As luck would have it, the airport and airplanes are really great places to get some reading done. So, between my one flight on Thursday and the two yesterday, I was able to knock out another book (most of it anyway, with just a little bit to finish up today). For this category I chose to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Now, I know what you're thinking, "How could this girl claim to be such an avid reader, but has never read The Great Gatsby!?" To be honest, this isn't my favorite category. This is not typically the style of book I would pick out. Pair that with the fact that I was never assigned it in school, and it is quite simple -- I never read it. I have also never seen any movie version of it, although I did catch bits and pieces of the DiCaprio version on a bus ride to State a couple years ago (maybe last year?).
I will admit that I found myself pleasantly surprised. I mean, what I had picked up of the story didn't interest me initially. However, I really enjoyed the book. The story begins with our narrator, Nick. He has just taken up a summer residence near a distant cousin, Daisy. Daisy invites him over for dinner and to meet her husband and one of their friends. Next, Nick is returning to his new home and sees his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, for the first time. While Nick is unable to introduce himself at the time, Gatsby takes note and soon invites him to an extravagant party at his home. Gatsby is known for having these crazy parties where people just show up. He is hardly seen and often times he doesn't even know the people at his house. It is almost like his home is a night club where people show up to hang out for the night.
The first few chapters of the book give us different situations that Nick experiences in his first couple weeks there. While at first they seem to have little to do with each other, the story all falls into place when we discover that Gatsby has been in love with Daisy since they met over five years earlier. They had had a short-lived romance before he left for the war. Daisy came from a well-to-do family and couldn't handle the fact that Gatsby was poor. Although they loved each other very much, they parted ways and Daisy married someone else. Gatsby used these five years to make something of himself and purchased the HUGE house across the lake from Daisy's. Gatsby himself is quite mysterious. People don't quite know how he got his money, and many people don't believe his story about where he came from. Daisy had no idea that Gatsby was so near until one day he asks Nick to invite Daisy and Gatsby to tea at his house.
The two are reunited and Daisy is set on leaving her husband who she claims to have never really loved anyway. We also know that he has been having an affair anyway. The night that all of this comes out, there is a terrible accident that leaves one person dead (I'm not telling you who!). This accident eventually leads to a case of mistaken identity that ends the story in tragedy.
I had absolutely no idea that I was missing out on all this drama! While Gatsby's five years of complete devotion to making himself someone he thinks worthy of Daisy's love provides for a pretty romantic scene, the ending really upset me. I mean, the tragedy that takes place is something I can accept. It's very sad how ultimately alone Gatsby really is. What I refuse to accept is the way that Daisy reacts to everything that happens.
I am glad that I finally picked this book up. Really, I wasn't wild about the writing style. I mean, I liked getting these little stories and then seeing how they all fit together. I do like that. I just didn't like that at times I'd be reading a chapter and then all of a sudden I'm like, "Whoa! I must have missed something because suddenly this is intense." And I'd go back a little bit and realize that I hadn't missed anything, there was just no build up.
3.5 Stars