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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

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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Jun 13, 2010 Pabel Lopez rated it really liked it

A contender for the title of the Great American Novel, I originally read "The Great Gatsby" in high school and many of the themes went over my head. The teacher would tell us what the different parts of the book were supposed to signify but without any real life experience I was completely lost. Nevertheless, the book always stuck with me and I knew I would get to re-read it when I had the time.

A series of coincidences involving this book somehow or another led me to pick it up again eight years A contender for the title of the Great American Novel, I originally read "The Great Gatsby" in high school and many of the themes went over my head. The teacher would tell us what the different parts of the book were supposed to signify but without any real life experience I was completely lost. Nevertheless, the book always stuck with me and I knew I would get to re-read it when I had the time.

A series of coincidences involving this book somehow or another led me to pick it up again eight years after graduation. Some of these incidents included reading "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway which mentions Fitzgerald and his thoughts on the book,watching the 2013 movie version of Gatsby, and going through a weird quarter-life crisis looking back and needing closure on some things that reminded me of Old James Gatz. I was glad to see that now that I had more life experience I was able to connect with the work and that the piece held up even after all of these years and changes in my life.

The reason I called it a contender for the great American novel is because not only is it a document of the times in which it was written but demonstrates a classic struggle for all times and eras in this country. The themes of love lost, yearning to return to the past, materialism, escapism, class struggle and friendship are always present in society. This novel depicts them and does so without sugarcoating the topic.

Even though I knew how the book ended I still found myself on the edge of my seat as I neared the end and even after the climax I continued reading to see how the situation would end up. This is a credit to Fitzgerald for creating a likable narrator in Nick Carraway. So many times a book falls flat because the narrator is the problem, not here. Every other character in the book is despicable but that is by design which is also a problem that other books sometimes run into.

The book holds up and the fact that even after re-reading it I still look back and find myself thinking of the characters is what makes me think so highly of this book.

I will probably read it again ...more

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