Book Review
By Kammie Harn
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review
I absolutely love the Great Gatsby. I fell in love with the roaring twenties, I love the entire atmosphere. I think it's so cool. I also think that Fitzgerald did an amazing job writing this book. I like how it's from Nick's point of view instead of it being some random narrator. I like that he is able to tell the story personally.
Setting
The Great Gatsby takes place in New York City and Long Island, more specifically, though, in West Egg and East Egg. West Egg is where Nick Carraway and Gatsby live. Daisy and Tom live across the bay from Gatsby in the more fashionable, upscale neighborhood of East Egg.
East Egg
East Egg vs. West Egg
West Egg
Main Characters
- Nick Carraway - Nick grew up in Minnesota, but moved to New York in 1922. Nick lived next to Gatsby in West Egg. Nick is Daisy's cousin, which helps Gatsby and Daisy's love affair to start up again.
- Daisy Buchanan - Daisy grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Daisy was a high-class woman and she loved all things extravagant and expensive. She met Gatsby in 1917, while he was stationed near Louisville for the war. They fell in love and she promised to wait for him, however, she met Tom Buchanan in 1919 and later married him.
- Tom Buchanan - Tom is Daisy's very rich husband. Tom is very rude, cocky, and arrogant. He came from a very wealthy family. Tom doesn't have any morals at all, which is proven by his affair with Myrtle Wilson.
- Jay Gatsby - Jay Gatsby grew up in a poor neighborhood in North Dakota. Gatsby hated poverty and always longed to be rich. So, he made his dream of becoming rich a reality. He started doing all kinds of illegal things. Even though being rich was Gatsby's dream, his motivation to become rich was his longtime love, Daisy Buchanan. Daisy and Gatsby met and fell in love in 1917, but he soon had to leave for war. She promised that she would wait for him, but she met her husband Tom Buchanan in 1919.
- Jordan Baker - Jordan is one of Daisy's friends that begins dating Nick later on in the story. She is very pretty, but she's also very dishonest and untrustworthy.
- George Wilson - George is Myrtle Wilson's husband. He loves his wife and he loves his decaying auto shop. George is completely devastated when Myrtle is killed and he ends up killing Gatsby.
- Myrtle Wilson - Myrtle is George Wilson's wife, but also Tom Buchanan's mistress. She falls out of love with George and quickly into love with Tom, even though he's only with her for one reason.
Scandal
The entire story of the Great Gatsby is pretty scandalous really. Tom Buchanan is cheating on Daisy with his mistress Myrtle Wilson, who is the wife of George Wilson the mechanic. When Daisy finds out that Gatsby is back, they end up having an affair. After Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby all go into the city one afternoon for a party, they have a fight and they all leave the apartment angry. Gatsby and Daisy are riding together and he let's Daisy drive. One the way home, Daisy hits Myrtle and keeps on driving. Gatsby takes the blame for the entire thing. When George finds out that "Gatsby" hit Myrtle, he sneaks into his mansion and finds Gatsby out on his back patio and shoots him.
My Responses
I really, really enjoyed this book. I was very surprised when Daisy and Gatsby hit Myrtle. If I was Daisy when that happened, I probably would've reacted the same way that she did, however, I don't know if I would've been able to let Jay Gatsby say that he killed Myrtle. I would've felt SO guilty. I also don't know if I would've been able to live with myself knowing that Gatsby got killed because of something that I did.
My Favorite Part
My favorite part of the Great Gatsby is when Jay Gatsby throws all of his parties. I love the atmosphere of the parties. I also love the story behind all of the parties. Gatsby throws all of these parties in hopes that Daisy will come and I just think that it's so sweet that he goes to such extremes just to see her! There's one part that says, "There are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice." I think that this quote shows just how in love with Daisy that Gatsby is.
In the News
The Love Story
I've also seen the Great Gatsby movie and I love it! I feel like the director and actors did a phenomenal job portraying Gatsby and Daisy's love story, as well as the rest of the book. I've included a one of my favorite scenes and songs from the movie below.
The Great Gatsby - Young and Beautiful