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Great Gatsby, The
  
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Great Gatsby, The (Hardcover)

by F.Scott Fitzgerald (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (256 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 228 pages
  • Publisher: Chivers P.; Large print e. edition (1 Feb 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0745130526
  • ISBN-13: 978-0745130521
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (256 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,205,025 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned and, above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace be comes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties and waits for her to appear. When s he does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbour Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem. Perry Freeman, Amazon.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

"He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was . . ." The Great Gatsby (1925), F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, stands among the greatest of all American fiction. Jay Gatsby's lavish lifestyle in a mansion on Long Island's gold coast encapsulates the spirit, excitement, and violence of the era Fitzgerald named `the Jazz Age'. Impelled by his love for Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby seeks nothing less than to recapture the moment five years earlier when his best and brightest dreams - his `unutterable visions' - seemed to be incarnated in her kiss. A moving portrayal of the power of romantic imagination, as well as the pathos and courage entailed in the pusuit of an unattainable dream, The Great Gatsby is a classic fiction of hope and disillusion. This edition is fully annotated with a fine Introduction incorporating new interpretation and detailing Fitzgerald's struggle to write the novel, its critical reception and its significance for future generations. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

256 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (256 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What a read!, 22 April 2008
By E. Fifield "Random Annie" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Great Gatsby (Penguin Popular Classics) (Paperback)
One of my resolutions for 2008 is to broaden my literary horizens. After studying English Lit to A-Level, my interest has fallen to the wayside. So on my quest to better myself through literature, I read "The Old Man and the Sea", which I just couldn't relate to. So imagine my relief when I started reading "The Great Gatsby". I'm so glad I perservered with classic books!

TGG is a great read. It's fast-paced from the outset, and gripping towards the end - I couldn't put it down. I even tried to convince family and friends to read it afterwards; but to no avail - so if I manage to get even ONE person to read it from writing this review, then good! Definitely recommended.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Dangerous Look Backward . . . At The Future, 19 May 2004
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Great Gatsby (Scribner Classics) (Hardcover)
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." These are the last words in the novel, and sum up its theme. Our minds (like moths to the light) are drawn irresistibly to the most wonderful moments we have experienced. Our mistake is then to build our future around them, not realizing that they can never be recaptured. In pursuing the past into the future, we deny ourselves the real potential of the future.

The Great Gatsby is developed in novel form around the story line of a Greek tragedy. Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor, is the narrator, serving the role of the chorus. This choice of structure creates a marvelous reinforcement for the book's theme. The novel is constricted by the tragic form, even as Gatsby's future is by his immobilization by the past. If you like that sort of irony, you'll love The Great Gatsby.

Nick knows both Gatsby (his neighbor in West Egg, Long Island) and Daisy Buchanan (his cousin who lives in East Egg, Long Island). Daisy knew Gatsby before he was Gatsby and before meeting Tom, her husband. Gatsby has made himself into a rival for Daisy over the five years since they have last seen each other, and makes his play for her again through Nick about mid-way through the book. Daisy and Tom's responses shape the tragedy that is this story. I won't say more because it will harm your enjoyment of the novel.

The story itself is somewhat dated by the romantic perspective of the Roaring Twenties, and few will read it for the instant connection they will feel with the characters. Why would someone want to read this book? I see three reasons. The first is to explore the theme of moving illusions about the future built from the happiness of the past. The second is to see a fine example of plot development. There are no wasted words, actions, and thoughts. The third is to enjoy the language, which is beautifully expressive. For example, consider the book's opening sentence: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." Fitzgerald goes on one sentence later to give you a clue about how to read the novel. "He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that."

These are not characters you will find uplifting. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

Why did Fitzgerald create such characters? Precisely, because he did not approve and did not want you to approve. 'Everything that glitters is not gold' is another way of summing up the lessons of this novel.

