Book Review #434 - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the 'roaring twenties' and a devastating exposé of the shallowness of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920's, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the dark mystery which surrounds him.

The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War, and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

My Rating: 3.5/5

I read this book as part of my 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die challenge where I try to read at least one book from the list per month. 

This is a book that I have been somewhat avoided reading. I started reading this book for the first time in January 2013 and never got past the opening chapter. 

I loved that this book is set in a particular time period. Even something as simple as there being no mention of technology made their world seem so alive. 

Gatsby was a real enigma and recluse. Other than him the other characters were all introduced very close together and so I kept getting them confused for most of the book. 

I found this book rather slow paced but because of it's short length this didn't both me at all. I wouldn't say I was completely invested in this book until the car incident about 20-30 pages from the end. 

It was around the time of the car incident that all the characters lives started intertwining with one another so it became easier for me to tell them apart. 

I'm not sure about the writing style. I really loved the descriptive nature of it as I could vividly picture the Gatsby Mansion. However, on the other hand I didn't like how it wasn't in chronological order. Normally this wouldn't bother me with flashbacks/memories however not even the flashbacks were in any order which made me confused at times.

I am definitely looking forward to watching a film adaptation of this book as I believe it will translate well over to the screen. 

Even though I didn't like this book nearly as much as I would have liked to I think that the problems I had with it will disappear once I become more familiar with the text by reading it numerous more times. I can see that this will probably be a book that I will grow to love.