The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This edition published 15th September 2019 by Wordsworth Editions.

Originally published 1925.

From the cover of the book:

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’.

Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that surrounds him.

The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

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Spring 1922, young college graduate Nick Carraway, and former soldier in World War One, heads to New York to try his hand at being a bond broker. He settles in a modest bungalow on the West Egg shore of Long Island, amongst the palatial houses of New York's 'new money' - next door to the swanky estate of the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby.

Through a meeting with his East Egg, 'old money' cousin Daisy Buchanan, Nick falls in with the set around Daisy, her wealthy husband Tom, and Daisy's pro-golfer friend Jordan Baker. He also earns himself an invitation to one of Gatsby's infamous, extravagant parities, and becomes unlikely friends with the enigmatic man behind the legend - who confides on him about his desire to win back his former love, Daisy.

Nick becomes enamoured of Gatsby, and the mystique surrounding him, losing himself in Jazz age excess. After having the knowledge of Tom's infidelity foisted upon him, he also becomes the go-between betwixt Jay and Daisy as they rekindle their relationship in secret. But fate will not let Gatsby have his happy ending...

This unforgettable Great American Novel is one of my favourite classic tragedies, and easily Fitzgerald's most well known book. I have been promising myself a reread since recently consuming Claire Anderson-Wheeler's highly entertaining, Long island murder mystery retelling The Gatsby Gambit, so when I spotted the Audible Original audio book, narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal, I was sold!

For the uninitiated, the plot follows the decline and fall of Jay Gatsby, a self-made man with many secrets whose obsession with an impossible fantasy brings tragedy, viewed though the heart-wrenching account of the thoroughly decent Nick Carraway. Based on episodes from Fitzgerald's own youth, it plumbs the depths behind the good and bad of the Roaring Twenties in East Coast USA, beautifully rendering the music, the economy, the libertine flapper lifestyle, rebellious youth, speakeasy culture, and the uncomfortable jostling of new money and old. Every character here falls prey to human frailty of one sort or another - some you will take to your heart, and others you will learn to despise... I leave it to you to decide who fits where.

Gyllenhaal does a fine job of taking on the role of story-teller Nick Carraway, the hopeful young man who becomes jaded after seeing the dark side of 1920's Jazz Age glamour. His voice carries you nicely through all the twists and turns of this dissection of love, money, hopes and dreams - and brings alive all the delicious subtleties of Fitzgerald's characters and prose. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my revisit to this story, and can highly recommend the audio book to new comers, and returning patrons, when it comes to this incredible novel. And it is currently free to Audible members!

The Great Gatsby is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St Paul, Minnesota, and went to Princeton University which he left in 1917 to join the army. Fitzgerald was said to have epitomised the Jazz Age, an age inhabited by a generation he defined as 'grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken'.

In 1920 he married Zelda Sayre. Their destructive relationship and her subsequent mental breakdowns became a major influence on his writing. Among his publications were five novels, This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and The Love of the Last Tycoon (his last and unfinished work): six volumes of short stories and The Crack-Up, a selection of autobiographical pieces.

Fitzgerald died suddenly in 1940. After his death The New York Times said of him that 'He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a "generation" ... he might have interpreted them and even guided them, as in their middle years they saw a different and nobler freedom threatened with destruction.'