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Book Group: The Great Gatsby discussion thread

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GregP May 2017 6:38am, 29 May 2017 93,077 posts	Quote Pin GregP McG 29294 makes me happy on several levels. Thank you.
The Scribbler May 2017 8:42am, 30 May 2017 3,939 posts	Quote Pin The Scribbler I love the fact that I can read The Great Gatsby and find something new in it each time. This time it was the sumptuous language again, and the rich and unusual metaphors. Also the conversations, between characters, full of half sentences and changes of direction. They are tense and irritating, and perfectly capture a fractured mood of no one liking anyone very much. I also remembered how I first fell for Jay Gatsby the character at the description of his smile: "He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour." Most of my favourite novels have that whole happy/sad romantic theme going on.
Columba May 2017 10:00am, 30 May 2017 13,008 posts	Quote Pin Columba Ditto, ditto, ditto, Scribbler.
McGoohan Jun 2017 7:02am, 4 Jun 2017 29,370 posts	Quote Pin McGoohan Spoiler alert: I’ve awarded this novel 15 out of 10 because it’s my favourite book ever. It has also scientifically been proven* to be the best novel ever written, defeating To Kill A Mockingbird in a close fought final. I’ve reread it every couple of years: it’s not a difficult nor a long read. Why do I love it so much? 1. The language. Fitzgerald’s writing is exquisite. It is so beautiful, so apt, so precise. 2. The characters are all flawed. I know some people think they’re all hateful but I don’t think they are (except maybe Tom). They are mostly rich people being as annoying as rich people generally are. But it is their flaws that make the story both more believable and more universal. Gatsby, the self-made man, is a brilliant creation. I completely buy this idea of a man who has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps for this idea. 3. The story is perfect. It’s short and to the point. Like that sentence. 4. The imagery running through the book: those judgemental eyes of Eckleburg for example or the green light at the end of Daisy’s pier. 5. The truth. A great book, a truly great book doesn’t just have a great cast of characters, a great plot and a great conclusion, it also says something true. It’s the universality of Gatsby that elevates it from really good book to one of the greatest. It’s that observation, as true in 2017 as it was in 1926 – 91 years ago! – that we are all Gatsbys, longing for and recreating in our deceptive memories a golden past which never truly existed. Okay, I can’t award it 15 out of 10. 20 out of 10 then. I could go on for hours but instead, I’ll witter on in a blog… Tinkety-tonk old sport and down with the Gatsbys. * No, it hasn’t.
Columba Jun 2017 3:24pm, 4 Jun 2017 13,049 posts	Quote Pin Columba Agreed, agreed, McG, and looking forward to the blog.
McGoohan Jun 2017 9:25am, 6 Jun 2017 29,387 posts	Quote Pin McGoohan
McGoohan Jun 2017 9:26am, 6 Jun 2017 29,388 posts	Quote Pin McGoohan
Night-owl Jun 2017 9:09pm, 10 Jun 2017 28,500 posts	Quote Pin Night-owl mobile.twitter.com
GregP Oct 2017 9:24am, 28 Oct 2017 96,699 posts	Quote Pin GregP I went to a production of Sir Noël Coward's Private Lives last night. The parallels with TGG didn't strike me until this morning, but they are there, I think.