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Spark Notes The Great Gatsby

By SparkNotes Editors, Francis Scott Fitzgerald

(1296)

| Paperback | 9781586633493

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Book Description

Get your "A" in gear!

They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education bContinue

50 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

Ah, The Great Gatsby. Tackling a book usually considered one of the finest English language novels of the 20th century was one I looked foward to, since I had first read the novel about 10 years ago at the tender age of 16. I don't remember the novel hitting quite as hard or as significantly as Fit ... (continue)

Ah, The Great Gatsby. Tackling a book usually considered one of the finest English language novels of the 20th century was one I looked foward to, since I had first read the novel about 10 years ago at the tender age of 16. I don't remember the novel hitting quite as hard or as significantly as Fitzgerald's other works (This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned & Tender is the Night, which I also read around the same time), so I was eager for a re-read. And so..........the beauty and elegance of the style of Fitzgerald found in Gatsby is striking and memorable--especially after just finishing a novel by someone as terse and unromantic as Charles Bukowski. What's more, the characters and atmosphere Fiztgerald creates, while being from a era, social ladder and culture far removed from my own, are, nevertheless, still interesting and pertinent because the author imbues them with an sense of frailty and humanity that is timeless. Looking at it now 10+ years later, I can see why this short novel eluded my teenage grasp and didn't quite register. It's style was too refined, its subject matter one I could only really understand after years of coming to terms with my own manhood and life experiences only faintly realized at 16.

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Noirwino said on Sep 8, 2009 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Poetry in Prose

My first encounter with Fitzgerald has knocked my socks off. Really, I can't believe how wonderful the Great Gatsby is. Even for those who have read it before, I deeply recommend re-re-reading it in the newest edition. In this edition, they restored the text, with reference to the original manusc ... (continue)

My first encounter with Fitzgerald has knocked my socks off. Really, I can't believe how wonderful the Great Gatsby is. Even for those who have read it before, I deeply recommend re-re-reading it in the newest edition. In this edition, they restored the text, with reference to the original manuscripts and proofs, correcting printing and typesetting errors that had been perpetuated from the start. The corrected text, new foreword, preface, notes, afterword, and biography all make the 75th anniversary edition a literary and academic treasure.

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Leah said on Nov 8, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Absolutely fascinating. I haven’t read a book which is so touching like this for a long time. Fitzgerald has portrayed the Jazz Age which is seemingly attractive but actually devastating. A really deep reflection on the spirit of that time. Sometimes I couldn’t help comparing that golden age with th ... (continue)

Absolutely fascinating. I haven’t read a book which is so touching like this for a long time. Fitzgerald has portrayed the Jazz Age which is seemingly attractive but actually devastating. A really deep reflection on the spirit of that time. Sometimes I couldn’t help comparing that golden age with the world we are living now. It’s sad that people are still floating aimlessly with a dream that may never justify the pursuit. (Just like the case in Gatsby). Maybe human beings are all the same. We always have the insecure feeling so we try hard to grasp anything we could get at hands. But we may end up in gaining nothing at all.

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Maggie said on Oct 18, 2007 | 1 feedback

'Thirty - the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair. But there was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry wellforgotten dreams from age to age. As we passed over the dark bridge her wan fa ... (continue)

'Thirty - the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair. But there was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry wellforgotten dreams from age to age. As we passed over the dark bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat's shoulder and the formidable stroke of thirty died away with the reassuring pressure of her hand. So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.'

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Fedex44 said on May 30, 2012 | Add your feedback

You could blame it on my literary immaturity, but I didn't particularly enjoy this book. And I say this, aware that I'm in the minority. To me, it seemed like a less refined, somewhat more pretentious duplicate of "The Sun Also Rises." (It's interesting too, because Fitzgerald's novel was published ... (continue)

You could blame it on my literary immaturity, but I didn't particularly enjoy this book. And I say this, aware that I'm in the minority. To me, it seemed like a less refined, somewhat more pretentious duplicate of "The Sun Also Rises." (It's interesting too, because Fitzgerald's novel was published a year before Hemingway.) The premise isn't really new--it's yet another rather depressing story of those trapped in the empty frivolities of the "lost generation." It brushes up on the same themes of wealth, prestige, ambition gone to waste--and Fitzgerald does well in rendering that image.
But what I think it really boils down to is I rather dislike Fitzgerald's prose. Then again, maybe the writing seemed excessively superfluous only because I had read Orwell the day before.

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fruitfulfig said on May 11, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

Though I haven't started reading, but the typesetting of this version is not friendly for eyes.

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譚小o said on May 4, 2012 | Add your feedback