The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby Plot Summary

  I finally finished The Great Gatsby after 5 months of avoiding it for whatever reason.  It was a good book I don't why I was being so difficult,  maybe because it had the stigma of being required reading in school.  I mean no one wants to read something they are required to read. Once I shook that feeling I was reminded that I actually liked this book then and now.
  The language/dialect was difficult for me initially so I drifted in and out some but over all I land firmly in the yes column for read again. I find to my dismay that language and dialect tend to hinder me a lot in reading, so I will no longer hold that against the author unless it's really ridiculous.  Guess that's that Arkansas education coming out... Moving on...
  If you know nothing of this book then know this, the book is definitely a tragedy.  If you are looking for a feel good then pass on this book for now but come back to it when your more in the mood, it's worth it.  I'm not always one for the sad and depressing but this wasn't jump off a bridge sad, more like look at  baby pandas afterward sad. This is definitely one of those book club jackpots, if your into that kind of thing, lots to discuss and argue over.  I think the tragic parts balanced out with the very deep underlying moral, and some really great quotes.   The story centers around Nick who befriends his very rich and mysterious neighbor.  Nick's new friendship with the obscenely popular yet somehow lonely neighbor (Gatsby) lands him in the middle of a Days of Our Lives style plot line.  Our friend Gatsby tries desperately throughout the book to regain something he lost long ago, Gatsby did not seem to grasp that once lost you can't get some things back; no matter how much you want them.  "There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice"  It's was a hard lesson Gatsby had to learn.  "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."  As I stated Nick was caught in the middle of a very awkward orgy if you will.  I kind of felt bad for Nick, he just was being nice and trying to make a friend, not get all wrapped up in this drama.  The ending had the biggest moral of all and may have shown the authors less than positive opinion of the rich and powerful.

Rating -- 2