Book Review | The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgeralds third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession, it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

-Amazon

The infamous Gatsby has to be the most popular classic of this year because of the super glossed Baz Luhrmann film adaptation. It's one of those novels that, especially after reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's beautiful writing, I really wanted to fangirl over, but I have a bit of a mixed view of the novel.

There are several things that I adored about The Great Gatsby. I loved that it is set within the gorgeous roaring 20s era, with a glitzy, cinematic quality that was pretty enjoyable. Who doesn't like to feel as if you are privvy to an exclusive person who seems to throw the worlds greatest soirees in town? Scott puts you right smack dab in the middle of all of the action with Nick Carraway, of whom the story is told through. I also loved the premise of discovering such an enigmatic figure as Gatsby, his secrets and reasoning for being who he is.

Nick Carraway is a character that was the hardest for me to take in at first, but as the story moves forward, I grew to sympathize with him. He's an observer, just as we as readers are observers to these figures who seem to dwell in a completely different dimension. He seems to have both a wonder of such people, and also a wary suspicion that I carried with me throughout the entire novel. The things that I couldn't quite get with in the beginning, were many of the introductory paragraphs. They were overwhelming, at times, as they seemed to jump from the glory of the grandios parties, to every single uninvited guest and the familes they're attached to, to his own history. He jumped around so much that it became a bit distracting, and I found myself saying, please get back to Gatsby!

Daisy. There really are no words. She seems a bit of a cameleon, in that, she takes on the opinion of whomever is around, or she wants so badly to appear the woman who's ready for anything that she often plays the mindless coquette, ever ready to party, but never ready to deal with what's right in front of her. Gatsby's reappearance into her life may have been a bit too intense for her, I gather, but she never seems to gain a handle on her own opinions of him, her husband, or her rich lifestyle which she seems to hate and also be too entangled with to let go.

I found Jordan intriguing in a way that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's because, unlike Daisy, she seems her own woman. She seems to have keen insight into the characters in a way that others don't. She doesn't seem as taken in by the glitter of Gatsby as everyone else is. Tom, well, he's something else, that's all I'll say of him.

The great Jay Gatsby is every bit of the enigma that Scott portrays him to be. He has the most peculiar allure that made me both suspicious and also euphoric about him. It seems that right off of the bat, I knew that Gatsby's pursuit of the past, and his constant surveyal of the distance will not satisfy him in the way he believes it will, but I still admired his spirit. He has the ability to make anyone believe in dreaming, and is also a great symbol of the American Dreamer, though one must decide whether that is positive or negative.

Bare in mind: The Great Gatsby contains adult themes and violence.

The Great Gatsby is one of those classics that even with its ups and downs, everyone should experience for themselves. It's entertaining, beautifully written, and readers will be taken in by Gatsby's allure. But what I love most is that it also seems to allude that this speed, debauchery driven society has no choice but to grind to a screeching hault.

                          

I give The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3 out of 5 cups of sparkling tonic and cranberry.

A short word on the film:

I actually thought the film was a pretty awesome adaptation of the book. It carried the same overwhelming beginning that slows until everyone's flaws are glaring. Leo is Gatsby, that's all that can be said. I also thought that Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire were pretty excellent in executing their roles. Most seem to complain about Baz Luhrmann's use of modern music, but I actually felt it fit like a missing puzzle piece. It carried on the mood of Gatsby really seamlessly, and in a way, bridges the gap between the present and the 20s. Can I also say how relieved I am that Luhrmann didn't decide to turn this into a musical. That would have been a nightmare. It certainly goes without saying that the sets and costumes were out of this world lovely. The film did feel a bit long as it moves towards its end, but I would recommend it.

Bare in mind: This film contains adult themes and violence.

                

I give The Great Gatsby (2013) 4 out of 5 cups of Sparkling Cider.

Book Review | Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we’re ruined, Look closer…and you’ll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the “ungettable” Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn’t wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner’s, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera—where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein. Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby’s parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott’s, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler brings us Zelda’s irresistible story as she herself might have told it.

-Amazon

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler marks my introduction to the enigmatic literary starlet. I admit that I was struck by the cover alone. Just her name evokes in me a desire to discover more of how she beguiled a generation of people. As this is a fictitious work, I'm sure that I'll need to do further research, nevertheless, Z is an excellent introduction to the woman herself! This novel has fueled my desire to read Zelda's writings.

I'll admit that I didn't immediately connect to Fowler's portrayal of Zelda Fitzgerald's voice, but, as the novel progressed, I couldn't help but love her agency and spunk. I adored that she is an unabashed Southern gal who sparks amidst the oftentimes, stuffy atmosphere that surrounds her. Zelda and Scott meet as two kids full of brave, ecstatic dreams. Zelda takes on this new phase in her life with high hopes, to the chagrin of her parents, however, there is only a matter of time before the golden couple that they become, fades into a gilded nightmare. 

The infamous Scott Fitzgerald was a bit hard for me to stomach. Though this novel seems to plant itself firmly at Zelda's side, it seems Scott has plenty of moments to redeem himself, and he seems to grow progressively worse. In this novel, Scott is portrayed as a real life version of his golden boy Gatsby, though a less charismatic one. His love for Zelda is admirable, but flawed, as it is always at war with his desire for the grandiose excess that mystified him during his time in university...the same glitz that seems to hypnotize an entire generation of people. I found myself sympathetic towards his dreams of becoming the great American writer, but his descent into desperation is glaring and heartbreaking. 

The ups and downs of Zelda and Scott's relationship are engrossing as they are startling to behold. Yet, it seems an enduring love that fused them together. Zelda is an example of, perhaps, the many women of the time who wanted more for themselves, but who's voices were manipulated, if not completely silenced. In Zelda's case, it becomes even more psychological, as she is often pushed by Scott to become a caricature of his created femme fatales to please the public eye. I cheered for her so badly as I read. I admired that even in the midst of her depression, there was an unquenchable spirit about her that simply refused to be broken.

Therese Fowler effectively captures the alluring fantasy that the roaring twenties sheathed itself in, while also capturing the reality that the over ecstatic, driven roar of the bright young things has no choice but to crash.

Bare in Mind: This novel contains some adult content, alcoholism, and disturbing mental scenarios.

                   

I give Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler 4 out of 5 cups of sparkling champagne (in moderation of course). 

P.S. - I recommend reading this and The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (review to come), in sequence, as the plots seem to intertwine before long.

P.S.S- Isn't it something that Zelda only wanted to have her voice heard apart from Scott Fitzgerald's, and this year, there are two other novels inspired by her life that seem to have eclipsed the anticipated release of The Great Gatsby?