【Book Review】The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★★

 First of all, I seriously doubt that this book needs a detailed introduction because everyone have clearly read it during their high school years or at some point in their lives. Since The Great Gatsby is such a well-known book, I believe it is unnecessary for me to describe the synopsis of this book. It was set in New York, during the Jazz Age; it depicts how the upper-classes is filled with extravagance and consumerism. Also, I won’t discuss the themes or any of the literary element in this book review, because everyone must have been tired of hearing their English teachers keep repeating these things. On this book review, all I want to discuss is how this book affects my life and how I fall in love it.

    Generally, I don’t have a passive opinion against required reading materials assigned by the school teacher. To be honest, I have actually loved many of the classic works that were assigned readings including To Kill a Mockingbird and A Separate Peace. Before I read the actual book, I watched the trailer of the movie The Great Gatsby, which is starred by Leonardo DiCaprio.

    The first thing that I want to mention about this book is its writing style. F Scott Fitzgerald was an extremely talented writer, especially when it comes to the choices of dictions and the descriptive languages. With his writing style, the scene in the book seems to be so much more vivid. Even though there were sometimes when I found difficulties figuring out his implied meanings in the text, I still highly appreciate how much he great he can write.

    The other thing that impresses me is the book’s characters and plot. The only character that I can attach to is Nick Caraway. Even though Nick, at some points in the novel, has apparently revealed some of his flaws in relation to his character, he is definitely more likable than any other characters in the book. Nick takes the place as a spectator; unlike Daisy or Gatsby, he never gets truly involved in the progression of the plot. However, it is because of the fact that he is not technically the center of the story, he can be a qualified and reliable narrator who remains his calmness throughout the novel, making a stark contrast to Holden, the narrator of the Catcher in the Rye. I don’t like Tom and Daisy because of their selfish and consumerism. I don’t like Gatsby because he is unbelievably stupid with all the issues of Daisy. Overall, Nick is the only character that I love in this book, but that doesn’t mean I cannot love the story and give it a five stars rating.

    The plot is quite shocking. I don’t know how I manage to do that, but I successfully avoided all the spoilers until I finish the book. That is an accomplishment considering almost everyone in my class have either watched the movie or read the book. I didn’t expect Gatsby to die in such a ridiculous way, though. Despite all of his wealth and handsomeness, he is such a douche bag. Let me tell you. There were millions of chances that he can choose and thus avoid the gun shooting, but he just didn’t have the luck.

    Overall, I have a high expectation before reading the book, and fortunately, this book doesn’t let me down like many other well-acclaimed books do. I am wondering whether I should go and pick up more works by F Scott Fitzgerald, but I heard that his other works have very different writing styles compare to The Great Gatsby. No matter what happens, this book deserves all of the attention, merit, and praise it receives. I am very glad that I have the chance to read it during my junior year in high school.