The Great Gatsby: The Only Authorized EditionPaperback

I fell in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald's brilliant novel, The Great Gatsby, when I was in high school. I was captivated by the lush, lyrical prose that was such a distinctive characteristic of the novel. I think that Fitzgerald has given us a searing, powerful take on the rich dilettantes of the 1920's. He slowly and skillfully reveals the shallowness and callousness of these people, as they manipulate and deceive everyone. It seems that Fitzgerald's heroines were always reincarnations of his real wife, Zelda. It is clear that Gatsby has hopelessly romanticized the superficial and hollow Daisy Buchanan. He has elevated her to a pedestal that she does not in any way deserve. Yet he is determined to pursue her and his dreams, at all costs.

Fitzgerald is unmatched when it comes to character studies. He has used his own real life experience among the elite, to peel away the beautiful artifice and show us the truly ugly, heartless soul inside these people. Daisy and Tom are unhappy and unfulfilled people. Tom uses Myrtle to escape from the boredom and inanity of Daisy. He could care less if it all turns out badly. Consequences, morality and decency are not qualities that one finds in the likes of Tom and Daisy. They take what they want and try to steal moments of happiness at the expense of the humanity of those who are manipulated and played like chess pieces. Life is a game to them, a game to be played out in grand style and if someone gets crushed in the process, so be it.

Fitzgerald finds his own voice in his narrator, the conscientious and astute Nick Carraway. He is the observer, watching the carnage and emotional wreckage unfold before his eyes. Through him, we see the horror of what Tom and Daisy do to those who have the misfortune to those who cross their path. Initially, Nick is enchanted to be in their company, but by the end as he surveys the tragedy and destruction that has been wrought, he is repelled and wants only to put as much distance as he can between himself and these monsters. Fitzgerald's own ideas and thoughts are expressed through Nick. It's a masterful way of illuminating the reader. Nick is the moral compass in this novel. He sees the truth, the ugly reality of what makes up the rich and famous, their lack of character, their emptiness, their need to lose themselves. In the end we feel the way he does. The beauty and lavishness of the lives of these people are just a brittle exterior, covering up the hideousness that lies underneath.

As I read this novel again, years later and much older, it has taken on a whole other dimension. I have enough life experience now to truly appreciate the dark and sinister reality that can lie behind beauty and wealth. It is now a richer experience, because Fitzgerald's novel is timeless. He provided a stinging, harsh critique of the kind of people he knew all too well, of an era, a time in which people satisfied their greediness at the expense of others. The book can never become outdated, because what it says about people who have too much money and time on their hands with too little humanity, applies to generations through the years.

This is a seminal work, a beautifully crafted tale about a time that was captured forever in these richly drawn characters. Fitzgerald had the most distinctive style of writing I have ever experienced. No one else has ever even come close to his genius. He can dissect and carve out the essence of his characters using the most lovely prose. His descriptive phrases still leave me breathless. I am only sorry that he died prematurely in 1940 at the too young age of 44, thereby depriving us of the privilege of reading more of his magnificent writing. We must make do with what he was able to give us in the brief time he was on this earth.

Cameron Harvey

The Great Gatsby Review

Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Great Gatsby. I found it to be a very entertaining book about very interesting characters. The book could be very well described to be a commentary on the extravagant lives in which people lived, during a very economically prosperous time in the 1920s, in addition to a number of societal issues present during Fitzgerald’s time period. These issues include heavy alcohol use during a time when drinking was actually legal due to prohibition. In addition to these over the top social activities, there’s considerable mention of the extravagance that those with acquisition of recent wealth demonstrate through superficial showings of wealth. Fitzgerald offers his commentary on these throughout the book.

However, there is some reason to wonder whether Fitzgerald is a critic or a participant in the life of Gatsby. This really adds to the quality of the book. Jay Gatsby as a character has much in common with Fitzgerald’s own life and goals. Fitzgerald was fond of writing about the rich. In fact, in another story he wrote, (the Rich Boy, 1926) he actually started the story with one of his most famous quotes:

''Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me”.

