This is one of those classics that I absolutely understand why they fit into the classic category but that I also think are quite overrated. I generally enjoyed the book even though it was a bit slow and dramatic, but I could not help but wonder why it is put on such a pedestal, I mean this book specifically not Fitzgerald himself. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some other novels that I prefer over this one that did not catch the audience attention as much, (his best work is sharing birthday date with me) so I decided to read this one and give one of my classic, humorous, probably-totally-wrong book reviews and hope the angry mob of Fitzgerald-fans doesn't find me.
I'm going to start by saying, if a man loved me so much that he bought a gothic mansion to throw a party in every Saturday in hopes of me showing up, I would not know wether I would call the police or fall in love with him. I appreciate the effort, but at what point do we just stop and go "isn't this a bit much, Gatsby?" To which he replies that nothing is too much for someone he loves and the love story goes on and on. However it is viewed as romantic in the book and luckily for Daisy, he still loves her, and luckily for Gatsby, she falls in love with him.
The basic plot summary:
Nick Carraway moves to Long Island and rents a house in a super rich area where his weird neighbour in the huge gothic mansion parties every Saturday. So far it sounds like any tv-show college experience. Nick goes for dinner at his cousin Daisy's house, finds out from his new romantic interest Jordan, that his cousins husband Tom is cheating with a woman named Myrtle and by the next time we meet Myrtle, Tom will have hit her in an apartment for mocking him about his wife.
As summer comes, Nick is invited to one of the Gatsby's parties (finally gaining some cool-points 🕶️). There, he and Jordan meet Gatsby, this weird young english man that calls people old sport (seriously, what is that all about?) It is after this event that we find out that Gatsby is in love with Nick's cousin Daisy and throws all these parties in hopes of her attending some day. Nick invites both to his house and an affair blooms. Everyone just seems so happy these days, 1922 really was different.
The book takes off here, I am unsure if I should keep going as it would spoil the rest of the book for those that have not read it so I will just stop here.
The Great Gatsby is widely known as one of the great American novels and it is quite clear why. The book's themes are strongly linked to the great American dream, a dream of happiness, love and welfare. Despite all the riches that most of the main characters possess, their lives are never whole, and the book is very much about the human self and never being happy, and to always stretch your arms a little, a little more to maybe, one fine day, reach that one dream. On the surface, one can read The Great Gatsby as a simple simple story about a man and his dreams, and the difficulties to anchor the dreams. But there is much in this novel that bubbles beneath the surface, themes such as betrayal, wealth and the harmfulness of abundance and the danger of approaching dreams and seperating the dreams from reality.
The book uses a lot of metaphors to add that element of poetry and romance hidden somewhere along the sentences, Fitzgerald is quite known for his sophisticated and elegiac language, he loves extended metaphors, figurative imagery and just absolutely takes any chance to fit in that poetic language in his sentences, that really are there to create that sense of nostalgia, sadness and just this hollow feeling of loss. I actually adore that lovely little detail of the writing style, just the amount of memories and past that is remembered and quite often done so with fondness, it just really adds to the exceptionally graceful and elegant and stylish character that Gatsby portrays. The really clever point that Fitzgerald makes is that he just often lets Gatsby speak of other characters and when doing so he uses such romanticized language and metaphorical language that it creates this ironic contrast compared to the crude nature that the characters themself hold.
All in all, this book is quite entertaining and a pretty decent read! ☻
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