Damn. Damn. Damn. So, I guess I'm going to have to confess, kids. I guess I'm going to have to bend over backwards and make that most humilating of admissions: I was wrong. Not only that, I was extremely wrong. For the life of me, I can't imagine what was I reading or thinking when I dragged my way through this book in the 11th Grade, because The Great Gatsby is a truly magnificent piece of literature that's eminently worth of inclusion in the curriculum of any American Lit class out there.
I think my original objections to Gatsby centered around one particularly long, painful discussion about the meaning of the green lantern at the end of Daisy Buchannan's dock in the book. In fact, for some reason, I seem to remember a lot of conversations about symbolism- and not just in reference to Gatsby. It seemed to be a recurring theme that year and I must have overdosed on excessive discussions of symbolism because by the time we got around to yellow cars and green lanterns and daisies on Daisy's dress, I had just had enough. I didn't care- I wanted straightforward, no bullshit, no hippy-dippy crap about the human experience or blah blah blah.
And that, kids, was a truly sad, tragic mistake of my youth: The Great Gatsby is amazing.
Gatsby tells the story of Nick Carraway, a young man who ventured out East to try and make some money in the bond business after World War I. He's very much out of place in the high-minded upper crust of East and West Egg New York, (two affluent communities on Long Island) but soon discovers his cousin and her husband have settled nearby (Daisy and Tom Buchannan). Carraway is pleased to visit his cousin, but shocked when someone reveals that her husband has a Mistress in New York City- and along with that, everyone is dying to get into one of the parties of Carraway's mysterious neighbor, the titular character of the book, Jay Gatsby.
In due course, it's revealed that Gatsby has harbored a long, unrequited for Daisy Buchannan and the two of them are soon reunited and renew their love- a renewal that eventually has tragic and unforeseen circumstances for all the characters.
And yes, that's all I'm going to say. The Great Gatsby may well be a classic of literature but that doesn't mean I'm going to give you spoilers to sink your teeth into. Go read it for yourselves! A couple of things are worth mentioning though: first of all, is the language. Fitzgerald's lyricism is almost poetic and although he tends to wander off into the land of metaphors a little too much for my liking, it knocks your socks clean off. Fitzgerald, although my young, naive and foolish brain refused to see it, is one helluva writer. Honestly, reading this, I'm going to have to check out more of him.
Second of all: there's a plot. Color me crazy, but the depth of action and plot was not something I remembered from this book, but it's all there and then some. This is actually a really good book. I can't believe I got this book this wrong!
Overall: If you have a list of 'Books You Should Read Before You Die' this book should be somewhere on it- the writing is amazing and leaving that aside, the story is short (at about 180 pages) and compulsive readable and all of that makes for a pure diamond of a literary classic. I was utterly and completely wrong about this book. I've never been happier to be proven wrong.
Bonus: Along with Catcher In The Rye, this completes #17 on my 30 for 30 List...
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