For this blog post, I’m rather interested in the responses I get because I’ll be sharing thoughts on an American classic that I feel like most people love. Anytime I hear someone get asked, “What is your favorite book you had to read in high school?” a popular response is “The Great Gatsby!” 
Personally, I don’t understand all the hype.
Maybe I set my expectations too high, but I was told I would love this novel. So when the time came for me in tenth grade to read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most renowned work, I was excited.
As I started the novel, I must say I appreciated Fitzgerald’s style of writing. It made the book an easy read since I didn’t have try too hard to process what was going on in the story.
For those of you who need a recap, the novel tells the story from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who moves to Long Island and finds himself living next to Jay Gatsby.
Gatsby is known for his huge mansion where he throws legendary parties. More notably, Nick learns that Gatsby is in love with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan.
Daisy and Gatsby were in a relationship before Gatsby had to go and fight in World War I. Although they tried to maintain contact, Daisy fell for Tom Buchanan–a total jerk–along with the wealth and materialism that came along with marrying him.
However, Gatsby never got over Daisy, and he began throwing extravagant parties in an effort to get her attention, hoping that one day she would show up. He tries to get Nick to arrange a reunion between the two of them, which plants the seeds for their rekindled love affair.
While the book reaches a climax that I do not want to spoil for anyone who has not read the novel, I personally did not think there was enough buildup or suspense. Maybe it was just me, but I felt as if the writing was almost too “chill” for what was going on in the story. I get that this was probably part of Fitzgerald’s writing style, but I prefer writing that instills more suspense into the story.
When my class went over this book, the discussion was not very stimulating either. However, this is probably because I had a teacher who only believed in her own personal interpretation of writing, which discouraged the rest of us from sharing our own ideas.
The the teacher decided the class needed to be more “creative,” so she assigned us a project that was a twist on the typical essay that involved analyzing a book. I don’t remember everything I did for this, but I remember that I wrote fake letters that were supposedly from Gatsby that he always wanted to send to Daisy. There was also a fake diary I made that was supposed to represent Myrtle’s diary in which she wrote about her affair with Tom.
The project was extremely tedious, and I really do not know what the point of any of it was. Overall, I was unimpressed with the book itself and the way my teacher presented the novel in class. Maybe I just had high expectations; maybe I just had a bad teacher that year, and I might need to give the book another chance. However, when it comes down to it, I did not enjoy my first time reading the book, and I rate the book as a 5/10.
Yasmin, this is a great post to read because you provide a somewhat controversial perspective on an American classic, which will provoke discussion. I made the mistake of seeing the movie before reading the book in class, but I did still like the book. I think the reason you don’t like it is because of your experiences with it, and not necessarily the book itself. I’m not trying to defend the book because it definitely isn’t one of the best books I’ve read, but have you read it since your 10th grade class?
Yasmin, I was also unimpressed with Great Gatsby! Do you think any of the themes or characters were notable? I thought there were a few interesting quotes, but the core message of the book was not very impactful to me. I appreciated, though, that F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the harsh realities in America, rather than writing a conflict-less novel revolving around the stereotypical American dream. I think I also need to give the book a second chance. I had such high expectations for it, but I suspect that maybe I just didn’t glean what I was meant to from it.
I wholeheartedly agree with your point about there not being enough buildup for the climax. I also read it in high school, and I couldn’t help but feel like it was dull at some points, especially considering the events that were happening that required a bit more action or detail or figurative language. Also, I am STILL mad that things ended the way they did. GATSBY DIDN’T DESERVE THAT. TOM IS AN IDIOT. But… it be like that sometimes.
Sorry for the small derailment… and sorry about your teacher! It must suck to have such a constrictive hold on any ideas that could stimulate good discussion. Either way, great post! Your substantial input and unique perceptions really make for good reading (unlike these books you keep talking about).
Frankly, I agree that The Great Gatsby is overrated, although my reasoning is a little different. I found the story to hold many good concepts, but the sheer apathy of many of the characters seemed to make them flat and uninteresting. Even the most enigmatic characters such as Owl Eyes seems like nothing, but a piece in the cog machine of the plot. Although the novel had “twist,” many of them were predictable and those that weren’t were disappointing. Only Gatsby’s final fate contained any kind of emotional impact for me outside of a deep seated dislike of literally every character, but Myrtle’s husband and Nick (for the most part). I understand the F.S. Fitzgerald intended to show the social hypocrisies and inequalities. I agree with many of the points that he showed as an issue, but due to the end result of Tom and Daisy it feels as if he switched from making a commentary on the people of our age, but rather on the culture as a whole. As a story it is flawed, but acceptable and still a worthwhile read. As a social commentary I feel it falls flat in modern times.