The Great Gatsby Book Review

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is excellent because it contains in-depth characters with an unpredictable and emotional storyline which gives the reader a wealth of information about the time period of the 1920s. The scene is set in the city of New York - Long Island, East Egg. In the opening, we meet our main characters; Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Nick Carroway, and Jay Gatsby. Nick and Daisy are distant cousins, and Nick once went to school with Tom. Gatsby is Nick's mysterious neighbor who throws nightly parties, and whose life secrets are concealed to all. Through reading this book and examining the trials each person had to go through, the book changed my original view of the 1920s and added a sense of deceit to the entire era.

Through Fitzgerald's insightful descriptions of each character, the reader feels as if he has known them for a long time.

The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby...

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald shows Tom's outlook on life to be bleak. Tom sits and complains about civilization and how "civilization's going to pieces," (__) yet Tom is contributing to the destruction of society by having an affair with Myrtle Wilson behind Daisy's back. Tom also has a double standard for both men and women. Commenting on Daisy, he says "The trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know what she's doing." (__) This is completely unfair for Daisy, and she realizes that the only thing that a woman can be in this world is "a beautiful little fool." (__) Fitzgerald creates a sense of realism in each character's personality by giving people individuality. Everyone has different views and everyone looks at issues in different ways, this makes the story very interesting and places twists in places the reader wouldn't expect and creates a very...