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The Great Gatsby


Thunder Bay Rush
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I guess it’s now official. I just “don’t get” literature…

 

I don’t read a lot to begin with so at times and try to seek out the classic books by classic writers. For years, I’ve been hearing about the Great Gatsby and that it was one of the “greatest fictional works of all time.” So, I went to the library and it was available…

 

First, it was much shorter than I expected. But, that’s actually good for me… I started reading… and reading… and reading… waiting for some type of a story to develop. When I got to the last chapter I deemed this book an over-rated waste of my time. Not much a story there…

 

So, do I have a point or… do I simply not “get” literature?

 

I felt the same way about Hemingway’s “Old Man in the Sea,” a well-respected and famous novel. I kept falling asleep while reading it. A guy goes fishing, catches a tuna and a goddam shark eats the thing.

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I feel ya brother. I am apparently one of the few on the planet who can't stand reading and is bored to tears by it. I even have trouble especially in the SOCN reading all the way through posted articles from time to time. There must be something to it if so many enjoy it so much.... :huh:
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I would bet you could find some literature that you'd really get into. I don't know what that might be, but there is a LOT out there to be found.

 

Specifically about Gatsby, it's definitely not my favorite of Fitzgerald's novels, but he is one of my very favorite writers; perhaps my most favorite. The Beautiful and Damned doesn't get as much praise as I think it should, among all of his works. And I currently happen to be reading a collection of his short stories.

 

Maybe you should try somebody like Hunter Thompson. He didn't write a lot of fiction, but even the nonfiction stuff he did, whether it was political or otherwise, it almost reads like fiction, haha (I mean that in a very endearing sense)...

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The Great Gatsby is pretty dated nowadays. Watch any soap opera and you pretty much have the same thing.

 

Ouch!

 

I can't agree with that assessment. But to each his/her own.

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The Great Gatsby is pretty dated nowadays. Watch any soap opera and you pretty much have the same thing.

 

Yeah, no.

 

Gatsby is among the top 5 great American novels. It reflects the nobility and folly of the American dream better than any literature before or since. It's symbolism spectacular. Literary ideas like the eyes of T J Eckleberg, the green light at the end of the pier, Gatsby's car, etc. are a model of what quality symbolism can be. "Her voice is full of money." That is a spectacular line. The prose is gorgeous with a great attention to language.

 

I will admit being bias toward classic lit as a former English major and teacher. I reread Gatsby every 3 or 4 years. It's a gift I give to myself. Next to To Kill a Mockingbird, it might be my favorite novel.

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The Great Gatsby is pretty dated nowadays. Watch any soap opera and you pretty much have the same thing.

 

Yeah, no.

 

Gatsby is among the top 5 great American novels. It reflects the nobility and folly of the American dream better than any literature before or since. It's symbolism spectacular. Literary ideas like the eyes of T J Eckleberg, the green light at the end of the pier, Gatsby's car, etc. are a model of what quality symbolism can be. "Her voice is full of money." That is a spectacular line. The prose is gorgeous with a great attention to language.

 

I will admit being bias toward classic lit as a former English major and teacher. I reread Gatsby every 3 or 4 years. It's a gift I give to myself. Next to To Kill a Mockingbird, it might be my favorite novel.

 

I'm not saying that it isn't a great novel. I'm just saying that if it were written nowadays, it would be considered clichéd. Socioeconomic barriers are a huge theme in literature, and they have been since the medium was introduced to civilization. Charles Dickens pretty much nailed it way before Fitzgerald did, and better.

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The first time I read Gatsby I didn't see why it was a classic. I liked it better the second time.

 

Have you found any other literature you like, TBR?

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The Great Gatsby is pretty dated nowadays. Watch any soap opera and you pretty much have the same thing.

 

Yeah, no.

 

Gatsby is among the top 5 great American novels. It reflects the nobility and folly of the American dream better than any literature before or since. It's symbolism spectacular. Literary ideas like the eyes of T J Eckleberg, the green light at the end of the pier, Gatsby's car, etc. are a model of what quality symbolism can be. "Her voice is full of money." That is a spectacular line. The prose is gorgeous with a great attention to language.

 

I will admit being bias toward classic lit as a former English major and teacher. I reread Gatsby every 3 or 4 years. It's a gift I give to myself. Next to To Kill a Mockingbird, it might be my favorite novel.

 

I'm not saying that it isn't a great novel. I'm just saying that if it were written nowadays, it would be considered clichéd. Socioeconomic barriers are a huge theme in literature, and they have been since the medium was introduced to civilization. Charles Dickens pretty much nailed it way before Fitzgerald did, and better.

 

Socioeconomic barriers is a small part of the Gatsby theme. The ideas that one may reinvent oneself (with devastating consequences), that enough money can buy dreams, and that the bright promise of America is a facade were new at the time of publication. Dickens wrote of the unfairness and fundamental evil's of poverty and debt ... of not having enough. Fitzgerald wrote from the other side ... of the perils of having too much.

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The Great Gatsby is pretty dated nowadays. Watch any soap opera and you pretty much have the same thing.

 

Yeah, no.

 

Gatsby is among the top 5 great American novels. It reflects the nobility and folly of the American dream better than any literature before or since. It's symbolism spectacular. Literary ideas like the eyes of T J Eckleberg, the green light at the end of the pier, Gatsby's car, etc. are a model of what quality symbolism can be. "Her voice is full of money." That is a spectacular line. The prose is gorgeous with a great attention to language.

 

I will admit being bias toward classic lit as a former English major and teacher. I reread Gatsby every 3 or 4 years. It's a gift I give to myself. Next to To Kill a Mockingbird, it might be my favorite novel.

 

I'm not saying that it isn't a great novel. I'm just saying that if it were written nowadays, it would be considered clichéd. Socioeconomic barriers are a huge theme in literature, and they have been since the medium was introduced to civilization. Charles Dickens pretty much nailed it way before Fitzgerald did, and better.

 

Socioeconomic barriers is a small part of the Gatsby theme. The ideas that one may reinvent oneself (with devastating consequences), that enough money can buy dreams, and that the bright promise of America is a facade were new at the time of publication. Dickens wrote of the unfairness and fundamental evil's of poverty and debt ... of not having enough. Fitzgerald wrote from the other side ... of the perils of having too much.

 

Exactly. And he didn't grow up wealthy- his parents never owned a home- but because of connections his mother's family had, he was able to go to boarding school, and went to university at Princeton (but didn't graduate). He always saw himself as a poor man in a rich man's club, and that informed his writing until the end.

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Anima >>> The first time I read Gatsby I didn't see why it was a classic. I liked it better the second time.

 

Have you found any other literature you like, TBR?

 

 

 

The quote function doesn’t work for me for some reason…

 

 

Nothing in particular… I’m not a huge reader anyway. But, the last few books have been more contemporary stories, mysteries… that type of thing. At least most of these authors keep the wording down to a “regular-guy” level.

 

 

Just finished “The Night Season” by Chelsea Cain. It’s a serial killer mystery, but a different one. Worth it… good book. Good writer…

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I haven't read enough of your posts to have a good idea of what classic novels you would enjoy, but I'd suggest:

William Golding - Lord of the Flies

Jack London - White Fang, Call of the Wild

Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn

Any of the full length Sherlock Holmes novels (I like Study in Scarlet but you might prefer The Sign of Four)

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

 

Let me know if I've got it right... my dad and my father in law are both very intelligent but don't really get fiction, and I've managed to find fiction both of them like. Just interested to know if I can predict books for someone I don't know well!

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