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The Great Gatsby | 
 enlarge | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $9.00 (64%)
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Rating:  1124 reviews
Sales Rank: 262
Media: Paperback
Pages: 180
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 0743273567
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780743273565
ASIN: 0743273567
Publication Date: September 30, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream. It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.
Product Description
Noted Fitzgerald biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli draws upon years of research to present the Fitzgerald's Jazz Age romance exactly as he intended according to the original manuscript, revisions, and corrections--with explanatory notes. Reprint.
Book Description
This critical edition of The Great Gatsby draws on the manuscript and surviving proofs of the novel, together with Fitzgerald's subsequent revisions to key passages to provide the first authoritative text of one of the classic works of the twentieth century.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1119 more reviews...
Many misunderstood the meaning and message of this book June 10, 2005
Zena (Montreal, Quebec)
165 out of 223 found this review helpful
It's what's not written and the hidden, subtle meanings between the lines and the potent reaction of the reader that makes this book one of the classics of American Literature, that and Fitzgerald's elegant, almost dance-like, symbolic and deep prose; yes, many might react surprisingly at the word "deep" to describe The Great Gatsby, but many simply did not see that- in portraying the shallowness of the characters, the fast-paced 1920's eastern life of the rich and notorious, and the struggles of one man-Gatsby-to rise above his past and ancestry and misplacing his meaning in life to one, undeserved woman-a well-hidden depth of meaning and understanding of what mankind should strive for and unfortunately what most miss was clearly pointed out in the novel.
As I read other reviews, I concluded that many misunderstood this novel and it took a Kid Review to understand the main theme of the book: as we try to look into the future-be it for our ambitions, fulfillment, happiness, or love- and turn our dreams into realities-as Gatsby so desperately strived for-you are forever thrown back into your past that has been forgotten by many, for your past shapes the paths you take, your past and past decisions leave their marks and has often dire consequences on your present and future life. It is a message to be cautious and savor yesterday so that you do not fall and regret tomorrow. It is in this essence that Gatsby stood out from the others in the story and met a tragic fate at the hands of the careless, shallow, rich and the confused. Who Gatsby was, his flaws, and misplaced love fore Daisy was of no consequence, that was not Fitzgerald's point and many missed it by looking solely at the plot and shallow characterizations and dialogue.
While Fitzgerald pointed out many obvious human traits-snobbery, excessive romanticism, carelessness of others' feelings, betrayal, and the shallow curiosity of other people's dramas, as well as the social discrepancies between the rich and the poor scornfully and with distaste, he was barely skimming through the true meaning of his novel.
It was not a coincidence that the first 3 settings of the novel mirrored the last 3 settings of the story, in which the past meets the present and affects the future of every main character. The mirror image of the beginning and end of the novel closes the dramas that had unfolded so successfully and so unexpectedly you have to give pause, and with awe come to appreciate the genius of the writing
And if that still leaves you confounded of what had just happened, it is in the first 2 pages and in the last 2 pages that Fitzgerald bluntly voices what he truly desires for the reader to understand.
Anyone giving this novel a bad review simply did not understand it.
 like a fine wine, it gets even better with age October 3, 2000
M. H. Bayliss
71 out of 84 found this review helpful
I'm troubled that many young people in these reviews don't seem to appreciate this novel. Even when "forced" to read it in high school, I loved it. I've read it for probably the tenth time recently and I can say that every single time it's better than I remembered it. I was prompted by the character is Haruki Murakami's book Norwegian Wood who carries it with him and reads it to cheer him up. This narrator calls it the most perfect book ever written and says that you cannot find a page that's not perfect. I have to agree -- it's not just the plot, it's the beautiful writing and incredible characters and scenes that stay with you years later. Even after years, who can forget the scene when Gatsby shows Nick all his custom made shirts, or Nick describes his first vision of Daisy by comparing her posture to someone balancing something on his/her chin, or any of Gatsby's parties, or the broken nose -- you get the idea. For some reason, rereading this book reminds me of picking up a relationshp with an old friend. It's so very comforting to read the best prose you can find in English and find that certain passages are almost committed to memory. Don't miss out on this one. If you didn't like it in high school, try it again when your reading tastes mature.
Materialism an ersatz for spirituality? August 1, 2005
Rehan Dost (Canada)
50 out of 68 found this review helpful
Fitzgerald would have been better served as an evangalist. Perhaps he would not have died from a coronary doubtless related to his depression and alcoholism.
