Book Review: The Great Gatsby
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Like most young people who read The Great Gatsby, I did so rather reluctantly ahead of starting the novel in English Literature this week.
However, what I can tell you is that I turned every page after the first with an intrigue and love uncommon for a sixth form student buried under four essays and revision.
The Great Gatsby is the greatest form of escapism for people in 2017 now more than ever. F. Scott Fitzgerald crafted such a wonderful novel about the life of Jay Gatsby, an elusive, ultra-rich figure living on Long Island off the coast of New York City in the 1920s.
An era of reckless spending and borrowing, partying and working and for Jay Gatsby, one of yearning and moulding, is depicted through the narration of Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s poorer and honest neighbour. It is Nick Carraway who becomes the only honest character in the whole of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.
The novel is often misread as one simply about Gatsby’s yearning and motivation to win over Daisy Buchanan – his one true love. World War One tore them apart as he had to leave Daisy to fight. Five years passed as Gatsby attended Oxford University (or ‘Oggsford’ as Wolfsheim says) and made his fortune so that he could provide for Daisy. In those five years, though, Daisy married Tom Buchanan and gave birth to his daughter (make way for one of the greatest quotes in English Literature).
While the novel is about lost love and the tragedy that eventually ensues at the end, Fitzgerald is really talking about that great American Dream – the one in which you can reinvent yourself as whatever and whoever you want. Evidently, it’s a dangerous game.
The Great Gatsby is a great novel for people of all ages. It’s gripping, entertaining and a tear-jerker (unless you watch the film halfway through like I did… oops). While it didn’t leave a profound and life-changing effect on me, I did enjoy it. And what’s better than a good read?