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The Great Gatsby
by
Librarian note:
Older covers for this edition can be found here: 1992, 1993, 1993, 1993, 2001, 2001.
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’.
Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering wor ...more
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’.
Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering wor ...more
Paperback, 122 pages
Published
2001
by Wordsworth Classics
(first published April 10th 1925)
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Nov 25, 2014
emma
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-ya,
owned,
school,
recommend,
owned-multiple,
beautifully-written,
reread,
5-stars,
reviewed,
unpopular-opinion
DAISY BUCHANAN IS A GIFT TO READERS EVERYWHERE AND THE HERO OF THE GREAT GATSBY, FOR SURE, NO QUESTIONS, FIGHT ME IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU THINK YOU’RE BOLD: A Thinkpiece by Me
NOTE: This review is intended in the spirit of humor, and I wrote it several years ago, and if I could turn off comments on one review it'd be this one. In the meantime, you should know I never check them. Anyway. ONWARD!
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
I’ve known that Daisy effin’ rocks since I first read this book. ...more
NOTE: This review is intended in the spirit of humor, and I wrote it several years ago, and if I could turn off comments on one review it'd be this one. In the meantime, you should know I never check them. Anyway. ONWARD!
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
I’ve known that Daisy effin’ rocks since I first read this book. ...more

Oh Gatsby, you old sport, you poor semi-delusionally hopeful dreamer with “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”, focusing your whole self and soul on that elusive money-colored green light - a dream that shatters just when you are *this* close to it.
Jay Gatsby, who dreamed a dream with the passion and courage few possess - and the tragedy was that it was a wrong dream colliding with reality that was even more wrong - and deadly.
Just like the Great Houdini - the association ...more
Jay Gatsby, who dreamed a dream with the passion and courage few possess - and the tragedy was that it was a wrong dream colliding with reality that was even more wrong - and deadly.
Just like the Great Houdini - the association ...more

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 argue that F. Scott Fitzgerald was superhuman, if it wasn't for the fact that we know he also wrote This Side of Paradise.
But despite its magic, the rhetoric is just that, and it is a cruel facade. Be ...more
But despite its magic, the rhetoric is just that, and it is a cruel facade. Be ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

May 03, 2018
Sean Barrs
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
3-star-reads,
modernist-movement
This is a good book, though it is so ridiculously overrated.
There are so many great books out there that will never get the attention they deserve. They will be forgotten and their wisdom heard by only a select few who are willing to go looking for it. So it annoys me when books like this are acclaimed by critics and readers alike as the best pieces of fiction in existence (when they are not.) There’s so much more out there!
Anyway, rant over. The thing I like most about The Great Gatsby is the ...more
There are so many great books out there that will never get the attention they deserve. They will be forgotten and their wisdom heard by only a select few who are willing to go looking for it. So it annoys me when books like this are acclaimed by critics and readers alike as the best pieces of fiction in existence (when they are not.) There’s so much more out there!
Anyway, rant over. The thing I like most about The Great Gatsby is the ...more

Jay Gatsby, you poor doomed bastard. You were ahead of your time. If you would have pulled your scam after the invention of reality TV, you would have been a huge star on a show like The Bachelor and a dozen shameless Daisy-types would have thrown themselves at you.
Mass media and modern fame would have embraced the way you tried to push your way into a social circle you didn’t belong to in an effort to fulfill a fool’s dream as your entire existence became a lie and you desperately sought to re ...more
Mass media and modern fame would have embraced the way you tried to push your way into a social circle you didn’t belong to in an effort to fulfill a fool’s dream as your entire existence became a lie and you desperately sought to re ...more

After six years of these heated and polarized debates, I'm deleting the reviews that sparked them. Thanks for sharing your frustrations, joys, and insights with me, goodreaders. Happy reading!
In love and good faith, always,
Savannah ...more
In love and good faith, always,
Savannah ...more

