From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Start date: June 1, 2014

Finish date: July 31, 2014

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

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What Members Thought

Aug 20, 2011 Lori S. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audios, wishidnvrread, 20th-century-lit, american-authors, banned, 2015_challenge

Bah.
Living in a Bubble w/lyrics by Eiffel 65 sets up the meaning of this book nicely, I think:

We live in a bubble baby.
A bubble's not reality.
You gotta have a look outside.
Nothing in a bubble is the way it's supposed to be,
and when it blows you'll hit the ground.
We live in a bubble baby,
but it's not the place to be
cause it's a place of lies and hype.
Don't believe the bubble cause it's nothing but a dream,
and when it blows you'll be alone.
Oh yeah

Told from Nick Carraway's point of view, we're intr Bah.
Living in a Bubble w/lyrics by Eiffel 65 sets up the meaning of this book nicely, I think:

We live in a bubble baby.
A bubble's not reality.
You gotta have a look outside.
Nothing in a bubble is the way it's supposed to be,
and when it blows you'll hit the ground.
We live in a bubble baby,
but it's not the place to be
cause it's a place of lies and hype.
Don't believe the bubble cause it's nothing but a dream,
and when it blows you'll be alone.
Oh yeah

Told from Nick Carraway's point of view, we're introduced to the empty world inhabited by Jay Gatsby (aka James Gatz), a made(up) man, who spends his money in a show of conspicuous consumption in an attempt to win the heart of the girl he loved shortly before the War (WWI), Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, she's married in the interval to Tom Buchanan, a man who comes from the same wealth and class background that Daisy springs from.

She and Tom understand each other very well. She turns a somewhat blind eye to his infidelity and he assumes she loves him in some manner. Tom is a brute though, so I really don't get why any woman would want him, to be honest. Daisy's insensitive to other people's feelings so, I guess they're perfect for each other. (can you tell I really don't care about these people?) Gatsby never gets it though. He's looking for the solid, wholesome, lovely girl he thought he fell in love with, but that Daisy is smoke, insubstantial, and, in all probability, never really existed. She does, however, have a hard cold core of steel of one who can take her revenge out on Tom's mistress and never turn a hair.

In all honesty, I still don't understand what drives English teachers to stuff this down their student's throats. It's a boring book at best, full of nonsensical flowery language that puts one to sleep (I nearly did fall asleep on the first disc - not a good thing when driving!). Yep, we get a glimpse of an era that doesn't exist anymore, when money seemed flow like water, or the booze that snuck in over the border, when flappers danced, and the whole world (or, at least, the US) seemed to be at the top of its game. Yep, we get to see empty people living empty lives doing empty things (that whole wasted day in the hotel room in which tempers flared), but all you have to do these days is turn on the TV for that (Real Housewives, anyone?).

In the end, I think it all comes down to one's preference. The Great Gatsby to me is not so great.

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