Book Review: The Great Gatsby and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I first bought this book in anticipation for the movie release earlier this summer.  However, I didn’t end up seeing it.  I will eventually though, because I can actually see Leonardo DiCaprio doing the role of Gatsby.  So, this book I bought was on special with short stories after the main feature, The Great Gatsby.

The Great Gatsy is about the world of post war New York City through the eyes of our narrator Nick Carraway, who has moved next door to the popular and well-known but with lots of mystery background story Jay Gatsby.  Nick also attempts to re-enter into the world of his sister Daisy and her husband Tom and is set up with the acquaintance of tennis player Jordan Baker.  The story revolves around his re-adapting to this world of wild parties and understanding those he cares and loves through their relationships and love affairs (and more) plus the notion of how things are treated by different people around him, as he learns the lessons of life and reality.

Honestly, The Great Gatsby is not completely for me.  I found the flow a bit weird and there was times I either lost my focus or just didn’t get what was going on and had to go back and re-read the whole page to get an idea. The general idea of the story was pretty good though.  Nick Carraway reminded me a bit of a lost boy, not unlike The Perks of Being a Wallflower ‘s Charlie, where he saw the world in a very different light as to what it was.  He wasn’t ever sure about what was the right course of action and he would think a lot or not speak up enough, even when he felt something wasn’t completely right.  He observed more than he acted.  Gatsby was a bit more interesting as his appearance wasn’t always there and we would listen to more rumors than actual facts right off the bat.  Then, when we get his true motivations for his actions, we get a better idea of where this story is going. Plus, the era its set in really brings out the glamour of the everything going on.

I think some time down the road, I will read this again and get a better understanding.  What this novel has going is that its short and straight to the point, even though the writing style is different from what I’m used to, I think its still worth a read. 🙂

Onto the short stories!

I’m going to spare you all a synopsis of all the stories but it included the following titles: Absolution, Love in the Night, At Your Age, Family in the Wind, Three Hours Between Planes, The Lees of Happiness, The Camel’s Back, Financing Finnegan, Design in Plaster, What a Handsome Pair!

All the short stories have this twist or at times, bittersweet or open endings.  I think I might have enjoyed some of the short stories more than the actual feature.  My favorite ones would have to be Love in the Night, Three Hours Between Planes, The Lees of Happiness and honorable mention to What a Handsome Pair! This last one, I have a bit of mixed feelings towards how the story was but still quite enjoyable!

Overall, The Great Gatsby is still a novel worth reading.  The characters are fantastic and its a quick, direct and engaging read.  Although the style of writing didn’t appeal to me as much as others, it was still quite entertaining.  The additional short stories were pretty fun to read.

Have you read some of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s other works? Any that you would recommend to me?