gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a small novel, but artistically, its a study of personalities and a writing gem. I haven't read Fitzgerald's stuff before, but looking at some of the titles, he seems to be interested in a particular slice of 1920s sub-culture: rich men living around the edges of society through ill gotten, or at least questionably gotten gains. That idea is solely from what I've taken from Gatsby and the titles of his other books, like The Beautiful and the Damned, and The Love of the Last Tycoon, which Fitzgerald was working on when he died at forty-four.

Fitzgerald seems to say, hey, you've been to (or witnessed) these parties, you've seen these people, here's what they're really like. For all of those who have looked on as the rich whiz by in their fancy cars; watched as their huge parties lit up the neighborhood sky and raged into the early hours with all of society except them, Fitzgerald says: See, they're not so different from you and I. Although F. Scott Fitzgerald did run with that crowd--he and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald split their time between fancy upscale living on the east coast and in Paris--he does seem to be able to separate himself enough to write about it.

Zelda, incidentally, was also a writer, as well as a painter and an all-around kick-ass woman. She seems to be at least as interesting a person (if not more so) than her husband. I may have to take a look into her.

The book is narrated by Nick Carraway, and working man from a well-to-do family in the mid-west, summering in New York to work in the city. He happens to be neighbor to Gatsby, and is soon drawn into Gatsby's orbit, and thereby represents the every man perspective, peeking behind the curtain of this flamboyant, rich lifestyle.

This book is less than 200 pages, so its a quick read. Thinking back on it, its amazing how many different personalities are studied. Not just the main characters, but many of the second tier or supporting characters are also dissected and examined as they relate with, crash into, and sometimes bounce off their rich and mighty peers. Its a tragedy of Shakespearean scope if not scale.

Read this book. If you read it in high school, read it again.