Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis: Some
said he had been a German spy, others that he was related to one of
Europe's royal families. Nearly everyone took advantage of his fabulous
hospitality. And it was fabulous. In his superb Long Island home he gave
the most amazing parties, and not the least remarkable thing about them
was that few people could recognize their host. He seemed to be a man
without a background, without history; whose eyes were always searching
the glitter and razzamatazz for something... someone?
My thoughts:
Huge
expensive cars, jazz music, glamorous parties and fountains flowing
with champagne: this is the roaring twenties – this is Jay Gatsby’s
world. But who is this Gatsby, this phantom of a host, this mysterious
stranger, who lets a great mass of people invade his house every
Saturday so they can let off the steam? Who is this man, the subject of
so much gossip? – the question wouldn’t stop bugging Nick Carraway, the
young clerk who’s just moved to Long Island, or to be exact right in the
neighborhood of Gatsby’s mansion. He soon gets an answer. And another.
And another. The complexity of Jay Gatsby’s personality and the
romantic, gloomy setting of his past seem to mesmerize Nick. There’s
only one thing that’s certain: Gatsby is in love with a woman, who is no
other than Nick’s cousin and who is happen to be married.
I
read the book for the second time now, and the reason why I decided to
do so is that we’re going to discuss it on my American Literature class
in a few weeks’ time. Well, first of all, I have to say I’m so glad I
re-read it! This time I was able to enjoy the atmosphere of the Jazz age
much more than I had for the first time. I’m not a party-goer, you see,
and so the idea of endless partying kinda terrifies me, but I
understood more of what motivated the characters and this gave me a
different grasp on the story and through that on the twenties’ America.
Gatsby
is by far the most fascinating character for me in this book, he
strangely stands out of the crowd that surrounds him all the time. He is
beyond the meaninglessness that pervades the summer air his guests
breathe, he has a dream, he has a goal: to get his love, Daisy back. I
like how determined he is, I like the fact his ambition to make a
fortune – whatever illegal way he’d done that – was based on love.
His
rival in the story – Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband – is a total brute, I
have no idea how Daisy can bear him. As for Daisy, I don’t know whether
I like her or not. I imagine her as a beautiful, seemingly confident
woman, but she’s not independent, she craves to be controlled and she
needs someone, who would make decisions instead of her.
Nick,
our narrator, is a lovely guy. He’s from the west and he’s as much an
outsider as Gatsby is, maybe that’s why they understand each other
(Isn’t that so, old sport?).
Other
than the characters I adore the parallel that Fitzgerald draws between
driving and living in the novel. Careless driving indicates the same way
of leading one’s life, which can result in serious consequences.
As you can tell, and I can only repeat myself, I enjoyed the Great Gatsby very much. You will too! Go and read it!