(Book 699 From 1001 Books) - The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922.
The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan.
Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby exp ...more
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922.
The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan.
Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby exp ...more

Over drinks, I’ve observed—like so many smart alecks—that much of The Great Gatsby’s popularity relies heavily on its shortness. At a sparse 180 pages, Fitzgerald’s masterpiece could be argued to be the “Great American novella.” Gatsby, like so many other short classics, is easily readable, re-readable, and assessable to everyone from the attention-deficient young to mothers juggling a kid, a career, and a long-held desire to catch up on all those books “they should have read but haven’t gotten
...more

2.5 Stars
1) Always google who you are going to fall in love with.
1) Always google who you are going to fall in love with.
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.2) For the love of God, make a 401K
They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.3) Never swallow a thesaurus.
I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.Jay Gatsby is rich - the kind of exorbitan ...more

Fitzgerald, you have ruined me.
Fitzgerald can set a scene so perfectly, flawlessly. He paints a world of magic and introduces one of the greatest characters of all time, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is the embodiment of hope, and no one can dissuade him from his dreams. Have you ever had a dream that carried you to heights you could never have dreamed otherwise? When Gatsby is reunited with Daisy Buchanan, he fills the space to the brim with flowers, creating a living dream. How is anyone supposed to comp ...more
Fitzgerald can set a scene so perfectly, flawlessly. He paints a world of magic and introduces one of the greatest characters of all time, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is the embodiment of hope, and no one can dissuade him from his dreams. Have you ever had a dream that carried you to heights you could never have dreamed otherwise? When Gatsby is reunited with Daisy Buchanan, he fills the space to the brim with flowers, creating a living dream. How is anyone supposed to comp ...more


Casual, self-absorbed decadence, the evaporation of social grace, money calling all the shots and memories of the past holding people hostage from the future that lies before them. Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald has nailed it and written one of THE great American novels.
This book was a surprise. I LOVED it and all of the deep contradictions swimming around its heart. At once a scathing indictment on the erosion of the American Dream, but also a bittersweet love letter to the unfailing optimism of the ...more

Bright lights, big city
When I avowed my disenchantment with Tender Is the Night, a few GR friends urged me to read The Great Gatsby to truly appreciate F. Scott Fitzgerald. I cannot but admit The Great Gatsby was a far more exhilarating read than I had expected it to be, its tight composition and restless pace a remarkable contrast with the muddled slow mess that made Tender Is the Night hard for me to get through, the exquisite, visual opulent writing more than in The Curious Case of Benjam ...more
When I avowed my disenchantment with Tender Is the Night, a few GR friends urged me to read The Great Gatsby to truly appreciate F. Scott Fitzgerald. I cannot but admit The Great Gatsby was a far more exhilarating read than I had expected it to be, its tight composition and restless pace a remarkable contrast with the muddled slow mess that made Tender Is the Night hard for me to get through, the exquisite, visual opulent writing more than in The Curious Case of Benjam ...more

This is an all right-ish kind of novel, I suppose, but I always preferred Fitzgerald’s little-known prequel The Average Gatsby, although some people found the vision of Mervyn Gatsby, Jay’s obscure brother, living a reasonably okayish life as the manager of a carpet and upholstery warehouse in Des Moines a trifle dispiriting. I quite agree that The Bad Gatsby was a shameless self-ripoff which did Fitzgerald no favours. (The threesome scene between Warren Harding, John Dillinger and Gatsby was in
...more

Dec 31, 2007
LooseLips
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
the people who live in upstate egg.
Shelves:
hmmm,
re-reading
The eh Gatsby
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 "classic" and "everyone else loves it!" stamped all over it. And has a movie made out of it, though what beloved novel hasn't these days? Of course, I originally read FSF's Gatsby because I was expected to for a high school English class. So, even though I was never the type to do homewo ...more
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 "classic" and "everyone else loves it!" stamped all over it. And has a movie made out of it, though what beloved novel hasn't these days? Of course, I originally read FSF's Gatsby because I was expected to for a high school English class. So, even though I was never the type to do homewo ...more

