The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

[tessabradyfifita]

I love this book. I read it a long time ago and then again recently and loved it even more. Not because it is an enjoyable story. I find it very dark and slightly disturbing. The film was better than I anticipated but I didn't feel the chill that Fitzgerald delivered in the book.

[Cejay120]

I love this book. I read it a long time ago and then again recently and loved it even more. Not because it is an enjoyable story. I find it very dark and slightly disturbing. The film was better than I anticipated but I didn't feel the chill that Fitzgerald delivered in the book.

I agree. I also anticipated the movie being a let down but it was quite good. Leonardo presented Gatsby well and Tom was played amazingly. After analysing this for my college work, the book evolved from being a fascinating read to dark with a sinister edge. I wanted to like Gatsby but his fixation with Daisy, such a fickle character, annoyed me at times.

[tessabradyfifita]

Absolutely. It seemed a strange choice for Gatsby to find a character like Daisy so compelling. His fatal character flaw I suppose - but I didn't want it to be!

[honeybunny]

I actually saw the movie before I read the book (I know, shame on me) and I must say that although the movie was quite nice, the book really moved me. It left me with that feeling of having your dreams shattered and being left empty, whereas the movie's ending wasn't extremely memorable. I suppose the problem with the movie was also that it was very similar in theme, style and certain shots to Moulin Rouge which I adore and thus I kept comparing the movie to Moulin Rouge.

[kell_ferguson]

I read this book in a day.

It is not often I see the movie before reading the book because I like to imagine the characters myself but I didn't mind doing it this time. There is so much to love about this classic tale. It is romantic in the craziest way and every character has there own unique agenda and part to play.

[A_Towe13]

I always hated Daisy. By the end of the novel I was hoping she would die in an accident or something, but instead, Gatsby did. It always struck a cord with me- that the American dream means nothing. No matter how you lust after it, it will always be out of reach until you die, and then it will keep on fluttering about.

[cheryl103]

I had to read this book in high school, and when I read it then, I absolutely hated it. I had no real reason to hate it. I merely did not understand it. I could not fully understand the language being used or the feeling I was supposed to get while reading it. Fast forward a couple years.. I decided to give the book another try. It is easily one of my favorite books ever now. This is a beautiful story about the variety of life and the affect of one's morals - or lack of - can have on everyone's individual life story. I personally believe that there are no good or bad characters in this story. There is no protagonist or antagonist. I think the point of the story was to convey the message that yes, you can indeed accomplish anything you want to in life and build your own personal story, but none of it means anything in the end, so what is the point of causing so much suffering?

I believe it is ignorant to call Daisy (or Tom for that matter) an unfaithful, low person. I merely think that Fitzgerald was trying to convey that the ignorance of Daisy of Tom themselves manifested at no fault of their own. Yes, they had money and had always had money. This only means that this is all they knew, and it is difficult to change someone's life perspective. Gatsby had a whole world of his own mapped out, but in the end his world was not compatible with Daisy's.

The variety of life is a beautiful thing. Recognize it and be free!

[rusthc09]

As a first year high school English teacher, I have had the privilege of teaching this novel twice so far (student teaching and then to two sections in my solo career) to juniors in high school. The only thing that makes The Great Gatsby better, is having Leonardo DiCaprio recreate a character that all seventeen year-old students can relate to in one way or another (he also draws in the reluctant female students). After getting them over the initial hurdle of A. Reading, and B. Appreciating Fitzgerald's beautiful verbosity, they fall in love with the desire for seeking their own "green lights". While watching Gatsby's impossible journey of attempting to repeat the past, Daisy's coquette nature of leading multiple characters astray, and then the ultimate destruction of Tom upon Gatsby's dreams, the reader only has one option: to completely loathe Tom Buchanan and everything that he has ever breathed on. I loved experiencing this book from the "teacher's perspective" (the first time I read the book, I found it tedious and beyond my limits), and then using my reading skills to them allow students to appreciate not only language but their own dreams. There is nothing worse than being obstructed by your worst enemy, and having students identify with Gatsby on a personal level is more than any English could desire. It is safe to say this book has become my favorite-- it is easy to think about the impression this book has had on the perception of the American Dream, but it is fun (not just for the teacher!), to think about the impression this book has on giving all readers the motivation to have dreams of their own! A must read for everyone!!

