Just In Case We Die discussion
Episode 15: The Great Gatsby
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March's book is "On The Road".
Not January. Sheesh.
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve spent a large chunk of my life disliking this book! I think it had more to do with the course I had to read it for, but that was 35 years ago. I disliked it so much, that I didn’t even watch the DeCaprio movie. I kind of dreaded reading it, but I thought I’d give it another go. Wow! Was I mistaken all this time!Putting aside racial connotations (unecessary but not surprising given the time it was written), for me this was a great portrayal of our social caste system, and I found myself drawing some parallels to current times. I was intrigued that ultimately Daisy chose money over love, and sad to say, was able to run away from her mistakes (literally getting away with murder) and continue to live a life of excess, albeit, with her debaucherous spouse.
Gatsby seemed a decent person, however, built his fortune on a life of crime, all in the name of love. Nick Carraway was the quintessential nice guy, and as such ended up cleaning up after everyone’s mess. On the podcast you mentioned how messed up he must have been by all of it, but I think that he was a strong enough person to learn from it, overcome the damage, and make better choices for himself. I would love to see a sequel about what he did with his life!
I guess if I had to boil this book down, for me it was all about the choices that we make and their consequences and how social class divides us. Tom made choices to cheat on Daisy, and because he had money, was able to win the girl, helping her evade the law; Gatsby made choices to earn a fortune in a dishonest way, to be worthy of Daisy’s love, using Nick to get closer to his ultimate goal, was disappointed, and paid with his life; Nick made choices to do the right thing when he knew he was being used, and everyone else had abandoned Gatsby, surviving to write about his experience, Wilson made choices, that drove Myrtle, Gatsby, and himself to their deaths over a misunderstanding. It often seems that the lower classes pay and/or live with consequences while often the upper class is able to rise above the fray regardless of their part in it all.
I must say I really enjoyed Gatsby, and have watched the current movie as well. Loved it too! If not for your podcast, I would never know what I have missed all this time. This rates a 4.0 stars for me but is still below Never Let Me Go.
Glad to hear from Kyra, I’m headed to NYC in June to see a couple Broadway shows with my sis, also! Seeing Six for sure, and will look at Hadestown for the 2nd one. Just saying, Wicked at the Gerschwin Theater is AMAZING!!!
Mod
Finally was able to finish gatsby. I enjoyed it, in part because it was in my mind an easy read.But man, those character either annoyed me or made me want to smack them. Like Rodney said, Nick caraway - why can’t you say something in support of your cousin?
And Tom and gatsby were both just ughhhh to me. Tom for obvious reasons. Gatsby just annoyed me and gave me the creeps. The multi year pursuit, mixed in with crime and shady business, of daisy was too much for me to look at it with googly eyes and see nothing but a love story.
I never read it in high school, and didn’t take any lit classes in college, so this was my first time reading it. It’s one I could see myself rereading at some point, which says a lot. I don’t really reread anything.
To recap:
February's book is "Disappearance" by David Dabydeen.
January's book is "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac.
Our bonus material for February will be an introduction to Rebecca, who will be joining us as a third member of the cast for our second season. We're gonna give her an opportunity to talk about her own interests in reading and create her own veto list of six novels that she wishes were on the list. We're excited to have her joining us.