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Mar 20, 2020PolyWogg rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
BOTTOM-LINE: Over-rated as a classic . PLOT OR PREMISE: A man observes the comings and goings of a 1920s party host who is both his neighbor and a paramour of his cousin. . WHAT I LIKED: It is weird to go back and read this book some 35 years after high-school. I remember thinking it was this glamourous world of parties and high society, where people really did act differently from the common folk. As an adult, I see it for what it is -- a portrayal of a shallow summer, without substance or value, leading to an inevitable tragedy of people over-estimating their self-importance and narcissism. Beautifully written, harshly portrayed as Nick Carroway observes the desire by Jay Gatsby for a married Daisy Buchanan, the woman he loved but lost years before. All of the summer reads like life without consequences, an embracing of hedonism and simple pleasures, but without anyone asking if it is really what they want or just what they think they want. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I find it intriguing that my young self saw it as a tragedy, but without particular indictment of the lifestyle of the secondary characters. They seemed more cliché or farce than real at the time, but now it just seems simply depressing across the board. I didn't care about any character anywhere in the book, not even Nick, who is mostly a blank slate. . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review.