I mean, it's The Great Gatsby. I thought it was pretty good in 11th grade, way better a decade later, and about the same now. I do love all the new covers that keep coming out though, especially this one with the hat.

Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ch: 9

Pg: 208

Series:

Genre: Classic

Rating: 4 stars


Publisher: Penguin



The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of my favorite classics in high school. And with this reread that hasn’t changed. This short novel only 9 chapters wasn’t popular during Fitzgerald’s lifetime, and would have slipped away if it hadn’t been for WWII and the troops loving the book.


My thoughts about the characters haven’t changed I still feel the same about the characters as I did in high school. The villain of the story isn’t obvious to first time readers but on a second read and maybe as an older reader this time I can tell easily who the villain is.


If you go into this book thinking it’s a romance does both the book and the reader a disservice.



I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald moves into the public domain this month (see articles in The New York Times and Washington Post) so expect to see many new adaptations, remakes, and published versions. One of the best is Penguin's with an introduction by Min Jin Lee, notes on the text from Philip McGowan, and suggestions for further exploration by Jennifer Buehler. That last section begins, "THE GREAT GATSBY is important for the story it tells and the historical period it represents, but it's equally important for the conversations it invites about race, class, gender and opportunity in America." Her many suggestions on relevant non-fiction titles for teens, plus references to films and web sites, will be particularly valuable to our English Teachers and students. Added: Looking for a graphic novel version, too? Try the new one by K. Woodman-Maynard which is recommended by Buehler in this text and reviewed positively by Meghan Cox Gurdon in The Wall Street Journal.

Wow this cover. I love it. Still love this book. No matter how many times I read it I learn something new.

I truly enjoyed revisiting this classic. Of course I read it in high school - one of the first books to be picked apart; symbolism, foreshadowing, wealth, status.
Twenty years later and for the purpose of leisure certainly lent a different perspective.
I am left with the concept of stunted growth.
Gatsby spending years to mass a fortune worthy of Daisy's attention. Tom climaxed in college with his football career, everything else just a disappointment. Myrtle suffers from boredom and withers in her husband's garage. A golf pro who constantly lies - stuck in an adolescent phase, spurning love affairs.
Shakespeare tragedy in the 1920's.
The affects of returning from The War to End All Wars lurks in the background. Nick, our narrator, feels his hometown is too small, too isolated after seeing war, Europe, death. He is the catalyst, sparks the pinnacle and tragedy of Gatsby's life.
The waste of wealth in the Roaring 20s certainly speaks to our current economic plight. Distribution of wealth certainly hasn't changed in one hundred years. This could be the real tragedy of Fitzgerald's novel. Race inequality, massive riots in Chicago again speaks to the timelessness of this novel.

Absolute classic. Like an old friend you can go back to it again and again. Every time I read this book I find something new to fall in love with.