Why should someone not read this book? A reader who wants to be inspired by positive examples will find little to uplift oneself here. Someone who wants a story they can personally identify with will likely be disappointed. A student of how to create love and happiness will mainly find out how to create heartache and unhappiness. So the book is not for everyone.

After you have read the book, I would encourage the self-examining reader to consider where in one's own life the current focus is dominated by past encounters rather than future potential. Then consider how changing that perspective could serve you and those you love better.

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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A green light to go and read this novel, 25 Nov 2002
This review is from: The Great Gatsby (Penguin Popular Classics) (Paperback)
'Gatsby' is the American Dream; but more than that, 'Gatsby' is about dreaming. It is an incredibly concise novel of lyrical genius. It is poetry and social commentary. A work of art and a historical document. A light breeze through the jazz age and a complex layering of narrative perspectives. A hedonistic trip through gloriously decadent capitalist excess and a crushingly melancholic musing on lost love.
If you're a romantic read this because Fitzgerald's employment of prose will make you weep.
If you're an english student read this because it will tell you everything you need to know about the influence of cinema.
If you're a historian read this for the way Fitzgerald doctors his text to avoid censorship laws in 1925.
If you're a social scientist read this because it has only one equal in its study of the illusion of American idealism. Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America' is 100 years older, 250 pages longer, and not written in melting prose.
That is not to say that this work is without fault. Crucially for anyone who is compelled to regard such things in a novel that doesn't warrant it, the logic of Carraway's narrative does not follow. Fitzgerald originally wrote what now constitues the ending to sit at the front of the novel, and in its new-found position Carraway has access to information that in reality he would not have. This, as might be apparent, is the criticism of a man who was forced to read the work at A-Level.
Strangely, this has not diminuished from his continued enjoyment. Indeed, even after numerous returns to Fitzgerald's astonishingly few pages this is the single fault I find in this work.
Daisy will make you want to love. Tom will make you want to earn millions. Gatsby will make you want to dream.
Read it first as a fantastically crafted story, second as an insightful social commentary, and third as a work of perspective genius. Read it because you haven't already. It is as brilliant as that green light.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest triumph in American literature
Scott Fitzgerald's novel, the great gatsby, perfectly captures the disillusionment of post-war America; written as a culmination of a series of short stories such as "A diamond... Read more
Published 1 month ago by E. GOODALL

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written, weird characters
The quality of Fitzgerald's writing is superb - sometimes entire paragraphs make you drunk like poetry. Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. Starr

3.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Characters, Little Plot
Gatsby himself is known as one of the greatest characters in American literature and it's easy to see why- F Scott Fitzgerald does an excellent job at creating an intrigue around... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. J. Oxley

3.0 out of 5 stars Why is this so great?
I'm not really sure why this is considered one of the best books of all time, it's a great book, but I don't really see what's so spectacular about it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sulkyblue

4.0 out of 5 stars A recommended read
I bought this book for a book club..my suggestion as it was a book I had wanted to read for some time. Not disappointed....was an easy read.Would definitely recommend it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ms. E. A. Herd

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great
I just read this book for the second time, but after reading it I'm no longer surprised that I could remember almost nothing about it from the first time through. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Blackbeard

4.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of its time
I read `Tender is the Night' decades ago and, although I'd always intended to read `The Great Gatsby', it somehow never appealed so I have to admit that I've only just read it for... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Suzie

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT the best piece of American literature ever written...
Many say that "The Great Gatsby" is one of the best pieces of American literature ever written, but I have to agree that I don't feel it lived up to all the hype. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Amanda Hinks

5.0 out of 5 stars From dread to love in one book
I had to read The Great Gatsby for my A-level English. I was dreading it. I love classic books but this is one book i have never had the desire to read as the pre conceptions i... Read more
Published 9 months ago by N. T. Butler

4.0 out of 5 stars A Slow Moving Cautionary Tale
I will preface this review by admitting that I have not read much American Literature - The Glass Menagerie, To Kill a Mocking Bird and Catcher in the Rye being the only real... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Reeds

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