Gary answers “When we read this book in my AP English...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about The Razor’s Edge:

When we read this book in my AP English class there were a lot of comparisons drawn between it and The Great Gatsby. I feel like this book isn't read as much as Gatsby but in some ways it may be even more important then Gatsby. Does anyone agree with me or am I alone on this one?

Gary The nature of the era itself and the Lost Generation makes The Great Gatsby a more prominent work, and for that reason its stylistic strength is appro…moreThe nature of the era itself and the Lost Generation makes The Great Gatsby a more prominent work, and for that reason its stylistic strength is appropriately rated. But I definitely felt (having read it after Gatsby) that The Razor's Edge is a stronger work overall and has greater depth and substance.

I might argue that part of the strength of Gatsby, though, is a palpably self-aware and self-conscious mourning of and yearning for greater depth and substance. To use the old iceberg metaphor; more of it is left underwater, tacitly but also implicit.(less)

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The Razor’s Edge

by W. Somerset Maugham

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