So, I admit I'm not very good at writing reviews instead I usually post from Amazon or Goodreads. I'm going to give it a shot though with this one.
I really did not like this book. I have to admit that I usually don't read anything that has to do with the 1920's, flappers, or mobsters. This book was set in the 1920's. Maybe it's because that time was so frivolous and devastating and you just know what's coming for a good part of the country. It's all gin and sex.
Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man in love with Daisy Buchanan. There are ridiculous parties that seem to go on forever and a lot of drunk people that have ridiculous conversations. Did I mention decadence and excess...it reminds me of the French during Marie Antoinette right before the blade fell. Did I mention Daisy is married...to someone else? Gatsby and Daisy meet before our story begins and, although they fell in love, it was not meant to be. Gatsby never gets over Daisy even though she's married to a royal jerk, Tom Buchanan.
The writing is very simple and clean. It's a small book, at only 179 pages, that does seem to throw a big punch at that time.
I'm glad I can say I read it but I did not enjoy it. I wish I had just binge watched something on Netflix instead.
Classic #2 finished.
I'm glad to read someone else who didn't love this immensely popular and highly praised book. Fitzgerald can certainly write, but I just don't like the story. My choice for the Back to the Classic, 20th Century - Appointment in Samarra. I didn't love it either. http://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2017/04/appointment-in-samarra-by-john-ohara-80.html
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ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Joseph. I can't quite figure out if I didn't like it because of the time it's written about or the subject matter or both. I agree Fitzgerald can certainly write. I'd like to read something by him not written for this era. Now I have to check out Appointment in Samarra.
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