Cover Image: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

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Member Reviews

As an English teacher, The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books to discuss with my students: It's not just the wealth disparities between the characters, but the gender dynamics, racism and xenophobia as well. Overall this was a good version of the book that would still allow me to discuss most of these issues with my students. I am definitely adding this to my classroom for my English language learners!

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I'll start this review by saying that I've not read The Great Gatsby novel in probably over eight years, so my opinion on how good of an adaption this was is a going to be a bit unreliable. From what I do recall, this graphic novel did a pretty fantastic job of capturing the magical writing that Fitzgerald presented originally. I was wary going into it because the original provides a unique reading experience, and I was worried it would be difficult to capture the overall feeling of the novel when you've got to remove so many of the actual words, phrases, paragraphs, but Aya Morton's artwork really did a decent job at replacing those words, phrases, etc. I do think it was a true adaption as far as the storyline went as well.

Adaption notes aside, I did enjoy this reading experience. On a more personal level, it took me a minute to get into because the art style isn't what I would typically gravitate toward, and while the writing translated well, it's not what you usually see in current graphic novels. That all said, I did read this in one sitting and enjoyed it all the way through!

I'd recommend it for those who enjoyed the original novel, or who want to read more classic literature but tend to gravitate toward graphic novels\comics.

*I was given a copy of this title via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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First, let me admit that I haven't read The Great Gatsby, it's on the list of books I want to read, it just hasn't reached the top yet. I feel like I would've enjoyed this graphic novel more if I'd read its inspiration first, but I did still enjoy it; I don't think it detracted too much from my enjoyment, but I do feel I missed things.
The excerpts written by Fitzgerald throughout the text are quite lovely in their language, and make me want to read The Great Gatsby more than I did before, and Fordham's contributions fit in nicely. The art is lovely for the most part, but the men's faces are so similar, it can be difficult to tell them apart. I liked the softer colors throughout, it set the tale in a golden age of the past. As for the story itself, it's an interesting look into the lives of the rich and nouveau riche of the time, the classism, the emptiness of the party lifestyle. One thing that really got me was the looking down on bootleggers while simultaneously partaking in their wares- the double standards of it made me shake my head and laugh. The characters don't get to grow much out of their stereotypes in the briefer text, but you get the gist of them. There weren't any characters to like really- Nick's the most likeable, but I had my issues with him. Daisy does the opposite of growing on you- she becomes less sympathetic the better you get to know her. Gatsby is just sort of desperate and sad, and Tom, ugh. And the resolution? Damn, okay. Not a happy ending, kind of annoying, but I'll still read the original book!

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This is a wonderful graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby, an American classic, that does stick closely to the essence of the original book. This is one of my favorite books so I was a bit hesitant to read a graphic novel version but the faithful presentation made for a great read. The dialogue and illustrations were great and makes the story even more approachable for teens and use in high school classrooms in general.

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I always like talking about The Great Gatsby when I talk about the 1920's and this was the perfect way to introduce it to my students. I loved all the illustrations and it really made the story pop in a new way!

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This adaptation of the Great Gatsby to graphic novel is absolutely charming and is a book I feel will be even more beautiful once it is distributed in print form. Unless someone is a fan of primarily graphic novels, I would recommend them reading the regular novel first to get to know the book and then using the graphic novel to gain more of an insight into the book and characters. The illustrations were in my opinion the perfect style for the book and will be great for new readers of the book and graphic novel enthusiasts.

Thank you to Scribner books and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Beautiful novel, beautiful graphics. I absolutely adored this book! A very refreshing view to a timeless classic! What I truly loved and appreciated was how original everything was. I would still recommend reading the original copy first prior to the graphic novel but really enjoyed the art and drawings!

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I read an ebook version of the Great Gatsby graphic novel. I want to explain how my version looked, so it is clear what I read and reviewed. My copy was black and white. The text was on a page, separate from the graphics, and the graphics had blank word bubbles. If characters spoke to each other, their text mixed together. For example, I would read: "Hey there, I wondered Old where Sport she went?" Instead of "Hey there, Old Sport! I wondered where she went?"

Outside of these issues, here are my thoughts:

-- The characters looked very similar to each other to the point that they were hard to differentiate. Even the male and female characters looked alike, almost like mannequins.

