The Great Gatsby

A novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I finished another book! The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book that I’ve known about for a while, but didn’t pick it up until recently since I had to read it for school. The Great Gatsby takes place in the heat of the Roaring 20s and portrays the lifestyle of people during this time period. The story is about Jay Gatsby who desperately wants to reunite with his long-lost lover, Daisy Buchanan, who has some issues with her husband, Tom. Nick, the narrator, gives the reader a view into the high-strung life of the rich in the 1920s.

As with most books, there were both good and bad things about this book. The biggest pro of this book is that it accurately portrayed the Roaring 20s in America. The Roaring 20s were a time of change in American society in multiple areas, and this book showed exactly what that looked like through a historical-fiction narrative. If I had to guess, this was most likely Fitzgerald’s purpose in writing the book in the first place. So, it is good that the biggest pro of the book is his main reason for writing. Something else that stuck out to me in this book was the beautiful language that Fitzgerald used as he wrote the book. He used dialogue and description in such a way as to give you the feel of the city and the time period. Some parts even sounded like straight up poetry! In those two respects, Fitzgerald achieved impressive results, but in my personal opinion, the plot was not as well done. Allow me to explain: I honestly didn’t really know where Fitzgerald was going for most of the book. It wasn’t until chapter 5 (or maybe even later) that I finally realized where the book was going. Considering that the book is only 9 chapters long, that is over halfway through the book. Through most of the book, I struggled through wondering “why am I reading this and what is this book about?” I didn’t understand where Fitzgerald was taking the plot and who the focus of the story was on! One final thing to consider was the ending. While I won’t spoil (because spoilers are the worst), I will say that the ending was tragic and unexpected. I both liked and disliked the ending. I liked how it was unexpected, but I also found that it was weird and left me unsatisfied.

Am I glad I read the book? Yes, I would say I’m glad I read the book because it showed me what life was like in the 1920s, but I would not read it again. Would I recommend this to other people? It depends on the person. If you are looking for an accurate and entertaining historical-fiction book, then I think this would be a decent book to read. I also wouldn’t recommend this to anyone under the age of 14, as there are some mature themes. I recommend this book saying that it most likely won’t be your favorite book that you have ever read, but that it will show you what life was like in the Roaring 20s and how that shaped American life. You can buy the book for only $5.91 on Amazon.