I did find time to re-read the Great Gatsby. Now I know I read this book in high school. I even remember writing a review of it in my high school newspaper. Why I would have written about that book, I have no idea. I don't even think that the newspaper usually had book reviews, and it's not like this is some big favorite among high school kids. I think most of them are forced to read it, aren't they? But anyway, I do remember I read it, because I wrote this review, which I think focused mostly on the fashion. Turns out I remembered very little about the actual plot or characters, possibly because I was too bedazzled by the clothes for anything else to make an impression. So, to sum up, if I had been a character in the book, I would have been one of the shallow morons attending Gatsby's parties.Anyway, I reread the book, and it is truly great--and about so much more than parties and clothes, of course! It kind of reminds me of a cross between The Lorax and The Sneetches. I wonder if it was a great source of inspiration for Dr. Seuss. The narrator, like the storyteller in the Lorax, recounts a series of events in which he participated--a confused jumble that ended in tragedy in Paradise. But of course, instead of the poor Barbaloots dying at the hands of the mean old factory makers, it was poor Gatsby dying at the hands of a couple of snobs. Those bad old richies, living like the star-bellied sneetches on East Egg, looking down on the new richies of West Egg.
Even without the Dr Seuss parallels, though, this is a beautiful book. It's such an easy read, but at the same time it's so lyrical it's like reading poetry. It's pretty near perfection, I think. I love you, F. Scott Fitzgerald!
Did you hear that a new Baz Luhrmann version of the Great Gatsby is coming out? Starring Leonardo di Caprio! Think it will be any good?
Also, for some reason I think about that P. Diddy quote a lot. "Have I read the Great Gatsby? I am the Great Gatsby!" It's given me all this sympathy for the guy, even though I know he takes pride in being a Gatsby-esque guy. But be careful, man. Don't let those flakes come to your white party! Don't let them play croquet on your lawn and splash around drunkenly in your fountain! They don't care about you. Stick with your real friends! Also, I wonder if he, like Gatsby, has a tragic, all-consuming love. Does he stare across the water at the blinking light on J Lo's dock every night? What a tragic figure he is!
-Kristin
4 comments:
I take issue with this. I think it was a great favorite of high school kids!
I really loved this book. I loved Wuthering Heights and this book in high school.
Kudos to the Sneeches comparison! It is very true.
I like your thoughts about P. Diddy.
Loved the comparisons. I read it in high school, then when you read it. Maybe I'll have to read it a third time!
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