Reviews
J'adore lire des classiques et comprendre pourquoi c'est des classiques c'était vraiment cool et bien écrit ! Et je m'attendais pas à ce que ce soit aussi drôle (en tout cas au début, après ça arrête un peu d'être drôle), vraiment le narrateur est génial
✨️Audiobook Review✨️ The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald⭐️⭐️⭐️.5I thought it was time to read a classic and this is a well renowned one.The premise of the book is good, but I struggled with it a bit. Although the language is pretty basic, it switched characters and trains of thought whilst you're still in another part of the story, completely throwing you. I found that we didnt particularly gain a lot of insight into each of the characters and their relationships really. We know their names but not a lot else. I didn't particularly find the narrator enthralling but it wasn't bad enough to not finish the book. This was a 5 hour audiobook so fairly short. I'm glad I've gone down this route however rather than trying to read it physically as I think I would of struggled more. There's definitely a deeper meaning to the book, on my opinion, revealing that no amount of money can buy social acceptance, or happiness, and that an obsession to be wealthy or dwelling on past can lead to morally grey decisions and tragedy. Bear in mind this is a classic book but I found it rather underwhelming. I would be intrigued to see how this has been portrayed in the film so I will be watching that at some point.
The movies are much better the book. That's a fact. If you are reading this story from a British point of view all the excitement about this being a classic novel means nothing. It was a never a school reader: Of Mice and Men yes To kill a Mockingbird yes but Fitzgerald's masterpiece NO!.
It is not easy to write about The Great Gatsby; after all, it is a work of great complexity. At first sight, this Jazz age novel might seem to the casual reader a simple story about unrequited love and frustrated desires, but the scholar or the academician is bound to find it extremely rich, leaden with symbolism, and pregnant with meaning. The richness and the genius of this book lie in its vast ideological horizon; it is a novel about the Jazz age, the American Dream, the Post-war experience, class clash and ostracism, and even psychological issues.The latter idea, for instance, was pointed to me by an incredibly intelligent person, with whom I've had the pleasure of perusing the pages of Gatsby, yet once again, not long ago. This idea takes shape in Tom Buchanan as a narcissist; a self-centered person in constant need of affirmation, attention, and control. This can be seen in his constant desire to please Nick and secure his good opinion. This behavioral pattern extends even to his rival. When Gatsby was invited to the Buchannan's, Tom kept pointing out his stables and garages to his guest, attempting at every moment to control even his thoughts. Tom's choice in women reflects the same tendency in that he is attracted to mates that can be qualified one way or another as his inferior. In the case of Daisy, the latter's social status and monetary prospects magnetize the importance of Tom in both her eyes and his. In Myrtle Wilson's, it is the latter's lack of education, refinement, and financial stability that makes her utterly dependable and helpless in the embrace of Tom. Another psychology-related idea in the novel is that of Gatsby's boyhood dream, its inflexibility, and the kind of rigidity which made of it later on the source of his tragedy. There is a mention at the end of the novel about young James Gatz taking notes and making plans on the blank pages of some comic book. To go back to history and to the Jazz age, young Gatsby must have been an avid reader of such writers as Horatio Alger with his incredibly hopeful heroes; young men who had invariably conquered poverty immerging at last into glittering wealth. Not unlike such characters, James Gatz had made his way into the world, conquering indeed, the monster of poverty and acquiring a tremendous fortune. But during all these years, both his character and his dream never evolved. He kept on nurturing the same rigidly childish conception that money could buy anything including time and happiness. A good illustration of this frame of mind is seen in the manner in which Gatsby had answered Nick's assertion that one cannot repeat the past saying that of course it was possible. Such an instance shows the immaturity of Gatsby's dream and even Gatsby himself. The idea of a man living and believing in the dream of a boy becomes, accordingly, prevalent and suggestive by the same token of some satirical double meaning in regard to the book's title. The Great Gatsby; is he truly great, or is that the immature self-affirmation of a young mind? Money and class-clash are both concepts that play a tremendous role in the development of the plot. On the one hand, the novel documents the ostracism of the newly rich during an era in which the boundaries of class were threatened by the easy money which flowed into their pockets. Gatsby's approach, for instance, reflects his lack of training and refinement. His house is described as vulgar, his parties are likened to attraction parks, while his car is called a circus wagon by Tom. On account of his humble background, however, Gatsby is oblivious of his failure in securing the admiration of Daisy and the rest of her aristocratic sphere. This situation reflects the ostracism of the age, and the unbreakable boundaries between old and new money. Accordingly, money had simply become a corrupting power. It is Tom's wealth that attracts Myrtle and leads her eventually to a tragic death. Even Gatsby's so-called love for Daisy gets corrupted by the influence of money and turns into a desire to showcase a monetary value in the shape of a mansion, a car, large parties, and endless shirts. In this kind of atmosphere, the American Dream which forms the core of the American culture's glory becomes corrupt; an ideology that has no more transcendence about it. Jordan Baker is a good symbol of that on account of the fraudulent means by which she attains her professional victories, Tom is another by means of his apparent lack of ambition and penchant taste for consumerism. In short, there are no more inspirational ends, no true friendships, no concern for honor, nothing but a blind and headless pursuit of money.
