It's Monday! What Are You Reading? The Great Gatsby

Title: The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Publication Date: September 30, 2004 (most recent)

Publisher: Scribner

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 180

Age Rating: Readers over 12

My Opinion: 8/10

Hi, Readers!

       For this It's Monday!  What Are You Reading? (hosted by Teach Mentor Texts, Book Journeys, and Unleashing Readers), I chose to review one of the most well-known and popular novels of all time, The Great Gatsby.  This was the last book that we read in AP English this year, but I actually enjoyed reading it just as much as the novels that I read for fun (aside from the fact that we had reading quizzes!).

       At the beginning of The Great Gatsby, young Nick Carraway moves to the East for a major lifestyle change, planning to enter into the world of business.  However, when he reconnects with his cousin, Daisy, he becomes unwillingly entrenched in the lives of the prosperous inhabitants of Long Island.  Nick soon forgets about his former ambitions and instead focuses on attending lavish parties hosted by his neighbor, Jay Gatsby.  Gatsby is full of mystery, and his friendship with Nick blossoms quickly.  Nick aspires to have a lifestyle similar to his neighbors until he begins to see how the passions of Gatsby and Daisy get in the way of their relationships with others.  Caught up in a web of affairs, love, and lies, Nick has to navigate these dangerous waters while avoiding getting sucked in himself.

       Of course, The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel, so it is definitely worth reading.  My absolute favorite part about the novel would have to be the connections formed between various characters.  Each time a new character is introduced into the novel, he or she plays a long-lasting role and pops up unexpectedly in various situations.  I also enjoyed how the novel was told through Nick's perspective because he aspired both to live the life of the rich and to stay down to earth at the same time.  He struggled while attempting to acclimate himself to the environment of the wealthy, which makes reading from his perspective most interesting.

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby film from 2013

       I think that The Great Gatsby had a slightly disappointing but yet fitting ending.  Without giving anything away to potential readers, in my opinion, there really wasn't any other way the novel could have possibly ended.  There were so many loose ends that had to be tied up that F. Scott Fitzgerald had to end the novel with a bang to clear everything up.  When I finished reading, I felt a little let down after becoming so invested in events throughout the novel.

       All in all, I was certainly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading The Great Gatsby.  Although it was written almost ninety years ago, F. Scott Fitzgerald created characters and a plot that are absolutely timeless.  Now, I can't wait to see the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio!

Happy reading,