[Book Review] The Great Gatsby
Okay, so I know I said I was going to review Death of a Salesman and Huckleberry Finn, but for Winter Break homework I was actually told to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I like this book quite a bit (or I have more to say on it) so I thought I'd review this first, and the other two.... later.
*spoiler for the end*
The back of the book said The Great Gatsby was a love story. I was instantly uninterested. With that being said, at the most visible, basic level, this book is indeed a love story. A tragic one. But this book was not meant to be read at such a shallow level (at least I hope not), and I found myself ... appreciating the book a lot more after I had finished it and found time to think about it. I won't say I enjoyed reading it because while reading it I was constantly dreading the fact that this was labelled a "love story" and I'm a bit cross at myself for having been so judgemental.
The Great Gatsby is not merely a simple "love story", but it's a commentary about Fitzgerald's idea of the American Dream and how it has changed and been degraded from being all about becoming individuals, to obsessing about materialistic weath. A majority of the main characters are all symbols of this aspect of American culture that has been created due to the warping of the dream. They are nothing but selfish, and materialistic, empty beings with no sense of morality, and have no meaning to their lives except to amass more wealth, and flaunt it. Gatsby (the namesake of the book), is someone who is caught in the trap of attempting to achieve this dream. His idea of the dream was the attainment of not just material wealth, but his idea of wealth, which was the woman whom he was in love with, Daisy. Unlike the rest of the cast, Gatsby is just a simple, love-sruck man, striving to impress the girl of his dreams, whom he links with the idea of success and wealth. It is when Daisy rejects him though, the he loses all meaning in life, and dies still trapped in the confines of the past, his dream, and unable to move forward.
I enjoyed this book not because it was a love story, but because it showed a side of human nature that is still prevailent in us today, but not as obvious, nor as grotesque, as Nick (the main character) believes it to be in the novel. We are still controlled by materialistic tendancies, and we still enjoy flaunting our wealth, often without regards to how others around us are impacted by our decisions. I also found the distinction between East and West interesting, as this divide is still evident today. The cities of the East have always been known to be more fast-paced, more wealthy, more... "cultured", where as over here on the West Side we're nothing but druggies and hippies (jokes). Coming from the West side myself, I could relate to the divide the novel was trying to make about East and West. Even if times have changed, and what the novel is trying to say about North American culture is not as strong today, it is still there in our society, something I found interesting and..... somewhat enlightening.
So, there you go. I may have started out this book with quite a negative view, but somehow I've come a complete 180 and may even re-read this book sometime in the future. The basic plot wasn't much, but the overall message of the book was intriguing and very well expressed. I'm happy to say that this is one "must-read book" that did not disappoint me, and actually left me rather impressed.
*spoiler for the end*
The back of the book said The Great Gatsby was a love story. I was instantly uninterested. With that being said, at the most visible, basic level, this book is indeed a love story. A tragic one. But this book was not meant to be read at such a shallow level (at least I hope not), and I found myself ... appreciating the book a lot more after I had finished it and found time to think about it. I won't say I enjoyed reading it because while reading it I was constantly dreading the fact that this was labelled a "love story" and I'm a bit cross at myself for having been so judgemental.
The Great Gatsby is not merely a simple "love story", but it's a commentary about Fitzgerald's idea of the American Dream and how it has changed and been degraded from being all about becoming individuals, to obsessing about materialistic weath. A majority of the main characters are all symbols of this aspect of American culture that has been created due to the warping of the dream. They are nothing but selfish, and materialistic, empty beings with no sense of morality, and have no meaning to their lives except to amass more wealth, and flaunt it. Gatsby (the namesake of the book), is someone who is caught in the trap of attempting to achieve this dream. His idea of the dream was the attainment of not just material wealth, but his idea of wealth, which was the woman whom he was in love with, Daisy. Unlike the rest of the cast, Gatsby is just a simple, love-sruck man, striving to impress the girl of his dreams, whom he links with the idea of success and wealth. It is when Daisy rejects him though, the he loses all meaning in life, and dies still trapped in the confines of the past, his dream, and unable to move forward.
I enjoyed this book not because it was a love story, but because it showed a side of human nature that is still prevailent in us today, but not as obvious, nor as grotesque, as Nick (the main character) believes it to be in the novel. We are still controlled by materialistic tendancies, and we still enjoy flaunting our wealth, often without regards to how others around us are impacted by our decisions. I also found the distinction between East and West interesting, as this divide is still evident today. The cities of the East have always been known to be more fast-paced, more wealthy, more... "cultured", where as over here on the West Side we're nothing but druggies and hippies (jokes). Coming from the West side myself, I could relate to the divide the novel was trying to make about East and West. Even if times have changed, and what the novel is trying to say about North American culture is not as strong today, it is still there in our society, something I found interesting and..... somewhat enlightening.
So, there you go. I may have started out this book with quite a negative view, but somehow I've come a complete 180 and may even re-read this book sometime in the future. The basic plot wasn't much, but the overall message of the book was intriguing and very well expressed. I'm happy to say that this is one "must-read book" that did not disappoint me, and actually left me rather impressed.