The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1925

The Summary
Written from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota who recently moved to New York City, The Great Gatsby catalogs his experiences as he enters into the company of West Egg residents, Daisy and Tom, and slips into their glorious and careless world of glitz, glamour, and gold.  Moreover, he narrates the events that transpire as he encounters his enigmatic and charming neighbor, Jay Gatsby, who strives to realize his dream of reclaiming his long-lost love.

In short, it's a story about the American Dream - and what happens when it slips through one's fingers.

The Good
Set within the roaring twenties, among the socialites and party-goers of the day, The Great Gatsby is a novel which tears away the curtain masking the irresistibly famous and incomprehensibly rich.  Through the eyes of Nick, Fitzgerald weaves a compelling tale about the seamy underside of fame and crafts beautiful characters, who have been influenced - and, yes, one might say corrupted - by wealth and prestige.

Fitzgerald illuminates the characters of Jay Gatsby (Nick's remarkably reserved and simultaneously ostentatious neighbor), Daisy and Tom Buchanan (West Egg residents, who are bound up in riches, fame, and extramarital affairs), and Myrtle Wilson (a vibrant, beautiful woman from the "Valley of Ashes" between West Egg and New York, who has an affair with Tom) and reveals their story as their lives intertwine in a world of fraudulent happiness and carelessness.

In this novel, Fitzgerald will tear apart your preconceived notions and, essentially, rattle your cage with the awful, ugly truth that lies beneath the world of Daisy and Tom.  It's beautiful, but it's tragic just the same.

The Bad
Like many great novels, tragedy is an integral part to this story.  While you may not cry at the inevitability of Nick's story or the tragedy which he will face and, eventually, try to escape, it is still a story that will tug on the heart strings.

It is a novel, however, which will make you question the integrity of human beings and express disgust, like Nick, for a sense of moral deterioration.  It will make you doubt who you can trust, because who is compassionate enough and honest enough to tell the truth?

Perhaps, no one.

The Ugly
At the end of this book, you may just go away from the experience, like Nick Carraway, with a bad taste in your mouth.