The Great Gatsby

After Lord of the Rings, I wanted to read something that I could potentially relate to a bit more - something about people. So I took advice from the mother-in-law, and went for The Great Gatsby. In addition to being about people, it is short, and as soon as I started it I realised I had in fact read it before - easy win!

TGG is set in 1920s high society in America. The eponymous (I love that word) Gatsby is a mysterious figure who hosts party after party in his beachside mansion, surrounding himself with people whilst remaining personally aloof. No-one really knows where he has come from, or why he constantly opens his home to others whilst not seeming interested in involving himself with them.

Re-reading this novel reminded me that on first reading, I thought it was rubbish. I thought the characterisation was shallow, the resolution too swift, and the work in general too quickly over for it to truly deserve the accolades it received. I think I've changed my mind. It still left me with the impression that the characterisation is shallow - although the novel is written in the first person, Nick is actually fairly peripheral to events and we don't really learn much about him - his own little "love story" is understated, a side line, and doesn't really go anywhere. Where the other characters are seemingly keeping mistresses etc, and very little detail is given about more physical relationships, we see in great detail Nick's decision to move his relationship with Jordan Baker "to the next level"...putting his arm round her shoulders.

So, with the narrator being a little peripheral, narrative distance is then maintained - where Nick is not party to an event, we may hear about it retrospectively, but only hear an event from the character's point of view if they later choose to talk about it. This has the effect of making the novel as a whole feel quite distanced, and as a reader I felt very much that I was an external observer rather than drawn into the situation.

However, I think this narrative device does convey a sense of the shallowness of 20s high society - all about being seen at the best party, with the best people, even if you don't like them. (Is it any different today in "high society", or the "Hello" world??!) Relationships were more formal, and distant, and it is entirely possible to spend evening after evening at parties with the same people, and not really come to know them. Understanding this has made me revise my opinion of the novel, and agree that it is brilliantly crafted, although I still find the distance frustrating. It is typical of "the Great American Novel" - On the Road had a similar sense of manic progression from place to place and party to party without really engaging with the people, and perhaps that's why I didn't like it...not sure I'm willing to read that again to check though!

The hypocrisies in relationships are uncovered well, and the ending is very neat and tidy for Tom and Daisy - although again, because of the style in which Fitzgerald writes, there is very little feeling attached to the events. The lack of consequence for their actions is frustrating...I won't say more about this in case I spoil it for any prospective readers. However, I think it is safe to say, without spoiling, that the novel is an interesting study of double (triple??) standards within a marriage, and that my identification with, and sympathy for, characters shifted throughout as events unfolded in what is essentially, a tale of obsession & love gone a bit wrong - the depiction of a period is the greater achievement here, rather than the story itself. I think - I'm happy to be disagreed with!

I recently read "Tender is the night", one of F Scott Fitzgerald's less prominent works, and I liked it much better...if you liked Gatsby, read it; if you didn't like Gatsby, read it anyway and you might like it better!