So this was a weird little story about people with too much money.
The main characters just kind of flopped around drinking cocktails, smoking, and complaining about the heat. When they weren't cheating on their spouses, that is.
The gist is that this guy Nick, who is the only person with normal human emotions in the entire book, is recounting his special summer with The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby is this ultra-mysterious man with gobs of money who likes to throw lavish wingdings. Everyone who is anyone ...more
The main characters just kind of flopped around drinking cocktails, smoking, and complaining about the heat. When they weren't cheating on their spouses, that is.

The gist is that this guy Nick, who is the only person with normal human emotions in the entire book, is recounting his special summer with The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby is this ultra-mysterious man with gobs of money who likes to throw lavish wingdings. Everyone who is anyone ...more

Apr 12, 2016
Luca Ambrosino
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
wishlist-others
English (The Great Gatsby) / Italiano
«In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”»
The Great Gatsby, the book that most of all I postponed the reading. There was something in the title that didn't excite me, that didn't pass the smell. I was wrong.
The narrator, Nick Carra
...more
the only thing I got from this is that Nick is gay
2.5
2.5

Jay Gatsby, is a mysterious young man, who gives extravagant parties on Long Island, New York, outside his palatial mansion , in the warm, lazy, summer nights. That he doesn't know the people he invites, not to mention the numerous gatecrashers, might make it a little strange, but this being the roaring 20's, anything goes, rumors abound about Gatsby, bootlegger ? Who cares, as long as the free liquor flows, the great food served, and the beautiful music, continues playing. Finally attending one
...more

Jul 09, 2007
Jason
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who can read
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.
First things first: The opening of The Great Gatsby -- its first 3-4 pages -- ranks among the best of any novel in the English language, and so too does its ending. Both for their content and for their prose, ...more
First things first: The opening of The Great Gatsby -- its first 3-4 pages -- ranks among the best of any novel in the English language, and so too does its ending. Both for their content and for their prose, ...more

Our fantasies of grandeur are always restricted by our aesthetic tastes and The Great Gatsby is literally an anthem to vulgarity and fraudulence…
But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the washstand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until d...more

‘i was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.’
im going to a 1920s themed party tonight and so, naturally (being the bookworm that i am), im gonna do a quick re-read to give me all those gatsby-esque vibes! all the glitzy glamour, flashy fashion, and daring dreams will definitely get me in the mood!
i first read this in 10th grade english class and it will always be a very dear book to me. it was the first classic i read that i felt lik ...more
im going to a 1920s themed party tonight and so, naturally (being the bookworm that i am), im gonna do a quick re-read to give me all those gatsby-esque vibes! all the glitzy glamour, flashy fashion, and daring dreams will definitely get me in the mood!
i first read this in 10th grade english class and it will always be a very dear book to me. it was the first classic i read that i felt lik ...more

Jan 08, 2013
Matthew
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Matthew by:
Trinity Irwin

Re-read update August 2020
My history with Gatsby
First read in high school: 1 star
Rethinking my rating a few years ago after watching movie and discussing book with my wife (see original review below) : 3 stars
Re-read rating in 2020: 5 stars
Interesting anecdote to accompany my re-read. I did it on audio this time, headed out to listen to it (double time) on a walk yesterday, and 8.6 miles later I had listened to the whole thing straight through!
So glad I gave this one another shot. It's pretty go ...more