[davisak039]

This book is written in such a beautiful way. It almost numbs your mind to follow the prose of Fitzgerald. I saw the movie a few weeks ago and have found a few differences in symbolism, the most prominent being the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. They're more touched upon in the movie, but I think in the book they have more meaning. (It is insanely hard to explain this without giving spoilers.) You realize what they are in the end of the book, which I cannot disclose here. I guess I'll leave it at that, because not much more can be explained without spoilers.

-- 06 Feb 2014, 12:23 --

The best thing about this book is that it doesn't Walter Scott the whole thing. (Walter Scott, by the way, is the name of a romanticist author from the same time period as Mark Twain. Twain hated Scott with a passion for his romantic books, and even named the wrecked boat in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after him.) The Great Gatsby is purely reality. Yes, Gatsby is an insanely romantic man, as is shown when he waits so long for Daisy. But the way it ends is not a romanticist ending. It's a realist ending. Fitzgerald knows how to tug on your heartstrings, and he knows the easiest and best way is to put reality into a fiction novel, because no one expects it. I think that is why this novel is so beautiful. It's real.

[haines_drew]

I chose to read this book for my summer assignment in English mostly because I had already read half the books on the list and because the movie was coming out soon. I actually found that I quite enjoyed the book. I see why it is a classic on the other hand I couldn't even make it through the entire movie, it was tremendously long and the music from the modern era in a movie set in the past just annoyed me.

[lyndsie_anna]

The movie was…interesting to say the least. In all honesty, I was disappointed with it. It was so hyped up, and people love to argue, "Oh, but it was cinematically gorgeous." All movies that hit theaters today are cinematically striking or they don't ever make it that far. It's just a standard in the industry now, with the quality of production being what it is. The biggest problem is that the filmmaker depended mostly on the visuals and totally disregarded a lot of Fitzgerald's spot on lines and character developments. The subtleties get lost in the production. And though Leo is my favorite actor, I feel he just did the best with what he was given. A professor of mine pointed out that in the book, Daisy is still a shallow character, but she's shallow for her own protection. She at least has a magnetic quality that lets the audience in on why Gatsby is so smitten with her. But the actress was so flat in her emotions and motivations, that it really didn't resonate on screen. That was the biggest flaw. Not taking full advantage of Fitzgerald's brilliant material.

[NiniQ]

I think I read the Cliff Notes for this book in high school, so I I just really read it for the first time. I wonder why my 16-year-old self had a problem with the book (maybe I was just lazy). It was an enjoyable book, with great characters and dialogue. It inspired me to go back and read more of the classics (currently reading Great Expectations). I guess sometimes you need a more mature eye to appreciate a classic.

[arapier]

It's very easy to say the book was better because we like what's in our minds more than what's in the director's, but I do think the movie was beautifully made. It was loud and colorful and over the top, so it illustrated the book very well. I agree with the casting, even Toby McGuire. Actually, Toby McGuire is perfect for that role because he's just an awkward guy and Nick is put in some pretty awkward situations. Not to mention that DiCaprio nailed Gatsby's smile.
I know lots of people have a problem with the soundtrack. Personally, I think the soundtrack is stupendous, but I can see where some of the purists among us have a problem with how modern was married with twenties-era elements.
I was really pleased with how much (if not all) of the dialogue was lifted right out of the book, and particularly how Carey Mulligan delivered Daisy's lines. (I always loved some of the things Daisy says, so I was paying particular attention to that.)
I liked the movie version of Jordan more than the book version. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but all in all I think the movie was a success.

[amqzong]

Honestly, I thought the Great Gatsby was too slow-paced in some parts. However, I have an inkling that if I reread it, I would probably enjoy it more than the first reading.

[acasto]

I just finished reading this in school. It was much more interesting than many other books I have had to read. I rarely reread books, but I think I will read this one again in a few years just to understand it better.