Name: Vojtech's review of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Item: The Great Gatsby
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

F. Scott Fitzgerald

'It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life' Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach ... Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby - young, handsome, fabulously rich - always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the great novels of twentieth-century literature. Set in the Long Island of 1922, it provides a critical social history of America during the “Roaring Twenties”, an era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the “Jazz Age”, known for unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture, and bootlegging and other criminal activity. A historic period when “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession”, as classified by The New York Times.

Bart Veldhuijsen 

'One thing's sure and nothing's surer. The rich get richer and the poor get - children'

"Leaves the reader in a mood of chastened wonder . . . A revelation of life . . . A work of art." —Los Angeles Times Set in during the Roaring Twenties, this masterful story by F. Scott Fitzgerald is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a young man who moves to Long Island and attempts to learn the bond business in New York City after the war. There, he co-mingles on Long Island with his affluent and wealthy socialite cousin Daisy Buchanan, her brute of a husband Tom, and friend Jordan Baker. Nick's new residence sits across the bay from Daisy and Tom's house, and right next to a mysterious mansion. He begins to hear rumors of an infamous man named Gatsby who resides there. Eventually, when Gatsby learns of Nick's ties to Daisy, he extends Nick an invitation to one of his lavish parties. Gatsby's plan to court Daisy, in an attempt to revive a previous love affair, eventually bubbles to the surface and tragedy ensues. Dubbed the Great American Novel more than any other piece of literature to date, The Great Gatsby is sure to captivate readers with it's exquisitely crafted prose and poignant message about trying to relive the past. Packaged in handsome and affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is series of essential literary works. From the musings of literary geniuses such as Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to the striking personal narratives from Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our literary history through the words of the exceptional few.

morgan

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever shrewd men and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body.

I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. You see I think everything's terrible anyhow. Everybody thinks so--the most advanced people. And I 

. I've been everywhere and I've seen everything and done everything. Sophisticated--God, I'm sophisticated!

They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away. It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hurried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself.

[..] one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax.

[...] the most limited of all specialists, the "well-rounded man." This isn't just an epigram--life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees--just as things grow in fast movies--I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes but after a certain point I don't care what it's founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.

Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And one fine morning--

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I was responsible, because no one else was interested--interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end.

I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream.

"I'm thirty," I said. "I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor."

...he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. 

Caroline 

“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”

I began to have a feeling of defiance, of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all. 

“I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Giulia Pascoli 

Only Gatsby- the man who gives his name to this book -was exempt from my reaction. Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an affected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines the register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.  It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.

Sheridan Sweeney 

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the ‘roaring twenties’ and a devastating exposé of the ‘Jazz Age’. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore of the American seaboard in the 1920s, to encounter Nick’s cousin Daisy, Jay Gatsby and the dark mystery which surrounds him.

The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

i <3 this sentence. sums up the experience of finishing the novel

kemi

Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.

Invited to an extravagantly lavish party in a Long Island mansion, Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who has just settled in the neighbouring cottage, is intrigued by the mysterious host, Jay Gatsby, a flamboyant but reserved self-made man with murky business interests and a shadowy past. As the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, details of Gatsby’s impossible love for a married woman emerge, until events spiral into tragedy.

Regarded as Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Great Gatsby is a vivid chronicle of the excesses and decadence of the “Jazz Age”, as well as a timeless cautionary critique of the American dream.
Source: https://almabooks.com/product/the-great-gatsby/

Neesha Balapitiya 

‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it's a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.

Stephanie 

But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot.

I can confirm that this works out perfectly. 

It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don’t see or care.

Vojtech

I thought that this book was good when I read it 

Lexy 

This new edition of The Great Gatsby includes a foreword by critically acclaimed novelist Michael Farris Smith, as well as an exclusive extract of his forthcoming novel, NICK, which imagines narrator Nick Carraway's life before he meets Gatsby Enigmatic, intriguing and fabulously wealthy, Jay Gatsby throws lavish parties at his West Egg mansion to impress Daisy Buchanan, the object of his obsession, now married to bullish Tom Buchanan. Over a Long Island summer, his neighbour Nick Carraway, a writer and a cousin to Daisy, looks on as Gatsby and Daisy's affair deepens. Tragedy looms in F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, frequently named among the best novels of the twentieth century. 'A classic, perhaps the supreme American novel' - Sunday Times 'More than an American classic; it's become a defining document of the national psyche, a creation myth, the Rosetta Stone of the Amercian dream' - Guardian

Krystyna 

This is one of my favorite books. It is definitely a book that I will re-read many times.

