The Great Gatsby by F. Scot Fitzgerald
“I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”
Author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher
Scribner
Genre
Fiction / Classic / Romance
Number of Pages
200 pages
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Summary
The Great Gatsby is considered one of the greatest classics of twentieth-century writing. It portrays the Jazz Age in America when parties, sex, and drinks were an obsession. It is considered to be based on the author Scott’s love affair with socialite Ginerva King.
The story belongs to Jay Gatsby. He is filthy rich, if I may say so, and is besotted with Daisy Buchanan, his sweetheart of younger days. But now Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan and has a daughter with him.
Nick Carraway, Daisy’s cousin, narrates the story, and he also happens to live next door to Jay Gatsby. He brings about their reunion, but what follows is as Nick remembers, a harrowing nightmare.
My Review
The story is short, and in just 200 pages, I appreciate the depth of characters, plot, and intensity conveyed by the writer. I listened to it on audio in this book, and the narration was very well done with significant tone variation for each character by the narrator.
I do understand why readers liked this twisted romance. It is unique from typical contemporary romance plots and has all the riches and glamour that all of us can only dream about. But it's like a fairy tale.
And why it should be considered a five-star read, and more so a twentieth-century classic is beyond me. Now I’m curious to watch its film adaptation featuring Leonardo Dicaprio and Amitabh Bachchan.
Final Verdict
It’s not a bad book or bad writing either, but it’s just not 5 stars worthy for me and therefore a little disappointing for me.
Who Should Read This
I recommend it as a one-time read for classic lovers or readers who like to read American stories.
Happy Reading!
F.Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works have been seen as evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he himself allegedly coined. He is regarded as one of the greatest twentieth century writers. Fitzgerald was of the self-styled "Lost Generation," Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I. He finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, despair, and age.
Top Quotes from The Great Gatsby
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”
“Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.”
“I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
- “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”
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