-- The text was okay. I enjoyed reading quotes from the original text, but I found the new text to be bland. Having the text separated from the images may have added to this problem for me.

-- I think this version misses a lot of the subtleties of the original novel. The details of scenes (like the oppressive summer heat) were missing. The narrator's voice and purpose is a little lost in the graphic format, too.

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I have to be honest, I am here for these classic books being turned into graphic novels. As with other novels that have been adapted into graphic novel format (To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel or The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel), it can be challenging to capture the magic of the original story with less text. However, I think The Great Gatsby was left in good hands. Fred Fordham also adapted To Kill a Mockingbird and it was done beautifully. So was this one.

I really liked how illustrator Aya Morton showed some of the scenes: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg were brilliantly included and I particularly liked the scenes that showed scenery like across the way to East or West Egg, for example. I can't imagine the difficulty and complexity in taking a classic novel like The Great Gatsby and adapting it for a graphic novel, but Fordham proved his excellence, once again.

The graphic novel will never replace the full-length classic, but this is a great companion to that story.

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

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I loved this! It’s the Great Gatsby we all love but the illustrations bring this to life. The illustrations are beautiful and fit perfectly to the story. To me, it brought this book to life. This is something you’ll want for your collection!

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Fun, refreshing look at a classic story. I enjoyed reading this book with a new perspective, it really brought the story to life.

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Unfortunately I do not have much to say about this. I was VERY excited about this because The Great Gatsby is one of my FAVORITE stories of all time, however this was formatted in a way that wasn't even readable. I not only downloaded it to kindle and opened it on NUMEROUS devices, I tried to download the other format as well and still had the same issue. None of the text was actually in the art panels, so you had to try and pair them with the right image. By the 30% mark I had to give up. I am still VERY excited about this, I just hope that the formatting issues get fixed before release.

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As a teacher, you seek ways of helping books become more accessible to students and a graphic novel version of Gatsby makes that possible, While the ARC formatting was odd, all of the core content was there and the pictures and graphics did an excellent job at showcasing the key components and symbolism of the novel, I have every intent of purchasing the graphic novel for my classroom and using it as a resource for my students. I appreciate the time and effort that went into making something like this for teachers and new readers of Gatsby. It is great to keep the classics alive and well spread.

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Not as good as the regular version of this iconic story. I love The Great Gatsby and this wasnt the same, dont bother with it.

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I absolutely loved this graphic novel version of The Great Gatsby. Graphic Novels are absolutely booming right now, and I know that my students will buy into reading this novel in this format. Thanks, Netgalley!

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An absolutely wonderful edition of a true classic. I loved the artwork of this graphic novel that captured the era and elegance of this story perfectly, I MUST have an in hand copy!

The perfect conversational table book, or to add to a Gatsby lovers collection, truly a work of art!

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for letting me read an ARC of this title, available June 30th!

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A beautiful graphic novel of the iconic Great Gatsby.This is so gorgeous each picture so perfectly done.Characters faces really come alive.Perfect gift for anyone who loves The Great Gatsby#netgalley#scribner

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I wanted to read this one because I love the original and graphic novels. Combining the two was just a perfect combination!

This graphic novel is nicely done and follows the original story. The artwork is very reminiscent of the time period which I thought was a cool aspect but I just wanted a bit more from it. It just felt a bit underwhelming at times.

Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read. It would be perfect for someone who wants to reread or someone who wants to dive into this classic with pictures. You can find my review for the original here.

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I love THE GREAT GATSBY and when I saw Scribner was releasing this one on June 30th, I had to have it. I’ll get my preorder in here shortly, but until then all I have to say is that if you’re a lover of Gatsby you’re going to want this. The art style and coloring is so tasteful and beautiful. The attention to detail is incredible (minus the characters faces… don’t ask me what it is but I was not a fan of it.) Everything else, yes. What I really loved was how true to the original it was without being an exact replica. Included within the new text are some of the original lines too and the lines chosen were perfect. They made my heart flutter and reignited my love for this novel. It’s by no means a replacement, but it held its own. I’ll be happy to have this gem on my shelf. I think the finished product will be even more stunning.

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I love the idea for this book, but I was hoping the illustrations would have more of a modern flare than they do. Still, I think this is a perfect gift for anyone who loves The Great Gatsby and I'm still interested in seeing it in print once it's published.

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