George had a type of development into a grief-stricken psycho?

But yeah 3.25 stars as I wouldn't read it again. BUT as classics go it's one of the best i've read so deffo a 4 stars in that specific category

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

I remember reading The Great Gatsby in high school; I was not impressed. I didn't know much about the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, organized crime, or the First World War to understand a lot of what was going on. There's a lot of subtext to the story, and the pop culture knowledge that readers would have had when the book came out is very different than what current readers have.

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lri_reads's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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atamano's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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eagleshouse's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-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? Yes

2.5

Perhaps my opinion of this classic is sullied by the fact that it is the first classic I have read in years - however, that doesn't make me hesitate in saying how disappointed I was in Fitzgerald's magnum opus.

I have heard nothing but praise for this book, and having no information except for this, I was excited to finally give it a go. However, whilst the prose is decent, the storyline and characters leaves much to be desired.

I found it difficult to empathise with any characters except the protagonist, Nick Carraway. They weren't even a type of character where it is fun to dislike them; they just seemed boring and uninteresting, even Gatsby himself.

The story as well left much to be desired. Oftentimes I felt as though there was no story at all, but rather that the book was just a collection of regular days for the boring elite of the American 1920s. It wasn't until the very last chapter where I felt as though there was a story worthy of being considered a classic - I could've very easily skipped all the way to the penultimate chapter and still experienced the storyline. However, even during these final chapters did I struggle. It might be due to the fact that I have not read a dated novel in quite some time, but I hadn't even realised Gatsby had died until Carraway states it directly on the phone, and I had to reread the entire chapter trying to figure out how and when he had died. The way Fitzgerald had written it, I had thought it had been the other way around and that Wilson had been shot by Gatsby.

In summary, I think that as far as classics go, this is one of the most confusing and lackluster ones I have read. I might try and reread it soon to try and understand the hype behind it, but overall I feel as though there are many other classical novels that deserve much more appreciation than this one.

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mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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reflective medium-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

3.5

Classic that is very clearly a classic. This definitely took a while to sink into but by the end of it I felt quite fulfilled by this book. Honestly not my favorite, but I can see why it's had such an impact on the literary world.

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