The Great Gatsby

I first listened to this audiobook of The Great Gatsby in April 2010, so nine years ago, and see from my Goodreads that I rated it 4 stars. Frank Muller does a wonderful job of the narration for my edition. His laconic style perfectly suits the story. This recording is no longer available through Audible though so the Amazon links in my blog post go to a Jake Gyllenhaal narrated edition instead.

Listening to the story again now I'm wavering between a four and five star rating. I absolutely love Fitzgerald's prose style which is clear and elegant, yet beautifully richly detailed. His portrayal of these essentially unlikeable selfish people is redolent with jazz age atmosphere and I am in awe of his ability to actually get me to care deeply about what happens to them and the catastrophe they create for themselves. What I didn't like however is Fitzgerald's casual racism and antisemitism. I am not sure whether readers were supposed to empathise with Tom Buchanan's racist comments, and I was quickly upset by Fitzgerald's need to repeatedly draw attention to Jewish character Meyer Wolfsheim's nose. That said, I did enjoy the storyline and wasn't prepared for all its twists and turns. I did even feel a little sorry for Gatsby by the end. And what did become of the puppy?

I was (like many) forced to read The Great Gatsby in high school, though I wish I hadn't as I was incapable of truly appreciating it at the time.

As others have mentioned, Fitzgerald's prose is unbelievable. In just a few words he can paint vivid imagery in your mind with layers of depth and analysis to accompany the emotions. The story and characters are beautifully written with a natural complexity that avoids the cliche 'good guys' & 'bad guys' we typically experience.

Just from my perspective alone, I found many themes and interpretations to the story which resonated with me, just to name a few:

• Clinging to the past and trying to repeat history expecting a different outcome. Recently this has tied nicely into my romantic life, where I've been noticing some repetition compulsion.
• Nick's character in general was someone I found myself heavily relating to, as I feel I tend to be the listening ear for the many people around me, which puts me in the center of some complicated situations. Many of his thoughts and reservations he keeps to himself about people around him reminds me of how I likewise internalize my judgements towards others but am able and willing to keep the peace. Even with complete strangers it's not uncommon for me to hear 'wow I'm not sure why I shared so much with you'—it's an interesting phenomenon!
• Obviously the more commonly discussed themes of Fitzgerald's criticisms of the American Dream
• Gatsby (I believe by design) is somewhat of an inspiration—at least to me. Despite being deeply flawed in core areas, I think he's overall an admirable character who is an honest victim of unfortunate circumstances.

And those are just the themes that resonated with me! There are a billion different things to take from this book, and I feel it's probably worth re-reading every few years as I'm sure there's more to get from it as we develop in life and stumble on different issues that resonate with us.

Watching the 2013 movie after finishing the book, I'm a fan.

The Great Gatsby is in the public domain this year! And as a celebration, NPR's Planet Money team did a full, unabridged reading of the book and put it out for all to listen to! This was a fun book to return to. I read it in high school, but as is often the case with teenagers, I did not have the attention or experience to appreciate it's skillful writing. One of the things I like about this novel is how short it is. I love books I can read in an afternoon. It makes it possible to digest the whole thing in a day, and then just mull over the narrative for awhile. I recommend listening to this BBC In Our Times Episode on The Great Gatsby before listening to the book. I found that it primed me really nicely to take better note of the magnificent imagery that makes this novel a great one.