From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Start date: January 1, 2015

Finish date: January 31, 2015

Why we're reading this: Revisit the Shelf Reread, January 2015

Previous Group Reads:
Contemporary Classic Group Read, December 2011
[close] Revisit the Shelf Reread, January 2015

Previous Group Reads:
Contemporary Classic Group Read, December 2011

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What Members Thought

Mar 20, 2010 Kathleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Blue honey. A perfect book.

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May 03, 2010 Lindsay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics

I read this book in high school, like every other sophomore did, and I'll be honest, it was not one of my favorites. I think I was so excited to have a love story intertwined in a required curriculum book that I forgot to look for any scholarly significance and instead I just ended up distraught that Daisy and Gatsby didn't get together in the end. However, I've decided that if a book is required for high school students then I should at least have some appreciation for the work. Good choice Lin I read this book in high school, like every other sophomore did, and I'll be honest, it was not one of my favorites. I think I was so excited to have a love story intertwined in a required curriculum book that I forgot to look for any scholarly significance and instead I just ended up distraught that Daisy and Gatsby didn't get together in the end. However, I've decided that if a book is required for high school students then I should at least have some appreciation for the work. Good choice Lindsay! I read it again and loved every second of it! Fitzgerald is amazing. I finished the book and felt like I was swimming in all the imagery and political cues. It's a fairly easy read, but it has so much significance that you could read it a hundred times and continue picking up new gems of wisdom. I had to rent the movie, about two days after finishing the book, to have another go at the book's symbolism.

Although Nick Carraway has always kind of bothered me for some reason (he seems like an awkward fly on the wall...all the time), the character development in this book is amazing. Everything is so deliberately done. Of course, one of the overarching themes of the novel, is the failure of the American Dream with the corruption and demoralization of society. However, as I read the book this time, I was intrigued by how Gatsby lived and dreamed in the past. It is one of the great tragedies of the novel, in my opinion, that Gatsby persistently fails to move forward in life. At his funeral, there's a poignant contrast between young Gatsby's list of to-dos compared with what had been Gatsby's stagnant reality--he had striven for something that was already over, something that was years behind him. Gatsby lived on the hope of Daisy--the green light in the distance, just like the faraway, but ever present American dream--but he never realized the impossibility and the falsity of his dream.

The novel also plays on the dichotomies of man, God, and incarnation (fascinating theme throughout the book); old money verses new money; religious awareness verses atheistic apathy; success verses failure; life verses death; etc. Overall, a fabulous book that I would recommend anyone to reread! ...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Nikki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 2012-reads

I am so happy to have discovered this! I know very little about the age of Jazz and everything that went with it and this story brings it so vividly to life.
I really like Nick and his narration and view of things is refreshing and exciting. Jordan is quite aloof and intriguing and I like that Nick brings out her softer side and their relationship ultimately seems more expressive than that of Daisy and Tom who both seem to be going through the motions of marriage and parenthood, whilst clinging t ...more

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Oct 06, 2010 Adam rated it liked it

I remember enjoying this high school classic. A quick moving story about what is, what could have been, what's genuine, and what's fake. Love affairs, fortune, sprawling ocean front estates all contributing to the decline of morals from West Egg to Valley of the Ashes. I wonder why there is so much symbolism and imagery in this short novel. It's almost as if it was written for the purpose of making classroom discussions or difficult essay questions. ...more

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