The book is told through the impressions of Nick, a middle class fellow, and revolves around Mr. Gatsby. A man who has replaced the fortitude of spirituality with the frailty of materialism in the hopes of acquiring a woman, Daisy, hardly worth his disdain let alone his life.
The story reflects the deeper truth that rationality and science alone cannot solve our problems and certainly cannot supplant the need for a higher purpose in life or belief in a higher power. To do so leaves a void too often filled with materialism which is a cheap substitute.
This is exemplified in the characters of Tom Daisy and Jordan, souless wraiths who drift aimlessly from place to place draining the life of everything they touch. Even Tom, who has every conceivable material possession, betrays a longing for days gone by when he was revered as a football hero presumably since this was the only title he ever earned.
Gatsby is a compromised and tragic figure partially redeemed only by his solitary quest to fulfull an adolescent meaningless fantasy. Unlike "old money" he has a goal however trivial.
The fulfillment of his goal is anti-climactic as with all objects pursued solely for possession and display. The empheral joy of possession is replaced with the enduring meaninglessness of his life and the eventual ignomy of losing Daisy.
The end of the story shows the illusion of Gatsby, a young wealthy eccentric enigmatic gentleman, dissipated by the reality of Gatsby, a hollow common criminal consumed by the desire for a used mindless woman.
With the contemporary obssession with materialism, in the form of youth, beauty and wealth, to the exclusion of all else the book is more relevant today than it was then.
Quite simply, a 200+ page poem and a literary masterpiece. October 28, 1999
Thomas S. Ferrugia (subzero288@aol.com) (New York, USA)
42 out of 76 found this review helpful
Attempting to descibing this book is like trying to explain what makes something art. Every word is so carefully chosen, each element so intricately interwound, you can't help but feel your also glimpsing into Fitzgerald's very essence as you thumb the pages. While I'm not going to review the plot, it's actually a simple story of love's power and the human desire to be more than we are. The real strength is the way Fitzgerald draws you into a world of the bored rich and let's you see every detail through the eyes of the narrator. Gatsby himself is the essence of a tragic fugure. So rich, so powerful, yet even he can't have it all. Maybe my love for this book comes from my identification with Gatsby. How he was determined to become successful and acheived his goal. Read this book, read it slowly, savor the language like it is a fine port. So many things happen at once, you need to move through it carefully, so you don't miss any nusances. Finally, I noticed that many other "reviewers", mostly pimple faces high school kids, absolutely hated the book. Don't be fooled. There is nothing boring about here. I read it in High School, I'm now an attorney, and absolutely loved it even then. The book is just too rich to be appreciated by many kids who refuse to take the time to look below the surface. They want a fast plot, simple language and an exciting story. That's all they are capable of handling since they are exposed to crap like "Armageddon" and "Titanic." Anyone who didn't care for the book is just showing their own shortcomings and lack of intelligence. This book is incredible.
Awesome for adults, but we shouldn't force kids to read this September 1, 1999
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
41 out of 68 found this review helpful
Anyone remember a skit that Andy Kaufmann did on Saturday Night Live? He came out on stage holding a copy of THE GREAT GATSBY, sat down on a stool, and told the audience that he had never really understood the book when reading it in school, and proposed that he and the audience read it aloud and discuss it, so that he could understand what it was all about. Maybe that is needed here.I am not anti-kids or anti-teens. But high school students need constantly to remind themselves that they are not experienced readers, and that their opinions on books should be proffered with a necessary dose of humility--humility that they might not yet have learned to be a first rate reader. To pass a judgment on THE GREAT GATSBY like "it isn't so great" or "this is a bad book" or "this is boring" says absolutely nothing about the novel but a great deal about the presumptuous oaf uttering the statement. THE GREAT GATSBY--like ULYSSES, THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, LOLITA, MOBY DICK, MIDDLEMARCH, or Proust--provides the measure of what a great novel can achieve. But one isn't born able to read and appreciate great books; it is a skill achieved over the course of time. My advice to all the high schoolers who want to trash this book out of revenge for having been forced to read it: wait a few years, learn to read novels, gain a little more understanding of history, grow up a little, and then go back to it. The book will have remained the same, but you will have grown up sufficiently to get the point. Hopefully.
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