BACK COVER BLURB: Invited to an extravagantly lavish party in a Long Island mansion, Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who has just settled in the neighbouring cottage, is intrigued by the mysterious host, Jay Gatsby, a flamboyant but reserved self-made man with murky business interests and a shadowy past. As the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, details of Gatsby's impossible love for a married woman emerge, until events spiral into tragedy.
FIRST SENTENCE {1}: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 30}: See 'My Thoughts' below. TT
SOURCE: Part of their Classics Collection, I received a copy of The Great Gatsby from Alma Books.
MY THOUGHTS: A novel that has obviously survived the test of time as it were. For myself, left feeling uncultured at best, like a spectator faced with the emperor in his 'new clothes' at worst, I felt the novel to be one of those that though I didn't particularly enjoy it (the best I can say about it is it was OK), I felt I should have at least appreciated as what is after all considered to be one of the great American classics.
Sumptuous in its descriptions. In many ways a perfect portrait of what comes to my mind (and I'm sure to that of many others) whenever I think of the 'jazz age' - the glitz, the glamour, the (sighs) romance, men like Tom Buchanan: charming, dapper and yet ....
A reader of crime fiction, I'm not exactly adverse when it comes to acts of violence but with the sentence (and I quote) ...
'Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand'
I found myself inexplicably distressed not so much by the turn of events as (and I'm hoping this makes sense) the way in which it was so nonchalantly written.
Oh well, if nothing else I can now say, for better or worse, I've read The Great Gatsby.
7 comments:
I heard about the movie and the book but haven't tried any
I saw the movie years ago, but don't think I've ever read the book. Maybe excerpts in school? I'm not sure it's one I care to pick up. I remember the descriptions of Fitzgerald and his wife in The Paris Wife by Paula McLain didn't make him seem very likable. Maybe in part I was just turned off by the decadent age and culture in which they lived.... which I'm sure comes across in his novels.
I have never read this one but might. I did know she was abused so I also knew that I'd have a problem with that as well. Still, I like that you are delving into the classics.
I've read it several times and enjoyed it more as an adult than a student. I see your points. There are a few historical fiction novels about Fitzgerald and his wife - I'm tempted to try one of those. Somewhere on my blog I have a photo of a Fitzgerald statue and me from when I visited his hometown :)
It's nice to be able to say you've read certain classics. I haven't read this one though. haha
You raise a great point about the style in which that violent act was portrayed in. I think that it was written like that in order to convey the nonchalant way that some people commit violence and the nonchalant way that certain elements of society accept it.
Hmm, I've not read the book (still plan on it one day), nor watched the film and yet due to its contained popularity, a title with which I'm quite familiar. The way you felt about it... funny you should mention. Classics are like that though... just like any other book, not every reader will find the same connection, same enjoyment, same ah ha moment that screams THAT'S WHY IT'S A CLASSIC! It did to someone along the way, hence the status but reading is a rather personal affair. Thanks for sharing yours!
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