What's the big deal about THE GREAT GATSBY?

[raccoon]

Admittedly I haven't read it, but am somewhat familiar with the story.

I heard Garrison Keillor reading some of it a few weeks ago, a part where Gatsby was showing off his house, and I thought, why is that book so great?

I realize that any book is going to have portions that aren't so great.

But who here likes GATSBY, and why? Is it just the 1920's atmosphere?

[Atman]

1. It was a different time, a different place. Not so great anymore.

:shrug:

[burnsei sensei]

2. You must read the entire book.

It is not about the description or material things.
It's about the progress of characters, the lies they tell themselves, and the pettiness they allow.
You haven't read the book.

[SteppingRazor]

3. When people say they're gonna write the great American novel, I say it's already been written.

It was called The Great Gatsby.

I mean, we're talking almost 100 years ago, and Fitzgerald was already setting up the American Dream as a horrific con job, meant for a few, unattainable by most, and when they reach for it, it will only destroy them. It turns the entire "anyone can get successful in America" idea on its head, and forces the reader to ask whether we haven't all been fooling ourselves this whole time.

And it was done more than 30 years before the Beats and the post-WWII writers made questioning the American Dream a literary way of life.

[LibDemAlways]

5. Very well put. I reread it recently and realized it's

focused on the class structure in the US - the haves vs the wannabes, with the haves manipulating and crushing the "small" people, destroying their dreams. Fitzgerald understood that wealth and power rested in the hands of a privileged few, and it was a very closed society. He was prescient in much the same way as Paddy Chayefsky, whose "Network" no longer plays as satire.

[FSogol]

7. +1. Great synopsis. n/t

[AngryOldDem]

8. This is my favorite book and your analysis is spot on.

Fitzgerald recognized the phoniness and temporary state of the Roaring 20s -- he saw the coming Crash as a giant hangover, and his works after Gatsby -- Tender Is The Night, specifically -- reflect that.

[pscot]

10. Dick Diver

I loved that book.

[tigereye]

16. ah, you know your music and your literature!

:thumbsup:

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. I love it. A great psychological and social look into the excess of the 1920s

and it last into today as a parable about faulty desires and the way that richness can make it very easy to make an awful lot of bad decisions in the pursuit of happiness; a happiness that was already within, but notice of was a failure. And so much more.

But even beyond that - it's magnificently written. Fitzgerald had a beautiful sense of words and sentence construction. Like reading Hemingway or Saul Bellow or any of the other greats, part of the experience isn't just the story they're weaving, but the beauty and magnificence of the words, sentence structure, and flow of language.

[Jim__]

6. The big deal about any book is how it affects you.

Gatsby is about the American dream and all its illusions. It is also a love story (it's been a while since I read it so I can't remember exactly how sympathetic the lovers are). It's a fairly quick and easy read, and I think it's worth the effort.

[TZ]

9. Its also a little biographical

F.Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda had an incredibly depressing life even though they had access to wealth and where highly placed in society...The Great Gatsby in many ways reflects on how superficial and unimportant social standing and wealth really are.
Its also well written with a gripping plot and very very emotionally moving...

[BlueIris]

11. I hate that f-ing thing. Gave me headaches (seriously.)

There's something about Fitzgerald's sentences that drives me up the fucking wall.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. I hated it. But after reading through these posts, maybe I should

try again. I hated the excesses that were thrown in your face. I hated the characters-so shallow and narcisstic. I hated the way it was written. But it has been a long time. I should re-read it before I go on.

[AngryOldDem]

14. All of that reflected the times.

Including the writing style. It might be interesting to note, though, that even in its day The Great Gatsby was not a commercial success and Fitzgerald was still relatively new to the scene (except to, maybe, readers of Scribners and other magazines that bought his short stories). It was only much later (after Fitzgerald's death) that the book gained popularity.

I like the detached style of the narration -- Nick Carraway is a very effective as someone who sees through the excesses and understands how all of it is shallow and temporary, and is fated to end badly.

[PanoramaIsland]

13. Myeh. It's historically important and still poignant, but literarily? Fuggedaboutit and read Joyce.

[tigereye]

15. c'mon now- you gotta read it and think about it...

this book has amazed and intrigued critics for years. People read and reread it. You have to remember that he wrote in a way that wasn't common for the time - you could make a similar argument about Hemingway, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Michael Shaara... even Henry James.


Please read it and then see. :D