I'm almost at 10 books off on my Reading Challenge List! I feel good about that. Like a mini-accomplishment. The next book I'm going to try and knock off the list over the holidays (Green Rider by Kristen Britain) is a longer one, so we'll see how that goes.
Anyways, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1926) was an interesting book. Definitely a completely different writing style than anything I've read off my list so far. A lot of flourishing descriptions and use of words that are no longer part of the everyday vernacular. The back cover describes The Great Gatsby as "one of the great love stories of our time." I don't really see it though.
First off, this post is going to have SPOILERS about the book and movie. Normally I try not to give too much away, but I can't write about this book and not give away the climax and ending.
Two things about this book: 1. So many secrets, and lying, and keeping other people's secrets.
2. It's supposed to be a love story, but all I saw was horrible heartbreak.
Near the start of the book the narrator, Nick Carraway, describes himself as "... one of the few honest people that I have ever known." (pg. 59) Its the last line of Chapter III and stuck out to me, I even made a note about it in my book journal. To make this even more interesting, I was watching the short TV series Liar (2017) about halfway through reading The Great Gatsby and they were discussing it on the show. The one character, a teacher, says that the whole book is full of lies that people tell each other, and that Nick isn't as honest as he says he is. Well, that gave me a whole new look on the book for the rest of the time I was reading it! She was right.
The whole book is about secrets, lying, and keeping other people's secrets. Nick keeps Tom's secret about his mistress, Myrtle, all while lying-by-omission to Daisy about it. Jordan keeps Gatsby's secret about having known and loved Daisy until Nick is told. Daisy is lied to about Gatsby's intentions to win her back after 5 years by having Nick invite her for tea. Nick keeps all of Gatsby's secrets about Daisy, his past and who he really is throughout the whole book! Nick keeps Gatsby and Daisy's secret affair from Tom. Nick and Jordan act like they don't know anything when Tom does confront Gatsby and Daisy. Daisy lies saying she never loved Tom and immediately takes it back. Gatsby and Nick keep the secret that Daisy was driving the car when Myrtle was hit and killed at the end of the book. Its unclear if Daisy lies to Tom about it and pins it on Gatsby. You don't find out until the very end that Tom told Myrtle's husband, Wilson, that it was Gatsby's car. And still, Nick doesn't tell Tom that it was Daisy that was driving! To tie the whole theme of lying and secrets up in a nice neat bow: throughout the entire book all the people on the periphery of the story tell lies about Gatsby and who he is. Only Nick, Daisy and Jordan know the truth. Frankly, Nick is not the honest man he thinks he is, at all.
As for the love story, like I said, all I see is heartbreak. Yes, Gatsby does have the hope of having Daisy love him again and that is about the only love story part of the book. That he knew her when they were younger and loved her wholeheartedly and that did all these things in his life for her in hopes that she would notice. Yes, I can see the love story part, but there is so much more heartbreak overshadowing that for me.
Tom's affair with Myrtle obviously causes Daisy pain. Gatsby's heart is broken because Daisy married Tom after he asked her to wait for him. Gatsby tries to mend Daisy's broken heart over him by trying to win her back. Both Myrtle and Wilson are hurting because he found out about the affair (not who with though). Tom is heart-broken as he realizes his wife and mistress are both slipping away. Everyone in the hotel room is in turmoil when Tom is confronting Gatsby and Daisy, even Nick and Jordan who are not necessarily part of the quarrel. Wilson is absolutely crushed over the death of Myrtle. Gatsby is worried about Daisy having killed Myrtle by accident and is heart-broken when she doesn't need him after going home to Tom. The Nick and Jordan romance is pretty much extinguished when Nick tells her he won't come in and narrates, "I'd had enough if all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too." (pg. 136)
The most heart-breaking parts of the story come at the end. Gatsby waits all night and day for Daisy to call after the accident and she never does. The half-truth that Tom tells Wilson about Gatsby's car causes the heart-shattered Wilson to track down Gatsby and kill him, then commit suicide. And at the very end, Nick is utterly crushed to find that Daisy won't even take his call about Gatsby's funeral and runs away with Tom. Even more so, no one, not a single person that took advantage of Gatsby's hospitality comes to his funeral. So heart-broken, Nick doesn't even stay in Long Island and goes home back West.
This novel is so full of lies and heartbreak. Its depressing writing this post, but it really does ring true that the back cover calls it a 'haunting' tale.
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The most recent movie adaptation for The Great Gatsby was done in 2013 by Baz Luhrmann. It was glitzy, flashy and over-the-top. It reminded me a lot of Moulin Rouge! (2001), but didn't fit together as well. Moulin Rouge! had ups and downs and the downs were toned down and intimate where they needed to be. I didn't find that in The Great Gatsby. The whole thing was up to 11 and didn't tone down for the parts that I thought it should have. Like fun and glitzy for Gatsby's parties yes, but the driving cars scenes were still in the ups, and the car accident part still seemed too 'up' for me even. The only toned down part was during Gatsby and Daisy's affair, which made sense.
Very true to Baz Luhrmann fashion was the music. It was modern, but chosen as it also fit the 1920's era and theme. However, I personally don't think it fit quite as well as the music in Moulin Rouge! did. Nevertheless, the best fitting song overall was "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Ray. It was done for the movie and when it came on in the background for the first time it actually drew me in to what was happening on the screen. It fit. It even appeared again later on in the movie in another spot where it fit well and was used to draw you back to the previous feelings and scenes.
Overall the movie was decent and stayed true to the book. It highlighted the style, ritz and glamour of the 1920's that Fitzgerald detailed on the page. Some parts were a little over done, as I said, but kept everything in the movie together as a thematic and stylistic whole. Some of the narrating was different, but worked, as Nick Carraway recounted his summer living next door to Gatsby. The one thing they took out, I wish they'd kept in, was the short and muted - against the rest of the drama - romance of Nick and Jordan.
Up next, like I detailed at the start of this post, is Green Rider by Kristen Britain. It's the first book in the Green Rider series which is six books in length so far. I doubt I will do them all in a row, but you never know.
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