Book Review: The Great Gatsby
So having (finally) finished The Great Gatsby I thought in the spirit of keeping my hand in that I'd write a quick review of it.
Written by F Scott Fitzgerald and published in the mid 1920's, it is a definate contender for the position of the Great American Novel, a heady exploration of the Jazz era, the rise of New Money vs Old Money and the fruitless desire to reclaim the past.
Nick Carraway has just moved to New York from the Midwest to work in the Bonds buisness and gets caught up in the last days of the mysterious Jay Gatsby his next day nieghbour about whom many rumours exisit, especially as to the origin of Gatsby's fabulous wealth.
As it turns out all of Gatsby's actions are part of his attempt to reconnect with his lost love - and Nick's cousin - Daisy Buchanan who lives across the bay from Gatsby and Nick. Jay and Daisy had a relationship when he was a poor soldier. And despite the fact she is now married, everything Gatsby has done turns out to be an attempt to prove himself worthy of her and perhaps get back what they had.
Then it all goes to hell in a handcart.
I found this a very odd book. Well written and beautifully descriptive, Gatsby is a constant thread through out the novel. Even before we are introduced to the character he is there, a larger than life figure occupying the larger than life house next door, throwing extravagant party's in the hope that one day Daisy might hear of them and come.
It is a very meloncholy book as well, that delights in puncturing illusions. Gatsby's popularity is revealed to have simply been an illusion. Once the party's stop nobody cares for him anymore, they simply move on to the next big thing. And Nick's illusions about life in the big city are punctured as well. He comes to see what people are really like and rapidly decamps back to the Midwest.
But the two biggest illusions the book destroys are Gatsby's. First his belief that his money will put him on a par with Daisy. Even though by the end he is probably richer than her it doesn't matter. He is New Money and she is Old Money and the two can never meet. It's not just the money you have that matters. It's where it comes from.
But the biggest illusion that is shattered, shattered into a million bright pieces is the idea that if he worked hard enough, earned enough, become someone of standing, someone on her level, then she would be his again. But not only would she be his but everything would be exactly as it was when they first met. What he fails to realise is that the years in between have changed them both. Neither of them are the same people they were when they met.
"You can't repeat the past," Nick tells him at one point. "Of course you can," is Gatsby's reply.
That I think is the overiding message and warning of The Great Gatsby. I am sure there have been times when all of us wished we could recapture the past, one or two perfect moments that we just want to relive forever, because it was so bright and pure and perfect that nothing could ever hope to even touch it.
But we can't. We can't live in the past, we can't replicate it. All we can do is move on, and create an equally beautiful future.
All in all, I liked this book. I just find it very strange.
Written by F Scott Fitzgerald and published in the mid 1920's, it is a definate contender for the position of the Great American Novel, a heady exploration of the Jazz era, the rise of New Money vs Old Money and the fruitless desire to reclaim the past.
Nick Carraway has just moved to New York from the Midwest to work in the Bonds buisness and gets caught up in the last days of the mysterious Jay Gatsby his next day nieghbour about whom many rumours exisit, especially as to the origin of Gatsby's fabulous wealth.
As it turns out all of Gatsby's actions are part of his attempt to reconnect with his lost love - and Nick's cousin - Daisy Buchanan who lives across the bay from Gatsby and Nick. Jay and Daisy had a relationship when he was a poor soldier. And despite the fact she is now married, everything Gatsby has done turns out to be an attempt to prove himself worthy of her and perhaps get back what they had.
Then it all goes to hell in a handcart.
I found this a very odd book. Well written and beautifully descriptive, Gatsby is a constant thread through out the novel. Even before we are introduced to the character he is there, a larger than life figure occupying the larger than life house next door, throwing extravagant party's in the hope that one day Daisy might hear of them and come.
It is a very meloncholy book as well, that delights in puncturing illusions. Gatsby's popularity is revealed to have simply been an illusion. Once the party's stop nobody cares for him anymore, they simply move on to the next big thing. And Nick's illusions about life in the big city are punctured as well. He comes to see what people are really like and rapidly decamps back to the Midwest.
But the two biggest illusions the book destroys are Gatsby's. First his belief that his money will put him on a par with Daisy. Even though by the end he is probably richer than her it doesn't matter. He is New Money and she is Old Money and the two can never meet. It's not just the money you have that matters. It's where it comes from.
But the biggest illusion that is shattered, shattered into a million bright pieces is the idea that if he worked hard enough, earned enough, become someone of standing, someone on her level, then she would be his again. But not only would she be his but everything would be exactly as it was when they first met. What he fails to realise is that the years in between have changed them both. Neither of them are the same people they were when they met.
"You can't repeat the past," Nick tells him at one point. "Of course you can," is Gatsby's reply.
That I think is the overiding message and warning of The Great Gatsby. I am sure there have been times when all of us wished we could recapture the past, one or two perfect moments that we just want to relive forever, because it was so bright and pure and perfect that nothing could ever hope to even touch it.
But we can't. We can't live in the past, we can't replicate it. All we can do is move on, and create an equally beautiful future.
All in all, I liked this book. I just find it very strange.