The Great Gatsby Book Review

Considered as one of the great American novels, The Great Gatsby is one of the 5 novels written by the late American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Known for his depictions of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby is a historical fiction set on that period. Being true to its genre, love, mystery, and luxury about fictitious characters from the past is present in this 144-page novel.

Set during the Roaring Twenties after the Great War, the story takes place at Long Island where two egg shaped places called the West Egg, which is for the new money, and East Egg, which is for the old money, can be found. The novel circles around the life of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man longing for the love of Daisy, a woman with a voice “full of money” married to the arrogant but rich, Tom Buchanan. Tom is the main antagonist who serves as the hindrance towards Gatsby’s dream. He was also a football player at New Haven where he met Nick Carraway, the novel’s narrator. Established as a reliable person from the start of the book, Nick claims to have an inclination to reserve judgment. He is also the person who sets up the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy. Another important character is Jordan Baker, a golf player and a friend of Daisy who becomes the love interest of Nick. She was the reason Gatsby knew that Nick was Daisy’s cousin. The story starts with Nick Carraway moving to West Egg in Long Island where he meets his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who is trying to win back Daisy by throwing extravagant parties to attract her, but fails. Gatsby then seeks the help of Nick, who is actually Daisy’s cousin so he and Daisy will be able to rekindle their love. But as she enters Gatsby’s life, his downfall also begins. During a trip with Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, Tom confronts Gatsby about his affair with Daisy. Here, Gatsby’s life crumbles. But it doesn’t end there, something more tragic awaited him. This novel moves around the idea that money truly can’t buy everything in this world especially love. Gatsby thought that by becoming rich he will get Daisy. But even if Daisy was his for a short time, it ended because the foundation of there so called “love” was the fortune Gatsby had. Even if Daisy said she was in love with Gatsby, certain actions she did says otherwise.

All I could say about the novel is that in the plot you could really see the downfall of Gatsby. Fitzgerald wrote it very well. You could see the change that happened to him from the beginning until the end of the novel. The author also wrote the characters wonderfully. Tom was a very effective antagonist because as a reader you would also feel anger towards him. Another beautifully written character is Gatsby. Despite his obvious flaws, you would learn to like him. Just like some characters, you would learn to admire Gatsby. For these reasons, I think the strongest quality of this novel is the well-written characters. While reading the novel, you could really feel certain emotions towards certain characters. Despite the story being fiction, the writing of the characters made them so real. On the other hand, I think the weakest quality of the book would be the use of many symbolisms. There is nothing wrong with the use of symbolism but the fact that sometimes it makes comprehension hard is the problem. But overall, I would highly recommend people to read this book, a classic novel at its finest. The plot and the characters are so well written and the story’s message is very relevant to society. I recommend this book both for adults and older teenagers to read.

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