I first found the language superfluous, but after a bit found it to be lovely. =P I'll have to watch the Redford and DiCaprio versions now that I've read it. ( )

Wow. What an amazing book. The story, the diction, the writing style... it's just about my favorite book ever.

I had an opportunity to speak with my lifelong friend, Daniel, just a couple of days ago (shoutout Daniel, if or when you read this). He brought up many good points (to which my memory and paraphrasing will do no justice): he had noticed that he began reading books differently -- that something "clicked" -- around his freshmen year in college, where books started to take on an extra dimension of meaningfulness, and the possibility for depth had greatly expanded. I, in fact, had a similar experience, and it was brought upon by the Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. He pondered, after he mentioned this: what would the differences be, if there are any, re-reading the Great Gatsby now compared to when we were in high school?

I believe, if my memory serves me right, that I had an answer for him already in that moment, and the answer remains the same now that I have finished the book: yes, there are differences. And they're great.

A thousand times, yes. The book is better, the rhetorical devices are better, the meat of the story is better. Reading this in high school versus now is like eating a store-bought tomato versus a home-grown tomato. Yeah, it was good back then, but the meaning behind the story was just a vague idea that my teenage brain, too occupied with self-consciousness and embarrassment of my existence, couldn't fully appreciate. Now, with an early-20s brain (still plagued by those cherished afflictions), that high school reading experience can only be described as paltry in comparison. The ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out, so to speak. That's not to say that reading it in high school was bad, or that I was wrong back then in my analyses, or to be taken as a critic of the book in high school curricula. It's simply better now.

I said this before on my pre-review when I decided that I would re-read Gatsby: "I tend to think of my reading patterns as heavily influenced by the season. Few books can leave an impression on me where I fundamentally rethink their seasonal assignments. The Great Gatsby is a one of those few." And how, past-John. Typically, the summer is time for nonfiction books to shine. Some summers are not typical; some books are not typical. In the boiling heat and the great fortress of an air-conditioned house, Gatsby defied the odds of the summertime non-fiction shine. What an outstanding novel.

I am very grateful for the authors, publishers, and educators who formed the volunteer Council on Books in Wartime during WWII. If it weren't for this group's distribution of books to American soldiers fighting the war, there's a very real chance that I would have never read the Great Gatsby in high school and now. What a great book. ( )

3.5 star rating

I did not enjoy this book as a young teen, but as an adult, my opinion has improved a bit. I think it helped listening to the audiobook, as it likely would have been more of a struggle physically reading it. There was some lovely prose, and I did enjoy Fitzgerald's writing for the most part. I rolled my eyes along with Nick (the narrator, and Gatsby's neighbor) at the pretentiousness of everyone around him, and I wanted even more of his dry thoughts.

I appreciate the book for what it is, written in and as an observation of that period in American history, and perhaps I'm just not that fascinated with turn-of-the-century/1920's America in the first place. At the end of this, I can confidently say I no longer hate it. ( )

I thought the story was well crafted, and there was something to chew on by the end. But all of the broader theming and iconography felt really high-school english class to me. What did the author mean by this? ( )

Loved this audio book! The writing is rich, and the characters clearly portrayed. I knew the story from the movie -- the one with Robert Redford as Gatsby, Sam Waterston as Nick, and Mia Farrow as Daisy -- so those actors stayed in mind through the story. (Don't want to blur those faces by watching the Leonardo DiCaprio version.) I put this book off for decades, and am so glad I finally got to it. Highly recommended. ( )