Great Gatsby, The

  1 Reviews

A novel of the "jazz age", symbolising the American dream. The first part of a trilogy, but quite self-contained.

Comments from Groups

We greatly enjoyed reading the 'real thing' after abridged and junior versions. Loved the language, imagery and brilliant satire. The introduction was very interesting for most, 'too hard' for others. The dense layout was a problem for some, used to more modern publications. Marton 001

A novel on many levels. On one level an easy read and on another a commentary on social structures and human nature. We thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hamilton 053

Our group acknowledged the quality of the writing, but did not really like the characters and their meaningless lives. Auckland 116

It has stood the test of time - in some ways the wastefulness, carelessness and materialism of the West is even more poignantly evoked for a modern reader. Christchurch 319

We discussed at length the relationship of Fitzgerald's book to real life in the 1920s in America, and decided much of it was a parody of social life and human behaviour, and a neat but tiny plot was used to convey this. Ohope 001

Reviews

CHCH 299

10-05-2022

As usual, there was a mixed reaction to this book. One member loved it, thought the writing was beautiful, almost poetic at times, and found herself re-reading passages just to enjoy the author's use of language. Another member didn't enjoy it and agreed with the comments in the notes where a reviewer had said s/he found it hard to be interested in a book about people who live perfectly stupid meaningless lives. Others enjoyed it, a couple did not finish.