Date Started: 4/2/12
Date Finished: 4/5/12
One-Word Summary: Gilded
I read The Great Gatsby in high school but had only vague memories. I seemed to recall something about a car wreck but that was about it. I'm glad I finally revisited this classic, especially in light of the fact that a movie is being made, which I will likely see.
The thing I noticed most during my re-read was the language of this story. It's so descriptive and elegant, and brings to life the frivolity of the time-period. We follow our narrator, Nick Carraway, as he spends a summer on the West Egg while commuting to work in New York. He rents a house next to Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from Tom and Daisy Buchanan (Daisy is his second cousin once removed).
We experience the debauched parties at Gatsby's house, Tom Buchanan's affair, and the re-discovered love of Gatsby and Daisy. Tom eventually discovers this dalliance and despite the fact that he too had a mistress (Myrtle), is outraged. In the course of returning to their homes on Long Island, Daisy hits Myrtle and kills her. This prompts Myrtle's husband to kill Gatsby (at Tom's suggestion as to who had been driving the car) and then himself. Nick is forced to handle Gatsby's funeral and discovers the transitory nature of Gatsby's friends, almost none of whom care that he has died. We learn how Gatsby built himself and his wealth through unsavory connections and see the pride of his father on seeing how far he made it.
On this reading I was struck by how much more sensible and mature Nick seemed when compared to the rest of the characters. Of course he has his moments of drunkenness, and for a while he is charmed by Jordan, the lying golf-champion friend of Daisy's. But in the end it is Nick who arranges for Gatsby's funeral, Nick who honors his memory and Nick who we see as the only redeeming character of the story.
I'm glad I re-read this book. It was quick, easy and worth a second look as an adult.
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