The Great Gatsby

Summary (from the publisher): The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

Review: When a book is a classic and you happen to be known as someone who reads a lot, and someone discovers you haven't read said book, its likely to provoke a "you haven't read that?!" moment. The Great Gatsby is such a book for me. I am sad that I was never assigned this book in high school or even as an English major in college and that it took a new movie adaptation of this book to finally get me to read it (because you know, fellow book lovers, that we can't see the film without having read the book first, right?). Fortunately, The Great Gatsby lives up to its hype, unlike some classics (I'm looking at you, Wuthering Heights).

However, the one downside to reading a classic is that any review you might attempt to write seems unoriginal. This book is beloved because of its beautiful prose and its succinct length. There is much showing rather than telling. I agree with this conclusion made by many before me. Nick Carraway, the affable narrator, delves into the world of luxury and excess in post-World War I New York, when Americans seem to have lost their moral compass entirely. In fact, the only reason Nick is likeable is largely due to comparison to other characters, who all drink, cheat, and are generally abusive to their fellow man.

At heart, this novel seems like a illumination of the American Dream, which for Gatsby is a mean's to an end - Daisy Buchanan. However, tragically, despite having every luxury money can buy, Gatbsy is lonely, unhappy, disliked, and tragic. In other words, Fitzgerald suggests that while the American Dream is attainable (such as Gatbsy, who is a self made man), it does not guarantee happiness and it may not be such a dream after all.

I was surprised that Nick's function as narrator is largely as voyeur - the title of this novel does not lie; the focus is on Gatsby. In the first section of the novel, Nick views his unknown neighbor as an enigma. He constantly hears stories and catches glimpses of the wealthy and mysterious man who lives next door; "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam" (p.39). Additionally, there are rumors and whispers about Gatsby and no one knows for sure much about his past. "However, I don't believe it.' 'Why not?' 'I don't know,' she insisted, 'I just don't think he went there.' Something in her tone reminded me of the other girl's 'I think he killed a man,' and had the effect of stimulating my curiosity. I would have accepted without question the information that Gatsby sprang from the swamps of Louisiana or from the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn't - at least in my provincial experience I believed they didn't - drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound" (p. 49).

I was surprised by how much I disliked most of the characters in this book, especially the women. Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle seem flip and unconcerned with the implications of their actions. Tom, Daisy's husband, is an abusive brute. They seem aimless without a purpose or goal in life. Nick admits that he does not like Gatsby, saying "I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end" (p.154). Yet, I think I like Gatsby. But maybe it's just pity clouding my judgement.

Nick's story seems to be a cautionary tale. Of what though? Don't drive too fast. Don't depend on the acquisition of wealth to solve your problems. Don't blindly believe in love. Don't marry the wrong person. Don't get caught up in the party scene. Don't trust the fairy tale of the American Dream. And perhaps particularly for Gatsby, don't believe you can retrieve something that has already been lost; "He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night" (p.180).

Stars: 4