A review by emmaarrighi
Trimalchio: An Early Version of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

very happy to report that the version of this that should have been published was published! the characters in this were messy, rough around the edges, and incorrectly and not fully formed. the writing in some parts was super clunky, and this whole thing was like devoid of commas. nick was still somewhat subtextually gay in this, but is served no purpose? he was not gay for gatsby like in the published version, and The Smile, almost a character in itself, was noticeably absent. gatsby is not painted as some grand character who is full of mystery and wonder and who nick feels this undying love for. it’s odd, because this book comes to the same conclusions about the characters that the published version does, but this time you’re like, where did that come from? daisy was so much more likeable in this version, and she was willing to run away with gatsby, and it really was his fault everything fell apart. also, when it came to daisy, gatsby was VILLAINOUS, feeling entitled, like he owned her, with no masked sweetness from nick’s narration. nick ended up saying the same things about gatsby at the end as in the published version, but there wasn’t any proof in his previous narration to support it, because like i said, devoid of adoration for gatsby. also the party in chapter 6 instead now has a harvest theme and nick wears overalls and a fake goatee??? overall, i am SO glad the revised edition was the one that was ultimately published, because it fixed the prose and every sentence is beautiful. also, i think it was much more tactful and interesting of fitzgerald to have gatsby adored by nick in much the same way that gatsby adores daisy. i think the changes he made were good ones, and reading this was very illuminating