11 timeless classics which have stood the test of time, and their enduring themes have proved popular through the ages. Each with its own concise introduction to guide the reader's thoughts and launch them into the text, these are accessible editions for the academic and general reader alike.

makenna!!! 

nick is gay!!!! gatsby is gay!!! they’re all gay!!!

Geraldine Alatriste López

The start was a little bit slow but after chapter 3 it's just soo good

Bri Billaney

Dear all the kids who had to read this for school: are y'all okay? 

I think I was interested for like... 2 sentences then that was it. At least it was short!

This is the definitive, textually accurate edition of a classic of twentieth-century literature, The Great Gatsby. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan has been acclaimed by generations of readers. But the first edition contained a number of errors resulting from Fitzgerald's extensive revisions and a rushed production schedule. Subsequent printings introduced further departures from the author's words. This edition, based on the Cambridge critical text, restores all the language of Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Drawing on the manuscript and surviving proofs of the novel, along with Fitzgerald's later revisions and corrections, this is the authorized text -- The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald intended it.
--back cover

Colleen

5 Stars

There is not much to be said about this book that has not been said before, so I'll keep this review short. There are classics we read because generation after generation have told us we should read them, and then there are classics that we should read because they truly are momentous. The Great Gatsby is one of the latter. Fitzgerald was a genius with words, and this book is one of his masterpieces. 

Set in the glamorous Roaring 20's, this is the narrative Nick Carraway who tells how he was pulled into Jay Gatsby's orbit. What follows is a dramatic, beautifully written look at the capriciousness of human nature. 
"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself." This is such a superb novella. Despite being written almost a century ago, the writing feels fresh and timeless. This is definitely not a stodgy old tome. The story flows effortlessly and weaves a vivid picture with surprising depth. 
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 5 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 5 Stars
Level of Captivation: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

Amanda Faith

this book is best described as one that creeps up on you with such incredible subtlely and leaves you in the wondrous side of confusion.

Jacob Salyer

I decided to read this book because I was bored and didn't have anything else to do. It kind of bored me out, but it is still interesting book. I think the reason why I didnt found this book enjoyable is my fault. I didnt put much thought in what I've read and watching summary on yt made me realize its actually great book with alot of lessons. I would like to read it again sometime.

Wirt

I decided to read this book because I was bored and didn't have anything else to do. It kind of bored me out, but it is still interesting book. I think the reason why I didnt found this book enjoyable is my fault. I didnt put much thought in what I've read and watching summary on yt made me realize its actually great book with alot of lessons. I would like to read it again sometime.



It’s interesting reading this book as an adult because the last time I read it was in high school. Rereading has made me realize this book is actually a lot simpler than I thought. It’s about love and it’s about money, and it’s about those things individually and in relation to each other. 

I think the story itself is okay, but it begins rather slow, taking a bit to get going; it’s not my favorite plot actually. But the time spent developing the scene and the attitudes, the vibes, is significant. It allows you to feel the tension of Tom Buchanan, feel Daisy’s aloofness, or Nick’s frustrations. Particularly towards the end I found myself sympathizing with Nick Carraway, taking “Gatsby’s side”, and yet still feeling the frustrations of dealing with the very wealthy and ignorant.

I think a major theme isn’t just old vs new money, but “being” your wealth vs “acting” it. And how do appearances impact who we actually ARE?

This quote towards the end was definitely my favorite. The idea of being able to retreat back into money, how this itself makes someone careless… I agree and I think it’s a powerful and true description of bourgeois attitude.  

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

Grace Mekkes

It’s interesting reading this book as an adult because the last time I read it was in high school. Rereading has made me realize this book is actually a lot simpler than I thought. It’s about love and it’s about money, and it’s about those things individually and in relation to each other. 

I think the story itself is okay, but it begins rather slow, taking a bit to get going; it’s not my favorite plot actually. But the time spent developing the scene and the attitudes, the vibes, is significant. It allows you to feel the tension of Tom Buchanan, feel Daisy’s aloofness, or Nick’s frustrations. Particularly towards the end I found myself sympathizing with Nick Carraway, taking “Gatsby’s side”, and yet still feeling the frustrations of dealing with the very wealthy and ignorant.

