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A review by aia_r
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
A book with beautiful writing that sounds like poetry with a story that is both confusing and intriguing.
october 3rd 2023
/// a review i wrote for an English assignment that i'd like to share.
october 3rd 2023
/// a review i wrote for an English assignment that i'd like to share.
New York City in the ‘20s, hot summer nights, tumultuous parties, alcohol, affairs, secrets, love, a hit-and-run and a murder; The Great Gatsby is intense - one of the most excellent books ever written.
I got The Great Gatsby as a gift last summer from my uncle, who, like me, likes to read. I read some reviews on it online and many claimed to not like the book, so I did not have too high expectations. Since then, it’s been sitting on my bookshelf as I waited for an opportunity to read it. The opportunity came in the form of an English assignment. The Great Gatsby is American, dare I say, literature, at its finest. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a master at the written word. The prose with which he wrote was smooth, a perfect vivid description of the emotions of the 20s. His writing is truly beautiful unlike any I’ve ever read before. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” That itself sounds like poetry. It was a pleasure to read it. With the 20s upon us once more and a moral destitution parallel to that of The Great Gatsby, people living in today’s day and age should read this. It is an exemplary saga that we all should recognise, remember and take notice of.
The Great Gatsby, narrated by Nick, is about Jay Gatsby, a ridiculously rich man and also a WW1 veteran living in a mansion on Long Island in the 1920s. He’s exceedingly in love with Daisy. Daisy fell in love with Gatsby as well but not to the same extent as Gatsby did. Leaving for the Great War, their relationship ended and when Gatsby returned, Daisy married Tom Buchanan. I believe that Gatsby fell in love with the idea of Daisy, the wealth she represented, and not her as a person. He held on to this idea and it slowly transformed into a persona that was not Daisy; an individual Daisy never could measure up to be. It’s intriguing, confusing, an ill-fated love story. A tragedy, yes, but a beautiful one. The plot was relatively slow sometimes but I believe it added to the conditions and atmosphere of the book. It is in those slow, seemingly meaningless moments we, the reader, can see how the majority of the characters lack spirit and liveliness in their lives. They worked on weekdays and attended tumultuous parties on Saturdays at Gatsby’s house, they merely existed but there was nothing deeper than the surface for them. As mentioned earlier, a reason why I think many do not like the book is because they don’t like the characters, but that shouldn’t be the case. I believe that the shallow characters and their imperfections permit the reader to see their own imperfections. For example, I could relate to Nick in his observing and non-judgemental manner. Another reason people dislike this is the end. It wasn’t a happy one and that bothers them. I disagree and think that the tragic ending adds to the excellence of the story. Through the book’s tragic ending, Fitzgerald makes us see where a materialistic life will lead us. Another thing I noticed is the symmetry between the story and the 1920s. What I mean is that in the majority of the book’s content, it was soaring high, jolly and gay, imitating the “Roaring 20s”. And in true symmetry, the 20s and The Great Gatsby both ended in a crash.
Overall, The Great Gatsby is an excellent book by an excellent author, highly recommended. I had a marvellous time reading.
october 15th 2023
I got The Great Gatsby as a gift last summer from my uncle, who, like me, likes to read. I read some reviews on it online and many claimed to not like the book, so I did not have too high expectations. Since then, it’s been sitting on my bookshelf as I waited for an opportunity to read it. The opportunity came in the form of an English assignment. The Great Gatsby is American, dare I say, literature, at its finest. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a master at the written word. The prose with which he wrote was smooth, a perfect vivid description of the emotions of the 20s. His writing is truly beautiful unlike any I’ve ever read before. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” That itself sounds like poetry. It was a pleasure to read it. With the 20s upon us once more and a moral destitution parallel to that of The Great Gatsby, people living in today’s day and age should read this. It is an exemplary saga that we all should recognise, remember and take notice of.
The Great Gatsby, narrated by Nick, is about Jay Gatsby, a ridiculously rich man and also a WW1 veteran living in a mansion on Long Island in the 1920s. He’s exceedingly in love with Daisy. Daisy fell in love with Gatsby as well but not to the same extent as Gatsby did. Leaving for the Great War, their relationship ended and when Gatsby returned, Daisy married Tom Buchanan. I believe that Gatsby fell in love with the idea of Daisy, the wealth she represented, and not her as a person. He held on to this idea and it slowly transformed into a persona that was not Daisy; an individual Daisy never could measure up to be. It’s intriguing, confusing, an ill-fated love story. A tragedy, yes, but a beautiful one. The plot was relatively slow sometimes but I believe it added to the conditions and atmosphere of the book. It is in those slow, seemingly meaningless moments we, the reader, can see how the majority of the characters lack spirit and liveliness in their lives. They worked on weekdays and attended tumultuous parties on Saturdays at Gatsby’s house, they merely existed but there was nothing deeper than the surface for them. As mentioned earlier, a reason why I think many do not like the book is because they don’t like the characters, but that shouldn’t be the case. I believe that the shallow characters and their imperfections permit the reader to see their own imperfections. For example, I could relate to Nick in his observing and non-judgemental manner. Another reason people dislike this is the end. It wasn’t a happy one and that bothers them. I disagree and think that the tragic ending adds to the excellence of the story. Through the book’s tragic ending, Fitzgerald makes us see where a materialistic life will lead us. Another thing I noticed is the symmetry between the story and the 1920s. What I mean is that in the majority of the book’s content, it was soaring high, jolly and gay, imitating the “Roaring 20s”. And in true symmetry, the 20s and The Great Gatsby both ended in a crash.
Overall, The Great Gatsby is an excellent book by an excellent author, highly recommended. I had a marvellous time reading.
october 15th 2023
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Death, and Murder