A review by apriltrepagnier
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

dark emotional sad fast-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

5.0

Although I can't recall just when, I've read this book before and feel like I enjoyed it. I've seen pieces of the movie. There was a time when one of my daughters was obsessed with it. On New Year's Eve 2019, I really thought we were going to get a real "Roaring 20's Revival." I think I was a little excited about that. The revival never happened. Maybe COVID thwarted those plans. Or maybe it didn't. Either way, COVID changed mine and perhaps my reading of this book. 

About halfway through, I described the rereading as "underwhelming." I think that was a mistake. Now that I have reached the end, I think it was overwhelmingly tragic and sad. I suppose it has always been tragic and sad, but I was too distracted by the romantic illusion. Now, at nearly 50, I do not find big parties full of random people who don't care about you appealing, even if they are just a ruse to

woo the only woman you think you have ever loved who really deserves it because her no good, two-timing, oaf of a husband thinks he can do whatever he wants because of his name and his bank account. The truth is you probably don't even love her - you love the idea of her, what she represents in your lack, and you mistake the need to possess with love. It's all fear and scarcity and greed and hunger and the quest to fill the spiritual with the physical - and that is a recipe for death, destruction, and heartbreak -

which is exactly how Fitzgerald wrote it.