The Great Gatsby
Ratings1,300
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings1,300
Average rating3.7
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers.
The story of the mysteriously 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 an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
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Reviews with the most likes.
1860onwards challenge - Book 3 - The Great Gatsby (1925)
Slow and somewhat tepid start. Personally not super interested in the period or the setting. Sometimes hard to follow, the writing being quite wishy-washy in places. Last third more interesting, emotional, and enjoyable. However it wasn't worth trudging through the first two thirds.
Characters ***
Atmosphere **
Plot *
Emotion ***
Style **
2.2
update; randomly read this again and enjoyed it just as much as the first time
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The story had me hooked even though the storyline wasn't that interesting to me.
The characters felt so real which is hard to do in a book that's 200 pages!
Is something wrong with me? Really didn't expect to take so long to finish this book, on top of not feeling overwhelmed by it. It was a difficult read, my goodness the storyline was way too slow. And I hated almost all the characters. But nice twist at the end, which resulted in my 2 + 1 rating.
I was assigned many of the classics in high school, but never this one, and had never read it until now. I've been reading 600 to 900 page books lately, and at 150 pages or so, this went shockingly fast.
Mixed feelings on it. I liked it more in the last few pages than I did the rest of the time I spent reading it. The prose actively impeded my understanding at more than one point, either through the age of the language or Fitzgerald's personal style.
I decided to read it after all this time because of the praise for the writing in Defector's “Defector Reads A Book” feature. Mostly I felt the opposite in terms of the moment-to-moment prose, which I didn't think was anything to write home about.
But what Fitzgerald describes, he really captures. The sad hollowness underlying Gatsby's celebrated parties and, really, everything he does. The idealized past, always just out of reach.
The last page is by far the best in the entire book. No wonder it's the only one routinely quoted.
