Book Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Date Started: April 22nd 2013
Date Completed: April 25th 2013
Genres: Romance, Mystery
Rating: Four stars
Review:
I've never reviewed a classic before, so this should be interesting. How do I do it? How do I possibly do justice to this book? I don't know, but I guess I'll have to try.
The Great Gatsby tells the story of a scandalous affair between a devoted dreamer and a married woman, through the eyes of a mutual friend. But with a sudden accident, things are turned on their heads as everyone tries to come to terms with what's happened, but perhaps some things just can't be solved, and other conclusions must be drawn.
(That sounds really cryptic...sorry.)
This book started off very slowly for me, and I think I did have my doubts near the beginning since I hadn't read a classic in a long time. But once I got a third of the way through, it picked up almost immediately and I didn't want to put it down by the end.
The writing was very gentle for a classic. You'd expect Jane Eyre-style sentences, but instead it's a very easy-going writing style and therefore I found it was a lot more relaxing to read than what I was expecting. Which, if I'm honest, I was relieved by.
What I particularly loved was the fact that Fitzgerald decided to relay the story through Nick's eyes. I've never read anything like that before; where the story is narrated by one person, but solely revolves around another two. I think it's an ingenious idea that could be risky, but is pulled off magnificently. Especially since Nick has his own plot line and feelings going on at the same time that disturb Gatsby's great dream.
I loved the characters.
Again, Nick is just amazing, he's so understanding yet he has a sliver of jealously that proves that actually he could be a very real person.
Furthermore, Gatsby is perfect. He's not a brilliant human being, but for the story he is exactly what he needs to be.
Daisy and Tom are made for each other, quite literally - I liked the way they easily bounced off each other in the scenes they had together. You could really detect the chemistry between them.
And Jordan is my favourite (along with Nick, obviously). I'm not even sure why: she doesn't have a huge part and she isn't overly intelligent than the rest of them, but I really like her personality and I felt Nick deserved someone like her.
The storyline was brilliant. I don't usually have the patience for such normal affairs, but actually I was gripped at even the most simple of the scenes.
And I wasn't expecting the end. (I've said before that I'm good at predicting endings, I think someone wants to prove me wrong by giving me loads of unpredictable books to read to make me seem like an idiot. Great.) It did make me sad - can't say why, sorry - but not depressed sad. In a way it was inevitable, even though I didn't predict it myself.
I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of romance or classics. But also for anyone who maybe wants to try reading more sophisticated books? It's an easy-reading classic and I found it very interesting. I don't; usually read this sort of stuff, but I wanted to know the story before I saw Baz Luhrman's interpretation. Enjoy.
I've never reviewed a classic before, so this should be interesting. How do I do it? How do I possibly do justice to this book? I don't know, but I guess I'll have to try.
The Great Gatsby tells the story of a scandalous affair between a devoted dreamer and a married woman, through the eyes of a mutual friend. But with a sudden accident, things are turned on their heads as everyone tries to come to terms with what's happened, but perhaps some things just can't be solved, and other conclusions must be drawn.
(That sounds really cryptic...sorry.)
This book started off very slowly for me, and I think I did have my doubts near the beginning since I hadn't read a classic in a long time. But once I got a third of the way through, it picked up almost immediately and I didn't want to put it down by the end.
The writing was very gentle for a classic. You'd expect Jane Eyre-style sentences, but instead it's a very easy-going writing style and therefore I found it was a lot more relaxing to read than what I was expecting. Which, if I'm honest, I was relieved by.
What I particularly loved was the fact that Fitzgerald decided to relay the story through Nick's eyes. I've never read anything like that before; where the story is narrated by one person, but solely revolves around another two. I think it's an ingenious idea that could be risky, but is pulled off magnificently. Especially since Nick has his own plot line and feelings going on at the same time that disturb Gatsby's great dream.
I loved the characters.
Again, Nick is just amazing, he's so understanding yet he has a sliver of jealously that proves that actually he could be a very real person.
Furthermore, Gatsby is perfect. He's not a brilliant human being, but for the story he is exactly what he needs to be.
Daisy and Tom are made for each other, quite literally - I liked the way they easily bounced off each other in the scenes they had together. You could really detect the chemistry between them.
And Jordan is my favourite (along with Nick, obviously). I'm not even sure why: she doesn't have a huge part and she isn't overly intelligent than the rest of them, but I really like her personality and I felt Nick deserved someone like her.
The storyline was brilliant. I don't usually have the patience for such normal affairs, but actually I was gripped at even the most simple of the scenes.
And I wasn't expecting the end. (I've said before that I'm good at predicting endings, I think someone wants to prove me wrong by giving me loads of unpredictable books to read to make me seem like an idiot. Great.) It did make me sad - can't say why, sorry - but not depressed sad. In a way it was inevitable, even though I didn't predict it myself.
I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of romance or classics. But also for anyone who maybe wants to try reading more sophisticated books? It's an easy-reading classic and I found it very interesting. I don't; usually read this sort of stuff, but I wanted to know the story before I saw Baz Luhrman's interpretation. Enjoy.
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