"There was music coming 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."
Rating: ★★★★★
Crowned the "Great American Novella",
The Great Gatsby is an account of the height and demise of the era of Jay Gatsby: a wealthy and envied socialite in the the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby lives in Long Island in West Egg (an affluent knockoff of the more 'fashionable' East Egg), and is the neighbour of Nick Carraway, he narrator. Both Nick and the reader ride on the coattails of Gatsby and his life as a host of glamorous parties in the golden age of jazz and liquor. While Gatsby is a man with the world at his fingertips and an endless fortune at his disposal, the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, flutters just beyond his reach. The star-crossed lovers get caught up in the fast times of the Twenties, surrounded by extravagance, ambition, greed, and tragedy.
Since seeing Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris a few weeks ago, I've been on a relentless 1920's kick, and I was inspired to pick up F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby again. Like nearly everyone else, The Great Gatsby was a required reading in high school, and I endured it my junior year of high school. I'll admit that I didn't particularly enjoy it the first time I read it (I only genuinely read the first and last few chapters; everything else was skipped or skimmed). This was mostly due to my teacher's tear-every-sentence-apart-and-look-for-symbolism tactic, which didn't win me over, and we never focused on character relationships (the Buchanans' dysfunctional marriage, for starters), which I picked up on in my second reading. This time I was able to appreciate The Great Gatsby for what it is instead of analysing a particular character's choice of dress colour.
The Great Gatsby is on so many required reading lists for a reason: it captures the nostalgia of the 1920's and America in one of its greatest moments. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in classic literature and to those interested in seeing the film this Christmas. It's easy to get into and a quick read (I was able to finish it in a few days just reading it on my lunch breaks).