I think a major theme isn’t just old vs new money, but “being” your wealth vs “acting” it. And how do appearances impact who we actually ARE?

This quote towards the end was definitely my favorite. The idea of being able to retreat back into money, how this itself makes someone careless… I agree and I think it’s a powerful and true description of bourgeois attitude.  

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

I know this book is a classic, but I really didn't enjoy it. 

Victoria Maier 

enya

Decent story - too many asides with almost nonsensical language. 

Paige Paul

Goed boek, je voelt je net als de hoofdpersoon iemand die enkel een toeschouwer is van iemand anders verhaal.

dazzling. saw a lot of parallels with the secret history.

i first attempted reading this after i finished norwegian wood by murakami. i didn’t like norwegian so my attempt still puzzles me. probably i was 15. then i tried again when my friend said they hated it and another when my friend said she loved it. and another when i read the chosen and the beautiful by nghi vo. this attempt was my first successful one, inspired by its mention in the secret history by donna tartt, where richard says that it’s one of his favorite books and read it in hopes of cheering him up, but he read tragic similarities between him and gatsby and it only made him feel worse. 

the tone of it is like tsh. i was struck by the similar sort of reserved passiveness and awe richard and nick had (i messaged my friend something along the lines of ‘does the elegance originate from their passiveness, from their being ferried around?’), the watching of figures that seem as though they belong to another world, the habitual liars, the stories they make up and the stories they tell others. those and other things. not to say they’re the same, of course, but i have no doubt that it was my reading of tsh that finally made me able to appreciate tgg. 

it’s interesting, i think, how a story is told in the author’s words but painted in your imagination in relation to everything else (i cannot remember where i chanced upon this idea). probably my reading of the chosen and the beautiful also coloured my perspective on jordan baker. i watched this documentary on welles in one of my classes and susan alexander kane’s voice was daisy’s voice in my mind. 

the last line of the book hit me the most. i’m not a person with dreams but i’ve always admired and pitied dreamers. to burn yourself up for your vivid dream–we’d die to reach that goal but it’s the climbing that exhilarates us; it’s the yearning that is dyed luridly in the colors of love (henry wotton: “

all ways end at the same point: disillusion.

”).  i (now) like fitzgerald's writing and i’ll probably give his other works a go soon.

not really a review.

dazzling. saw a lot of parallels with the secret history.

i first attempted reading this after i finished norwegian wood by murakami. i didn’t like norwegian so my attempt still puzzles me. probably i was 15. then i tried again when my friend said they hated it and another when my friend said she loved it. and another when i read the chosen and the beautiful by nghi vo. this attempt was my first successful one, inspired by its mention in the secret history by donna tartt, where richard says that it’s one of his favorite books and read it in hopes of cheering him up, but he read tragic similarities between him and gatsby and it only made him feel worse. 

the tone of it is like tsh. i was struck by the similar sort of reserved passiveness and awe richard and nick had (i messaged my friend something along the lines of ‘does the elegance originate from their passiveness, from their being ferried around?’), the watching of figures that seem as though they belong to another world, the habitual liars, the stories they make up and the stories they tell others. those and other things. not to say they’re the same, of course, but i have no doubt that it was my reading of tsh that finally made me able to appreciate tgg. 

it’s interesting, i think, how a story is told in the author’s words but painted in your imagination in relation to everything else (i cannot remember where i chanced upon this idea). probably my reading of the chosen and the beautiful also coloured my perspective on jordan baker. i watched this documentary on welles in one of my classes and susan alexander kane’s voice was daisy’s voice in my mind. 

the last line of the book hit me the most. i’m not a person with dreams but i’ve always admired and pitied dreamers. to burn yourself up for your vivid dream–we’d die to reach that goal but it’s the climbing that exhilarates us; it’s the yearning that is dyed luridly in the colors of love (henry wotton: “all ways end at the same point: disillusion.”).  i (now) like fitzgerald's writing and i’ll probably give his other works a go soon.

Joana da Silva

Bring me more books by that Fitzgerald boy, loved his writing.

Reveals the illusions of the American dream and the harsh reality that it is all a facade. 

