What's the big deal about THE GREAT GATSBY?

raccoon

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:13 AM
Original message

What's the big deal about THE GREAT GATSBY?

Admittedly I haven't read it, but am somewhat familiar with the story.

I heard Garrison Keillor reading some of it a few weeks ago, a part where Gatsby was showing off his house, and I thought, why is that book so great?

I realize that any book is going to have portions that aren't so great.

But who here likes GATSBY, and why? Is it just the 1920's atmosphere?

Refresh | 0 Recommendations

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

Atman

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:14 AM
Response to Original message

1. It was a different time, a different place. Not so great anymore.

:shrug:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

burnsei sensei

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:15 AM
Response to Original message

2. You must read the entire book.

Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 09:16 AM by burnsei sensei

It is not about the description or material things.
It's about the progress of characters, the lies they tell themselves, and the pettiness they allow.
You haven't read the book.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

SteppingRazor

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:18 AM
Response to Original message

3. When people say they're gonna write the great American novel, I say it's already been written.

It was called The Great Gatsby.

I mean, we're talking almost 100 years ago, and Fitzgerald was already setting up the American Dream as a horrific con job, meant for a few, unattainable by most, and when they reach for it, it will only destroy them. It turns the entire "anyone can get successful in America" idea on its head, and forces the reader to ask whether we haven't all been fooling ourselves this whole time.

And it was done more than 30 years before the Beats and the post-WWII writers made questioning the American Dream a literary way of life.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

LibDemAlways

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:34 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. Very well put. I reread it recently and realized it's

Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 09:35 AM by LibDemAlways

focused on the class structure in the US - the haves vs the wannabes, with the haves manipulating and crushing the "small" people, destroying their dreams. Fitzgerald understood that wealth and power rested in the hands of a privileged few, and it was a very closed society. He was prescient in much the same way as Paddy Chayefsky, whose "Network" no longer plays as satire.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

FSogol

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #3

7. +1. Great synopsis. n/t

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

AngryOldDem

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #3

8. This is my favorite book and your analysis is spot on.

Fitzgerald recognized the phoniness and temporary state of the Roaring 20s -- he saw the coming Crash as a giant hangover, and his works after Gatsby -- Tender Is The Night, specifically -- reflect that.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

pscot

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 04:03 PM
Response to Reply #8

10. Dick Diver

I loved that book.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

tigereye

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Sep-12-10 07:46 PM
Response to Reply #3

16. ah, you know your music and your literature!

:thumbsup:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

Rabrrrrrr

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:19 AM
Response to Original message

4. I love it. A great psychological and social look into the excess of the 1920s

Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 09:20 AM by Rabrrrrrr

and it last into today as a parable about faulty desires and the way that richness can make it very easy to make an awful lot of bad decisions in the pursuit of happiness; a happiness that was already within, but notice of was a failure. And so much more.

But even beyond that - it's magnificently written. Fitzgerald had a beautiful sense of words and sentence construction. Like reading Hemingway or Saul Bellow or any of the other greats, part of the experience isn't just the story they're weaving, but the beauty and magnificence of the words, sentence structure, and flow of language.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

Jim__

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 09:49 AM
Response to Original message

6. The big deal about any book is how it affects you.

Gatsby is about the American dream and all its illusions. It is also a love story (it's been a while since I read it so I can't remember exactly how sympathetic the lovers are). It's a fairly quick and easy read, and I think it's worth the effort.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 01:35 PM
Response to Original message

9. Its also a little biographical

F.Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda had an incredibly depressing life even though they had access to wealth and where highly placed in society...The Great Gatsby in many ways reflects on how superficial and unimportant social standing and wealth really are.
Its also well written with a gripping plot and very very emotionally moving...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

BlueIris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-03-10 08:01 PM
Response to Original message

11. I hate that f-ing thing. Gave me headaches (seriously.)

There's something about Fitzgerald's sentences that drives me up the fucking wall.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

Curmudgeoness

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-10 06:09 PM
Response to Original message

12. I hated it. But after reading through these posts, maybe I should

try again. I hated the excesses that were thrown in your face. I hated the characters-so shallow and narcisstic. I hated the way it was written. But it has been a long time. I should re-read it before I go on.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

AngryOldDem

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Aug-12-10 07:13 AM
Response to Reply #12

14. All of that reflected the times.

Including the writing style. It might be interesting to note, though, that even in its day The Great Gatsby was not a commercial success and Fitzgerald was still relatively new to the scene (except to, maybe, readers of Scribners and other magazines that bought his short stories). It was only much later (after Fitzgerald's death) that the book gained popularity.

I like the detached style of the narration -- Nick Carraway is a very effective as someone who sees through the excesses and understands how all of it is shallow and temporary, and is fated to end badly.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

PanoramaIsland

(144 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Aug-12-10 05:26 AM
Response to Original message

13. Myeh. It's historically important and still poignant, but literarily? Fuggedaboutit and read Joyce.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

tigereye

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Sep-12-10 07:45 PM
Response to Original message

15. c'mon now- you gotta read it and think about it...

this book has amazed and intrigued critics for years. People read and reread it. You have to remember that he wrote in a way that wasn't common for the time - you could make a similar argument about Hemingway, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Michael Shaara... even Henry James.

Please read it and then see. :D

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Sun May 05th 2024, 07:46 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.