Still to this day will be one of my favorite books in the whole entire world and there's nothing you can say about this book that will make me think otherwise.
We should admit that Zelda Fitgerald can be considered a co-author.
I've read this book twice now for school. Once to write an analysis and another time because we studied it in a class I was taking. I liked the book, but not one of my favorites of all time.
Whole review contains possible spoilers. I finished The Great Gatsby and now I feel… tangled. Sad for Gatsby, grateful for Nick, furious with Tom and Daisy. This book isn’t just a love story—it’s a tragedy wrapped in champagne and silk. A story about illusion, and how devastating it is when the dream you’ve built your whole life around crumbles in silence. Gatsby wasn’t perfect. He chased a married woman, built his world on shady deals, and believed in a fantasy version of Daisy that never truly existed. But at the core? He was just a lost soul clinging to hope. He believed. In love, in second chances, in the past being reclaimable. That belief made him vulnerable—but it also made him great. Daisy? She let him believe. She gave him hope, played her part, then ran when things got hard. When he needed her most, when he took the fall for her, she vanished without a trace. That betrayal? It burns. And Nick… Nick is the heart of this story. Quiet, observant, morally shaken, but deeply loyal. He’s the only one who stayed. The only one who honored Gatsby’s life when everyone else turned away. In the end, I wasn’t just grieving Gatsby—I was grieving the idea that the world so often forgets the ones who dream too loudly. This book deserves five stars because it makes you feel. It makes you reflect. It holds up a mirror to society’s cruelty, to privilege, to illusions—and still leaves room for aching admiration. It broke my heart. And I’ll never forget it.
Despite its place in American canon, I do not find that The Great Gatsby manages to escape the constraints of it's banal premise of rich, alcoholic white people carrying out affairs while using every opportunity to be contemptuous of everyone they think is beneath them. I know it is dangerous to put words in the mouth of the author from the characters, but the writing reeks of antisemitism and racism, and if it supposed to illustrate the evils within the American dream and America itself, I did not find it to do so adequately.
What more can I say about this timeless classic? The themes, the writing, and the story were absolutely phenomenal. One thing that made my experience even more enjoyable was the fact that I didn't have to read it for school or anything like that. Going into it without any prior knowledge of the story made it such a captivating experience. I was completely immersed in the book, but I also delved into the various analyses and extra information available about this masterpiece, including the theories surrounding Nick's sexuality. It added so much depth and richness to an already incredible story. "The Great Gatsby" is a perfect example of how flawed characters can make for truly captivating narratives. I simply adored this classic.
This is considered to be one of the best fiction novels and no doubt it is a great novel. After I read the book, I just had to watch the movie and oh boy!, what a beautifully written book. The book definitely arose more emotions than the movie. Gatsby is about the emptiness that is profound in the lifestyle of the society where values are completely distanced from the opulence. The more you read this book, the more you would fall into it.This is a tragic love story. The feelings are intense and at times you would feel so much for Gatsby. There are things you can't buy with money and that is what is shown profusely in the novel. This is a very simple story but a very very complicated one at the same time. There is a lot of symbolism that one may want to understand a bit in detail. So do a bit of research on those scenarios that the author is building. This one is a classic and will always be with me. You have to read this book more than once to completely grasp what Fitzgerald is trying to convey.Gatsby is a great character that Fitzgerald has developed and many people will relate with him. Daisy is the demure girl that many people would feel so much for. This book rouses emotions and feelings to a different level.
I have read The Great Gatsby several times over the years, I think I was maybe 14 the first time I picked up a very worn copy up at a secondhand bookstore and loved it for its ability to take the reader back in time.That hasn't changed at all, F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel is a piece of Americana told through the memoirs of Nick Carraway as he's drawn into the world of the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his life on Long Island. Yes, I will admit that the characters are vapid and there is something about each and everyone of them that grates on your nerves but whilst they are insanely wealthy and pretentious? It is Fitzgerald's reminder of their humanity and flaws that first had me loving the book as it came to its end and returning to it every few years for the last few decades. It is a book that you can read and enjoy for being exactly what it is - a glimpse of the follies of wealth, of circumstance and the time that Fitzgerald lived in. Plus.. you can always remember that the thirties were just around the corner with the Great Depression ready to kick people like Jordan Baker will get his arrogance handed to him on a (chipped) plate.