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  <title><![CDATA[Great Gatsby (Worlds Classics)]]></title>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[you know, i tried to lay my rampant hate for f. scott fitzgerald aside and re-read this novel. i was forced into it 8th grade, and afterward explaining that i didn't like it just meant i wasn't &quot;mature enough to understand&quot;. in defiance and triumph, i stand convinced. four years into a bac...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3870323">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[The Great Gatsby is your neighbor you're best friends with until you find out he's a drug dealer. It charms you with some of the most elegant English prose ever published, making it difficult to discuss the novel without the urge to stammer awestruck about its beauty. It would be evidence enough to ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/10973302">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>2888493</id>
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    <id>180396</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jason]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Most Americans are assigned to read this novel in high school. Few American high schoolers have the wherewithal to appreciate this novel in full. I certainly did not. It is on a shortlist of novels that should, every 5 years starting at age 25, return to any American's required reading list.<br/><br/>...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2888493">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2888493]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2888493]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>8122372</id>
    <user>
    <id>384143</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Gina]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Columbus, OH]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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    <body><![CDATA[Over drinks, I’ve observed—like so many smart alacks—that much of <em>The Great Gatsby’s</em> popularity relies heavily on its shortness.  At a sparse 180 pages, Fitzgerald’s masterpiece could be argued to be the “Great American novella.”  <em>Gatsby</em>, like so many other short classics, is easily re...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8122372">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8122372]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8122372]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>11352880</id>
    <user>
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    <name><![CDATA[LooseLips]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <date_added>Mon Dec 31 14:18:01 -0800 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 28 12:15:42 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[The eh Gatsby<br/><br/>Classic. Yes. THE great American novel. Hmph, so I heard. I suppose it should make one more interested, or at least feel more compelled to read something (or re-read as is the case here) when it has &quot;classic&quot; and &quot;everyone else loves it!&quot; stamped all over...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11352880">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11352880]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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  <read_at>Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 06 10:24:55 -0800 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 16:21:51 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;The Great Gatsby&quot; is considered by many to be the zenith of american fiction writing in the last century. I won't say that it is the best american novel but I will say it is probably the most perfect.<br/><br/>Along with J.D. Salinger, Fitzgerald has got to be my favorite writer of fict...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/175472">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/175472]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Like many people, I first read <em>The Great Gatsby</em> when I was too young to understand it. I appreciated the beauty of Fitzgerald's prose and his gift for describing scenes, but disliked quite a few of his characters and couldn't fathom why they inspired in each other the degree of devotion and obsessio...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27935789">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Feb 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Mar 10 17:53:25 -0700 2008</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[I first read the Great Gatsby when I was sixteen.  Gatsby’s relentless pursuit of unrequited love was enough to set my adolescent pulse racing and send me to the library with the grand ambition of reading everything Fitzgerald ever wrote.  A decade later I am even more awed by the book than I was ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17473084">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17473084]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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  <read_at>Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Mar 10 14:45:26 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Mar 10 15:09:54 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[<em>The Great Gatsby</em> is the story of a presidential primary.<br/><br/>—I’m sorry; my notes must be confused here.  Ah yes.  Let me begin again:<br/><br/><em>The Great Gatsby</em> is the story of the emptiness of the American Dream.  Set in and around New York City in the 1920’s, <em>Gatsby</em> explores the liv...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17458556">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17458556]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17458556]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <date_added>Mon Oct 22 08:59:05 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 18 10:08:21 -0800 2007</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This book becomes far better when you take all of Gatsby's mystery and just think of him as Batman. The whole book falls into place!]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8070526]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8070526]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>8</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Oct 07 20:10:10 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 16 10:54:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>3</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was a bookclub read that I've not read for many many years.  It was of course assigned reading in both high school and college.  I remember pouring over all the various aspects of this book and picking it a part like disecting a frog.<br/><br/>Now that I'm older....much older. This reading br...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34783729">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34783729]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34783729]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
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  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jan 18 11:05:57 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jan 19 10:00:25 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[(The full review I wrote of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)<br/><br/><strong>The CCLaP 100:</strong> In which I read a hundred so-called &quot;classic&quot; books for the first time, then...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12844392">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12844392]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12844392]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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  <date_added>Mon Mar 23 10:33:42 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Mar 23 11:19:04 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Fitzgerald’s insight in this book cuts through the blinding American optimism of the time.  Though at the time he wrote The Great Gatsby he could not have foreseen the economic and cultural crisis approaching in 1929, he is clearly suspicious and wary of the culture surrounding him, and the tone o...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50179708">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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  <published>1925</published>
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  <date_added>Fri Oct 03 16:48:39 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Oct 03 16:48:39 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[you know what the most awkward thing about getting compliments on goodreads is?  when you traipse over to that person's booklist to stalk them--- er... return the favor on one of their reviews, i mean.  you're all happy and hopeful and like &quot;squee! a new friend!&quot; until *le gasp*:<br/><br/>...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34469264">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
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  <read_at>Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 26 17:59:50 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 02:17:44 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I couldn't stand this book.  I understand that it captures a moment in time and a moment in life and blah blah blah, but this book is recommended to be taught to students all over MA, and let me tell you, that's a shitty thing to do.<br/><br/>It's not that this book can't be taught.  it's not that...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3613687">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3613687]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>6807029</id>
    <user>
    <id>415937</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Erin]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
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    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>6</votes>
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  <read_at>Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Sep 25 20:30:21 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Sep 25 22:25:58 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I just don't get the hype on this one.  Then again, I guess there's a reason why this book was unpopular and forgotten about for the first 20-30 years after it was first published.  Personally, it makes no difference to me that this is supposed to be an &quot;important&quot; literary novel, as I lik...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6807029">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6807029]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[lovers of literature]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Mar 05 02:46:11 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Mar 10 03:05:04 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So much of the lore surrounding this book focuses on Gatsby that I was surprised to finally meet him a quarter of the way into the book.<br/><br/>More than Gatsby, I am interested in the almost nameless narrator.  Questions to consider: Why does he consider Gatsby great?  Why is he peering back th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17055599">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17055599]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Denise]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2003</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[First, this is the only time that I ever heard of a guy plotting so well to get what he wanted without everyone finding out his plan. Gatsby planned everything - the house, the location, the money, the parties, the friends, everything just so Daisy would just happen upon him. Why didn't he just pick...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15222287">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15222287]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
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  <read_at>Sat Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Mar 07 08:22:09 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Mar 22 10:53:43 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I didn't know what &quot;The Great Gatsby&quot; was going to be about, when I started this one, so it was great fun to experience it without knowing where it would lead! And, I quite enjoyed the book; I loved the beautiful writing style, and since I love books set in the 20s (or 30s, or 40s, or 50s)...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17230834">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17230834]]></url>
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Great Gatsby]]>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write &quot;something <em>new</em>--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.&quot; That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, <em>Gatsby</em> captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.  &quot;Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--&quot;  Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.<p>  It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. &quot;Her voice is full of money,&quot; Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, <em>The Great Gatsby</em> is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.  </p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1925</published>
</book>

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  <date_added>Tue Sep 04 11:08:50 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Dec 05 22:21:27 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[If one can ignore The Great Gatsby's tendencies of being slow, uninteresting, and generally unattractive to our nation's children, then he/she can begin to fully appreciate its glowing portions: A deep moral core, a few themes (Deteriorating American Dream of the pre-American Depression era, and how...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5644471">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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