Book Review: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had the idea to re-read this book in the hopes of being able to join in Out of Print's twitter book club - but I was too late in actually reading it to do so. But for some reason instead of putting it back on the shelf, I decided to crack open this book that I hadn't looked at since high school.

Fitzgerald's prose blew me away. The lyricism, the rhythm, and the contempt - yet care - that he has for his characters makes for a work of art that I never could have comprehended when I was seventeen. I was blown away during this reading.

What was most surprising about this story in reading it now is how similar i found Fitzgerald's commentary on the American society in the "Roaring Twenties" to be to our own current society. The mannerisms of the characters, the descriptions of the party scenes at Gatsby's mansion - these elements bear a striking resemblance to our own culture in its present state. It made me wish I was in a high school or college English class so that a discussion about its intricacies could have taken place and further enlightened me to appreciate the words I was reading.

And I have to admit that in reading this I was imagining the cast of the new Gatsby film being done by Baz Luhrman. I can only imagine what that movie will be like in his hands. It's almost guaranteed that most will hate it and few will love it.

All in all, I am so glad that I dusted this book off the shelf and read it again. It has inspired me to want to dust off more classics and enjoy the carefully crafted words between their pages.

View all my reviews