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The Great Gatsby |  | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Scribner
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $1.98
as of 11/20/2009 23:34 CST details
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Seller: snowlionbooks
Rating:  1166 reviews
Sales Rank: 483
Media: Paperback
Pages: 180
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 0743273567
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780743273565
ASIN: 0743273567
Publication Date: September 30, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream. It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.
Product Description
Noted Fitzgerald biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli draws upon years of research to present the Fitzgerald's Jazz Age romance exactly as he intended according to the original manuscript, revisions, and corrections--with explanatory notes. Reprint.
Book Description
This critical edition of The Great Gatsby draws on the manuscript and surviving proofs of the novel, together with Fitzgerald's subsequent revisions to key passages to provide the first authoritative text of one of the classic works of the twentieth century.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 1166
illusion vs. reality; silence is not golden; a facade of gaiety comes crashing down November 19, 2009
Michael G. Haigerty (Indiana)
I first read The Great Gatsby when I was in college, for a 20th Century American Fiction class with Dr. Karen Johnson at Indiana University at Indianapolis. I think, due to my procrastination, I had to do so just a few days before a paper on some aspect of it was due. Can't remember what the topic was, but I know I turned it in late and Dr. Johnson was not pleased. I got a "C," I think. Now, 25 years later, I read it again at the suggestion of Robert Girardi, author of several books and a collection of short stories ("A Vaudeville of Devils," which I liked very much - a shameless plug).
Wow. Did I even read this book then? I must have done so quickly and without much attention because it was a very good novel. A bit slow at the beginning, but as I learned about the characters and their connections to one another, I had to keep reading to see how it would all end. Tragically, by the way. And you see it coming, though I wasn't expecting to end as tragically as it did. Don't read further if you don't want to know what happens...
So many people lying, living in a dream world: Gatsby, holding on to a past love/infatuation, believing he can re-create it years later, with a new name, a false front and all the trappings of a cultured, wealthy young man (actually gained through criminal activity); Daisy, aware of her husband's affair with someone, yet not confronting him, and engaging in an affair of her own with Gatsby that is really doomed from the start; Myrtle, who thinks Tom loves her more than his wife, but that illusion is "crushed" along with her nose; the guests of Gatsby, attending his parties only to get drunk and have some fun, most not knowing their host and not caring if they don't, parties only held so Gatsby can see Daisy again. And then there's Nick Carraway, the narrator, a self-described "honest man" who fails to confront these illusions with the truth. He doesn't tell his cousin Daisy about the details of her husband Tom's affair. Shouldn't he have, out of love for her? And he never really confronts Gatsby about his fantasy about re-connecting with Daisy, the long-lost love of his youth. Couldn't he have "talked some sense into him," again, if he really cared about Gatsby? And when they all have it out at the hotel in NYC, why doesn't Nick call Tom on the carpet about his second life with Myrtle, as Tom is attacking Gatsby for his affair with Daisy? Finally, Nick could have told Wilson the truth about Myrtle and Tom after the accident, so Wilson's rage and desire for revenge would have not been misplaced. He could also have told the police that it was Daisy, not Gatsby, who was driving the car, and that it was Tom that was having an affair with Wilson's wife. Tom and Daisy make off like bandits, though not without scars, the illusion of their marriage apparently safe and sound; Myrtle and Wilson and Gatsby all experience the ultimate fantasy killer, death. Even Gatsby's dad is allowed to believe that he had a good boy, a smart boy, a successful boy. And Nick doesn't shatter his illusion. Out of compassion? Fear? Indifference? Speak up Nick; have some courage. You're "one of the most honest people you know." So tell the truth to the people around you and maybe you can help them face reality and have better, honest lives, even if the price is the death of their fantasies and pretense. Your silence helped kill these people, in a way.
My two cents. Dr. Johnson, are you out there? I read it for real this time. What do you think? The makings of a decent paper?
Mike Haigerty
 Fitzgerald's Best Novel November 16, 2009
woodrow locksley (lINCOLN NE)
The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald's third novel and his best novel.It is better than any of his short stories even though he is a better short story writer than a novelist. The novel focuses on the lives of young and shallow rich people .Nick Carraway is the narrator who provides the perspective and the main focus is on the title character Jay Gatsby who is fabulously wealthy. Gatsby invites many people to his grand parties but none of them are his friends as future developments in the novel show.He has a fake life which he creates to win the hand of Daisy Buchanan, a woman he loved in hiss youth but could not obtain because of his poverty.Gatsby gains wealth in illegal and immoral ways and when he has an affair with Daisy,her husband investigates Gatsby's past and exposes him destroying the affair and eventually destroying Gatsby.The novel is how wealth without character is worthless pleasure without purpose is worthless and using money to buy friends without developing ones relationships so that friendship is not dependent on money is also a worthless way to live. Fitzgerald clearly sees the pointlessness of the young and wealthy of his era who live primarily off the inheritance from their parents but his life in many ways would end up becoming like those he criticized partly because of the unstable alcoholic he married who enticed him to join in her self destructive lifestyle.After Gatsby, Fitzgerald's writing declined but the magnificent dialogue and descriptive phrasing plus his keen and compelling insight into the hollowness of a live driven by wealth and the desire for pleasure make this a great American novel
My granddaughter's book November 1, 2009
schoolgirl (alabama)
All I can review this book on is the shipping of the book. It arrived earlier than expected and the book was in good enough condition. My granddaughter had to have it for school so I ordered it for her.
Love the story, love the writing style, one of the best October 27, 2009
C. Bolliger (Boise, ID)
This book is relatively small, but packs a huge story. It is intriguing from beginning to end. The sentences are written so beautifully that they could be appreciated by themselves. The characters are lovable and despicable. In Gatsby's world no one is perfect. I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates a good story and strong writing.
 why is this a classic? October 21, 2009
Duke 1968
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
A bunch of rich snobs complain about how boring life is while putting down or bullying poorer people. Wow, great literature. I read about 30 pages, skimmed ahead, still didn't see anything of value, and gave up. Life is too short too waste on overrated crap.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1166
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