The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kindle Edition, 76 pages, Published May 27th 2003 by Scribner (first published 1925)
SYNOPSIS:
Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but as writer Nick Carraway is drawn into the decadent orbit of his Long Island mansion, where the party never seems to end, he finds himself faced by the mystery of Gatsby's origins and desires. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon, this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the disillusionment of post-war America and the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status. But he does more than render the essence of a particular time and place, for in chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream, Fitzgerald re-creates the universal conflict between illusion and reality.
SPOTTED, xoxo:
S3: E11 Lorelai and Sookie are beginning to set the groundwork on their dream of running their own inn. At a class on the fundamentals of ownership, Sookie reconnects with a colleague who admits his feelings for her and Lorelai hits it off with his associate.
LORELAI: He’s liked you for ten years?
SOOKIE: Yes.
LORELAI: Wow. That is some serious Great Gatsby pining.
SOOKIE: I know.
LORELAI: You’re his Daisy.
SOOKIE: I am? I’m his Daisy. I’m someone’s Daisy.
PROP PLACEMENT:
This is one of America's greatest novels ever written. The most commonly grasped themes from the novel include old vs. new money, wealth and the American dream, memories of the past, and the most memorable - love. Gatsby creates an entire life for himself propelled by Daisy, or the idea of Daisy and what acquiring her love would mean for him. The idea of being someone's Daisy infers significant and remarkable patience for someone romantically.
BOOKMARKS:
"'We ought to plan something,' yawned Miss Baker, sitting down at the table as if she were getting into bed. 'All right,' said Daisy. 'What’ll we plan?' She turned to me helplessly: 'What do people plan?'" - Chapter 1
"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." - Chapter 2
“'What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy. 'And the day after that, and the next thirty years?' 'Don’t be morbid,' Jordan said. 'Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.'" - Chapter 7
PAGE TURNERS:
The Jazz Age is enticing and exciting and the party you'll never be able to attend. An inside look at the lives of the elite and the boredom-motivated actions of the blessed social class lead the reader to be repelled by the very idea of having money at all. The metaphors and descriptions are contagious, your heart will tug and you'll hate-love every character and the gleaming facade of privilege. Although Daisy is referenced as one of the biggest villains in the book, she is by far the most fascinating to me. The drama and allure of her demeanor are wrapped inside a shell of ideation, and yet her true life is exasperating and so out of touch with reality that I cannot help but find her as completely captivating as Gatsby does.
WHAT THE WHAT?:
Fitzgerald was very close to naming The Great Gatsby"Trimalchio". He considered several working titles: “Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires,” “Trimalchio in West Egg,” "Under the Red, White, and Blue," “Gold-Hatted Gatsby,” “The High-Bouncing Lover,” and “On the Road to West Egg.”
CARO'S RATING: 5 of 5 STARS
This book! I love this book! I cannot say enough in a paragraph or so on the immensity of content within this short novel by Fitzgerald. This is the type of book where you'll highlight the majority of pages without realizing because it is entirely and wholely that beautiful. Not only does Fitzgerald create a poignant recollection of a missed romance and the power of will and dreams, but he so accurately describes the microseconds in thought within any occurred action for every character with dozens of different motivations pushing each towards their security or desire. It is the small, unrealized perspective and inclination recognized so accurately in words that is the genius of F. Scott Fitzgerald. This will always stay on a looped re-read for me.
CHEEKY EXTRAS:
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