The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Fiction | ClassicBlurb:

“THE GREAT GATSBY, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.”
–Goodreads 

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pooled ink Review:

The Great Gatsby is a novel that delves into love, life, sacrifice, and the price of living. Everything has a price, sometimes the price is too high and sometimes it’s cast off given a price despicably low. Delving into the young and thriving in the Roaring Twenties characters are confronted with choices, some easy and some heart-pinchingly difficult. Parties, love, gambling, alcohol,…murder. Is it all just for fun or do these things speak volumes revealing a cry from deep within its depths.

Nick Carraway narrates the story of the Great Gatsby. Through his eyes the lives of several interlinked people connect, twist, and unfold.

Gatsby has given and waited his whole life for his true love…because true love is worth more than anything, right?

Daisy has tried to have her cake and eat it to, so to speak. She wants true love but she can’t give up the money, society, reputation, and thrill of the rich married life.

Tom gets everything he wants but it’s never enough. Why isn’t it ever enough? He snatches away everything continually wondering the same thing.

Jordan spins the world upon her finger making her way up in the world of men. She will be free and rules do not apply.

Myrtle is stuck in a myth, believing that the grass is greener on the other side. If only she had more money, nicer clothes, a richer man…surely, surely life would be better then?

Characters filled with greed, selfishness, hate, dishonesty, and a shameful disregard for life fill these pages. They charge through the world seeking relentlessly for the next party, the next risk, the next thrill, the next thing that will make them feel. 

Fitzgerald himself was a part of the “Lost Generation” (those who came of age during WWI) and their struggles bleed boldly through his work.

So, is this a book about a bunch of rich people living rich wasteful lives? Yep. They make it rain with money pouring out their booze and fast cars. But if you think that that’s where this story stops then you’re wrong. The plot, the people, the action, it’s all surface level recklessness but if you slow down, tilt your head and squint your eyes to look a bit closer you’ll see that it’s all a slushy boozed facade. Beneath it all there is pain as these characters cling on to what they know terrified of falling adrift.

A classic in every right, so don’t be shy and give it a go. Make high school teachers everywhere proud (;

an excerpt from my high school essay:

“This novel is set around the 1920s – 1930s and passes down examples of the fast lifestyles of society. Jordan Baker tells Nick that “it takes two to make an accident” and adds “I hope I never will [meet a careless person]. I hate careless people,” (58). Her statement is funny because she is herself a careless person and this displays the lack of responsibility in the generation. They hope that they can live recklessly and that everyone else will just stay out of their way. In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby he presents America in a time full of recklessness, carelessness, and ignorance and this generation is exposed through three accidents that take place throughout the novel that involve strangers, liars, and lovers.

Jordan Baker’s statement about careless people pretty much sums up the common train of thought amongst the young people of Fitzgerald’s novel. They often acted with reckless abandonment to consequences and with general selfish intentions. The first World War is over and life is good, they just want to live life to the fullest with no thoughts of rules or other fun-dampening things but the problem with that is that there has to be someone who doesn’t get the privilege of living “free”. Who would choose the “stiff life”? No one is who, and therefore everyone would be a careless hazard and as Jordan said “it takes two to make an accident” and since the equation is filled that accident is bound to occur.”

Cheers.

 Purchase here: The Great Gatsby 

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Meet F. Scott Fitzgerald!

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works have been seen as evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he himself allegedly coined. He is regarded as one of the greatest twentieth century writers. Fitzgerald was of the self-styled “Lost Generation,” Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I. He finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, despair, and age. He was married to Zelda Fitzgerald. –Goodreads

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