I am a huge Gatsby fan and this did not disappoint. I enjoyed learning more about Nick. Thanks for the review copy.

Thank you to NewGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this free ARC.

Honestly, I was bored. I would rather of read about Jay before meeting Daisy.

This was an interesting twist on The Great Gatsby. I had trouble getting into it, but overall enjoyable if you're a Great Gatsby fan.

Definitely an interesting read! This would be cool to have to add perspective in a Great Gatsby unit or to recommend to students who enjoyed Gatsby.

I find this book to be completely unrateable...

I think that the book takes a stab at giving itself a reason to exist. Ostensibly it crafts a narrative about Nick Carraway prior to when we encounter him in <i>The Great Gatsby</i>, and honestly... if this was what he was up to... I'm not sure that I needed to experience it.

There were elements of the book that I definitely appreciated. There were moments that I thought were interesting, but nothing that I would say was a must read. If anything I felt that if this was what Nick was up to then it was almost better that Fitzgerald kept it to himself... and Smith should have gone back to the drawing board with it.

In a story like this I would have preferred if some of the narrative focused on giving Carraway more depth, examined his character, given us more of study... Instead we got a lot of domestic violence that Carraway had to see, some descriptions of World War I that felt more like something you'd hear in a Hemingway discussion and not something out of <i>The Great Gatsby</i> despite the time the boook is set in....

Obviously this book has an audience, I've seen a lot of other reviews that really praised what Smith was able to do here, for me though I don't think that as executed this adds anything meaningful to the conversation...

Not my favorite of Mr. Smith's writings. An interesting enough premise but I wasn't sure whether we really needed this story to begin.

Painfully and beautifully wrought characterization in this novel that serves as a prequel to Gatsby as its copyright timed out. Nick - eponymously titled - is in Paris in the trenches and in love - and both scenarios are dark, gloomy, and almost hopeless. Then, in the second part of the novel, he returns stateside but not to go home; instead, he goes to New Orleans and meets even grimmer, dirtier, more hopeless characters than he did in Europe. Only the beautiful writing kept me going. A rich and unforgettable story, plausible enough to take Nick to East and West Egg, just not a pretty one.

Yet another DNF for me. This sounded like it would be an interesting read, but was a huge snooze fest for me.

I wanted so badly to love this book. I have tried reading it a couple of times now and just was not very invested in the plot. I love the great gatsby and will always reccomend it but Nick just wasn't for me. I Dnfed around page 100

Meh. I felt like this was trying to distance itself from the very thing that it claims to be—a novel tangential to Gatsby. If the intent was to move the focus from Gatsby to Nick, it worked, but I did not find this Nick to be believable. Also found the writing to be syntactically challenging.

This had a swift moving and dramatic plot, but wow was it dark. It also felt strangely shallow, so as much as I wanted to like this one it fell a bit flat for me.

I really enjoyed the great gatspy in high school, but I could t get into this one. I tried several times to pick it up (even watched the movie), but inevitably, it wasn’t for me.

This book first caught my eye because of the familiar eyes of T.J Eckleburg from The Great Gatsby on the front cover. Gatsby is one of my favorite novels, so I was looking forward to what the author did with the familiar character, Nick. Though I wouldn't call this book one of my favorites - it was my first Michael Farris Smith read, and most certainly will not be my last.

This story follows Nick's life during the war and his experience in France and New Orleans before his move to the small house next to Jay Gatsby. Honestly , my favorite part of this book was how the author did not include or change other beloved Gatsby characters. This was solely based on Nick and his past. I've read a few other novels that utilize the characters of Gatsby, Daisy, etc., and just hated how it changed my perspective of the classic novel storyline.

Smith made Nick into a character I never though him as. I always just looked at him as the innocent by standard to Jay and Daisy's messed up love connection. It was nice getting some perspective on how his previous years affected his life living on Long Island, and why he may have been so involved in his cousin, and new found friend's, lives.

I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the classic story of The Great Gatsby and wants to hear more on what another author saw in one Fitzgerald's notable characters.

I was ecstatic to receive this book. I recently bought the paperback to enjoy over and over. I love the Great Gatsby and its characters. This book tells Nick's story. It takes place before the event's of The Great Gatsby. A must read! Thank you for the e-arc!

I just have to accept the fact that I am not that crazy about this author’s writing style. This is the fourth book I have read by him that I thought was just ok. I probably wouldn’t have read this book if it weren’t for the Gatsby connection, only to find that the use of the name Nick Carraway is only a marketing ploy. The protagonist of this book could have been any man who served in the war, came home damaged, wandered a bit and settled in West Egg. That location, on the final pages of the book, is the only connection to “The Great Gatsby”. You definitely do not have to read Gatsby before reading this book.

The first part of the book focuses on Nick’s war experience and his love affair with a young French woman. The majority of the book (my favorite part) takes place in New Orleans, where Nick becomes tangentially involved in the warlike marriage of a seriously ill veteran and his wife, who started a brothel while her husband was at war. Nick is more of an observer here than a participant, but his role in Gatsby isn’t much different. 3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Published just days after the copyright for The Great Gatsby expired, Nick is an unofficial prequel to the American classic telling the tale of Nick Carraway's life before moving to West Egg. Trying to escape the horrors he witnessed while serving in the First World War, Nick sets off on a journey of self-discovery, visiting Paris and New Orleans during the Golden Age.

While a good writer, Michael Farris Smith is no F. Scott Fitzgerald. I reread The Great Gatsby before touching Nick, and I couldn't get past the stark difference in writing styles. Although Nick has long flowing prose, it lacked the vividness of Fitzgerald's writing. I think I would have liked the book better if it had stood on its own; with no foreshadowing of the classic novel, there is no reason Smith couldn't have just used any American as a protagonist instead of borrowing Fitzgerald's narrator. Although framing it as a prequel was a stunt grab for publicity that I, unfortunately, fell for.

I always wanted to learn more about Jordan and Nick after reading Gatsby. This gives us a WWI drama better than Hemingway could write.

Thank you Netgalley, Little, Brown and Company and Michael Farris Smith for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

A story of Nick Carraway pre-Gatsby era. Man, who told us the story of Gatsby, has a story of his own. Through war, heartbreak, alcohol Nick is in search of his own self and his place in the world after the war.

Interesting interpretation of Fitzgerald"s character. A little too dark for my taste, and I had hard time to believe that it is Gatsby's Nick; however. might as well. Mostly I enjoyed the story of Judas and Collette. It was told through Nick, like his first endeavour in story-telling. Actually, I think Nick tells good stories - first his romantic love in Paris, then his war experience as a listener in the tombs, his wounds and escape, then to New Orleans. He is a good story-teller. Smith built his novel that way that Nick improved his story-telling ability to tell Gatsby story in all its glory.

If you enjoyed The Great Gatsby, you might be interested in NIck.

This book was okay. I didn't sense a strong connection to the Nick Carraway we know and love from Gatsby. The writing was good and I enjoyed the story but I think die-hard Gatsby fans (of which I am not) will be disappointed. That said, I will definitely be interested to see what else the author writes in the future!

I so wanted to love this book as I adored teaching Gatsby to my high school students. But honestly, it could have been any "Nick" so there is no real connection between the two novels that I could see. The first part shows him during the war so we see the many catastrophes he must endure. Later in New Orleans he's adrift and though he does make some friends, he also endures a fire and other misfortunes. Yes, the book is well-written and often compelling, but I admit I just wanted to identify with the Nick I loved from Gatsby.