Fitzgerald’s own life involved a steady fascination with wealth. He was descended from a famous family whose family fortunes were comfortable, but not rich. His wife’s family was reluctant to have him marry her because of his financial situation. He envied his Princeton friends whose families had more money. He and Zelda spent wildly while living in New York, forcing him to write short stories and borrow money from his literary agent.

Gatsby as a rich and tragic figure parallels Fitzgerald’s goals and his future life story. When he was a young man, he would introduce himself as “F Scott Fitzgerald, the well-known alcoholic”1, and he knew that his life would not be long. Jay and Daisy have many parallels to Scott and Zelda, including the long pursuit and the short time together afterward. Jay and Daisy lasted only day and Scott and Zelda had a short life together because of her mental illness and his alcoholism.

The strongest part of this book is the character development, as I see it. Fitzgerald was able to develop them so well because he basically knew them and lived them. More so than many books I have read before, by the end of this book I knew Jay and I knew Daisy and I also knew what the end of the story would turn out to be. It is no surprise that this book is seen, long after Fitzgerald’s death, as his best work. It captures the tragedy of the time and of the writer himself.

1. Goodwin DW The Alcoholism of F. Scott Fitzgerald. JAMA. 1970;212:86-90

"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." -Nick Carraway

I can freely admit that had I read this book five or ten years ago, I wouldn't have made it beyond page ten. I wouldn't have appreciated the art of the English language or the smoothness and brilliance of Mr. Fitzgerald's characterization and plotting. Luckily I waited until now, a year and a half into this new journey I've taken in writing fiction and appreciating the classics because this has to be one of the best books I've ever read. It is one part romance, one part mystery, and one part satire and together they are weaved with a subtlety and elegance that kept me glued to my kindle. It is the quintessential American novel, depicting all that is spectacular and dreadful about the American Dream.

The mystery is first of Gatsby; who is this man who hosts these extravagant parties? How is he so wealthy? The rumors are he "killed a man" and as Mr. Fitzgerald peels back the onion I became more interested in finding out about this man and his past.

The romance also involves Gatsby and, to a lesser extent, the narrator, Nick Carroway, as Gatsby rejoins with his love, the ethereal Daisy, for whom all his troubles are in an effort to obtain, while Nick meets the athletic and gorgeous (and stuck up) Jordan Baker.

"Her glance left me and sought the lighted top of the steps, where "Three O'Clock in the Morning," a neat, sad little waltz of that year, was drifting out the open door. After all, in the very casualness of Gatsby's party there were romantic possibilities totally absent from her world. What was up there in the song that seemed to be calling her back inside? What would happen now in the dim, incalculable hours? Perhaps some unbelievable guest would arrive, a person infinitely rare and to be marveled at, some authentically radiant young girl who with one fresh glance at Gatsby, one moment of magical encounter, would blot out those five years of unwavering devotion." -Nick Carraway referring Daisy, his second cousin once removed.

The satire, perhaps my favorite aspect of the novel; did Fitzgerald know the US was just four years away from the great crash and the great depression?

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . ." -Nick Carraway

My guess is, no, he didn't, but when he wrote this he could have had the crash of 1907 or any of those great bank runs of the 1800s in mind. There is always a reckoning for the party, particularly in this wonderful system called capitalism that works so well for many (but not all) and can take it all away in a flash. And isn't it interesting how it's usually the rich who create the disaster, and then leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces? (And by rich I'm talking John Paulson rich, and by disaster I'm thinking crash of 2008-type of mess). And that's how the story of Gatsby unfolds; extreme highs and lows that feel like the American system and way of life. Which leads to the final point; "The Great Gatsby," quite simply, is the embodiment of the American Dream.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms father. . . . And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." -Nick Carraway

The bottom line: if you appreciate fiction at its finest give this one a shot. If you're from New York, especially the island, this one is a must. And finally, give some thought to the current state of affairs of the USA in the context of this classic; the paradox of record users of food stamps and record levels in the stock market portends a Gatsby-like ending, in my humble opinion, but who am I? Party on, America.

-Raeden Zen