Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Great Gatsby

It was a very fun book to read! I usually don’t like books like this, but I was so curious about the characters and how they would react to certain things and was surprised by a lot of things. I put that the character development was complicated and the characters weren’t lovable because the main character is the only one who really changed in a way, and it’s neither positive or negative. The characters are all interesting, just not good people for the most part lol.

Content Warnings

ccwingreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective medium-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

4.0

I'm not American so I was never fed the American Dream narrative throughout my childhood except through American media. To me, the Great Gatsby is like a warning. You may be able to work your way up to become the glittering envy of the city, but all that luxury is actually meaningless. As for the characters, you could easily drop them into those reality shows featuring decadently rich people who are concerned only with themselves. Even the romance is like loving the idea of someone. It's not a classic about the American Dream. It's a classic about the shallow lie of that dream.

I thoroughly enjoyed the subtlety and imagery of the descriptions. Some lines were stunning. The book is short, and I found it an easy read. I learned a bit about Zelda too.

Also, gayer than I had expected. Pleasant surprise.

Content Warnings

const_elle_ations's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Rating: 4 stars

Alright this might be one of the few "classics" I genuinely enjoyed? I'm sort of obsessed with like...the roarin' 20's and flapper culture and all that so it was a lot of fun to read, especially knowing it was written during that time as a critique of nihilism at the time? we just talked about this in APUSH so it was lovely timing lol

I kept getting characters confused - I think it's because a bunch of them were introduced at that party at the beginning and then didn't show up for half the book and then became relevant again - but other than that it was pretty enjoyable! (Although I'm extremely bitter bc I got the big spoiler right as I was reading it from this random tumblr post on my instagram feed so :))) that was great :)))

I honestly don't know what the general consensus on the characters are, but I liked most of them (except Tom. what was UP with Tom. he was cheating on his wife for a while and then totally lost it when daisy and gatsby kissed like once get a grip man) (wait also what was going on between nick and daisy??? weren’t they cousins?? in that case it was kind of weird how he kept saying how pretty she was??)

Also disappointed that Gatsby Spoilerdidn't die by jumping from into a pool filled with champagne from the balcony because I knew he would end up dead in a pool?? and i just assumed that's what taylor swift was referring to in this is why we can't have nice things lol

Content Warnings

hippejulia's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

5.0

Content Warnings

thevieira's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad 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

honestly what made me enjoy this book was jake gyllenhaal's narration. his voice goes very well with the story and he did a great job keeping me interested. if i was just reading the physical copy by itself i probably would've gotten bored easily

anyway, nick carraway and his queer coded manners kept me hanging on as well. i focused on trying to make this book as gay as possible and i'm glad i did because it was FUN sue me

Content Warnings

rory_john14's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

stevie's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny 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

4.5

Content Warnings

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective 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? Yes

3.0

reading this again after nearly 7 yrs does change my perception quite a bit..somehow the visuals are clearer this time, and def helped by the fact that ive actually lived in the city thats actually the book's setting during the interim--and ig more 'living' has made me look at this in a more complex way. it's still depressing, but also mixed w/ pity and resentful acceptance.

the book's world mirrors our own, and it's a pathetic, materialistic, money- and power-obsessed one, thus somehow someone as unbelievably, almost stupidly hopeful as gatsby seems to be the madman in the story, tho he's also risen so high up bc he became part of the mad world so completely. and while i absolutely despised daisy the first time, now my anger and frustration are reserved for literally everyone; they all fucked up in some way, but the men more so than others though there's a lot of intersectionality at play as well. the characters are a bunch of lying, stupid, selfish, shallow, silent fools, but they were an entertaining, disgusting bunch who reaffirms the mess of the world nevertheless.

Content Warnings

More...