The True Value of Monopoly Money
Capitalism tends towards monopoly.
No capitalist welcomes a competitor or rival. Having attained wealth, the desire is to retain it, not to concede it; to increase it, not to share it.
A competitor is perceived as a threat, and will be treated like a virus invading an otherwise healthy, but vulnerable, body.
The Great American Dream
"The Great Gatsby" is often described as a paean to the Great American Dream.
This Dream supposedly sustains the average American. It of ...more
Capitalism tends towards monopoly.
No capitalist welcomes a competitor or rival. Having attained wealth, the desire is to retain it, not to concede it; to increase it, not to share it.
A competitor is perceived as a threat, and will be treated like a virus invading an otherwise healthy, but vulnerable, body.
The Great American Dream
"The Great Gatsby" is often described as a paean to the Great American Dream.
This Dream supposedly sustains the average American. It of ...more

I just spent three days being read to by Jake Gyllenhaal and it was absolutely wonderful! I took Jake with me for long Summer walks, to the grocery store, Trader Joe's, and let me not forget the ten minutes I spent driving around the parking lot of Target, not for a better parking space, but to listen to Jake read "The Great Gatsby" to me! My only regret is that this fabulous experience is over. Sigh...
I've read the book and watched both versions of the movie but this is by far my favorite exper ...more
I've read the book and watched both versions of the movie but this is by far my favorite exper ...more

i love this book. yes, it is a story about vapid and shallow people who live selfish and hedonistic lives and treat other people like playthings, but there is an elegance, a restraint to the prose that manages to discuss, in the same tone, both doomed love and the breakdown of the american dream. and it is masterful. some may say the great american novel.
and so this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULhla...
makes me want to tear my eyes out with my hands and stomp on them forever and ever.
yeah, yo ...more
and so this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULhla...
makes me want to tear my eyes out with my hands and stomp on them forever and ever.
yeah, yo ...more

Aug 11, 2012
Cecily
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
usa-and-canada,
classics
I don't know if my appreciation of this should be tempered by the fact I was about three quarters of the way through before I realised I'd read it before (though I think it was many years ago)!
PLOT
It is (mostly) set in Long Island in summer of 1922, amongst the young, idle, amoral rich, playing fast and loose with their own lives and indeed, those of others. All very glamorous, self-centred, and shallow, but the possibility of darker things lurking holds interest and tension.
CHARACTERS
Even if y ...more
PLOT
It is (mostly) set in Long Island in summer of 1922, amongst the young, idle, amoral rich, playing fast and loose with their own lives and indeed, those of others. All very glamorous, self-centred, and shallow, but the possibility of darker things lurking holds interest and tension.
CHARACTERS
Even if y ...more

„Der große Gatsby" is a truly brilliant and dazzling masterpiece. The book is written in such a way you can´t stop reading it, because the language and presentation are stylistic and atmospheric. But you should read this book carefully. I am enthusiastic about the verbosity of this writer. Overall, the characters were very successful and unique. This story was definitely a highlight for me. It´s story and a character which I absolutely like. Almost quietly and calmly, he brings us closer to the
...more

Update Nov, 2019: Well, I knew I would like this better when I *finally* got around to reading it again.
***
Let's just call this a "need to reread" book. I remember thinking it was just okay when I read it. But then, that was back in high school when the teachers made us pull it part and dissect the language. I was bound to hate it. And everyone seems to love Gatsby, so hopefully a revisit will help me see why. ...more
***
Let's just call this a "need to reread" book. I remember thinking it was just okay when I read it. But then, that was back in high school when the teachers made us pull it part and dissect the language. I was bound to hate it. And everyone seems to love Gatsby, so hopefully a revisit will help me see why. ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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The Harvard of Mu...: * The Great Gatsby | 2 | 7 | May 21, 2022 09:48PM | |
r/Letterboxd Book...: 001. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | 4 | 17 | May 12, 2022 04:51PM | |
SCPL Teens: The Great Gatsby | 1 | 4 | Feb 19, 2022 10:39AM | |
Goodreads Librari...: Please correct book description ISBN 978-8418395185 | 4 | 23 | Feb 13, 2022 02:15PM | |
Numbers in The Great Gatsby | 7 | 74 | Jan 22, 2022 06:44PM | |
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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 unfini
...more
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“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
—
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“I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
—
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