Lola Ireland

"After the war, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire pursues wealth, riches and the lady he lost to another man with stoic determination. When Gatsby finally does reunite with Daisy Buchman, tragic events are set in motion. Told through the eyes of his detached and omnipresent neighbour and friend, Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald's succinct and powerful prose hints at the destruction and tragedy that awaits"--Publisher.

Beau

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Before this, I made my way through Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise which I, admittedly, found to be a tad slow. Regardless, I found both books to be filled with joyous prose and beautiful stories. For me this book embodies the 1920's jazz-era - a time where morals and direction were second-class citizens to the collective mind-set of the population; where your crew and the parties you frequented defined you as a being

Nick Carraway serves as a mild-mannered yet internally confused narrator, who constructs marvellous opinions and insights into his endeavours with enigmatic neighbour-turned-host Jay Gatsby. The way Fitzgerald constructs scenery and underlying tension between narratives is what makes this book so amazing. This is a classic and should definitely be read at some stage in your life. It isn't that long...so you have no excuse.

Beatrix Haase

This is probably one of the only school books that I have read and actually liked. I just thought that this was one of the most enjoyable reads that I have read this year and for me that's saying a lot. I don't typically read classics but this one was really interesting too me. 

xoxo,
Bea

A tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on American life.

The Great Gastby

Kayla Julien 

Erwin Lemuel Oliva

This is one the best prose I have read. F. Scott Fitzgerald is truly a master of the English language. His narratives, the dialogues, and his wild imagination bring to life almost real characters like Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan. For this to be written in the 20s and yet sound like it was done today exemplifies the unique and contemporary voice of Fitzgerald. It resonates to this day. The life of extravagance, of unrequited love, of betrayal, of lies--all of that in this short and yet compelling novel.

A beautiful new edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby to coincide with the release of Baz Luhrmann's film. 'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.' Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby's origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that 'he killed a man'. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. As writer Nick Carraway is drawn into this decadent orbit, Gatsby's destructive dreams and passions are revealed, leading to disturbing and tragic consequences. 'Not only a page turner and heartbreaker, it's one of the most quintessentially American novels ever written' Time F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St Paul, Minnesota in 1896. He studied at Princeton University before joining the army in 1917. In 1920 he married Zelda Sayre. Their traumatic relationship and subsequent breakdowns became a major influence on his writing. Among his publications were five novels, This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night and The Last Tycoon (his last and unfinished work); six volumes of short stories and The Crack-Up, a selection of autobiographical pieces. F. Scott Fitzgerald died suddenly in 1940.

Jamieson

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” 


The Great Gatsby is my favourite classic, the ultimate reminder that characters can be awful, vapid and annoying and the book can still be good. The ultimate reminder great people aren't always good people. The ultimate reminder we should just stop dreaming for impossible things because doing so leads to DEATH. 

In all seriousness I feel like the Great Gatsby is one of the most misunderstood classics .. it's about so much more then just Daisy and Gatsby, and it's so incredibly complex and symbolic each time I read it I get something more out of it. I don't know, I just think it's an incredible book, an incredible piece of literature and filled with incredibly awful characters 

The prose is amazing. The imagery and language used by Fitzgerald to create and sustain this book is absolutely beautiful, I adore his prose and the way he describes things.



For me, The Great Gatsby is one of those frightening truthful books because it's so harshly realistic We hate Daisy because she's silly, can't make up her own mind about things and constantly needs validation but aren't those the things that make US annoying. 
We're irritated by Nick's unreliable portrayal and yet aren't we all people who will assume and judge people we barely know based on rumours and stories we hear through the press and the media
We despise Tom and Gatsby for their unrelenting pursuit of wealth and glory and yet are we not all people, everyday, striving for that green light, for the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us? 

The thing about the Great Gatsby is nothing has changed. F. Scott Fitzgerald basically prophesied the Great Depression, warned everyone with this little book that the capitalistic dream was decaying and materialism was all consuming but even today don't we still value people's worth by what they have? doesn't out society still assume people who aren't wealthy just "aren't working hard enough". Isn't there a serious moral hole that people fill with stuff 



I don't care what anyone says about how this book is pointless (it's not) or how the characters suck (true, they're supposed to) I love it, and I don't know if any other classic will ever eclipse my love. 


  “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

natalie

read this for school but it was boring LOLZ

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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