Great Gatsby - Book Review

I decided to read Scott Fitzgerald's most famous book - The Great Gatsby. It's considered an American classic and has become required reading in high schools across our great land.

I never had the opportunity to read the book in my younger days, so I decided it was about time. I completed the book in a couple of days, reading while on my daily commute to work. It's a fairly short book, around a 180 pages. I wish I could say "Yes, it's definitely a masterpiece and a classic" but I cannot. I was a disappointed with the novel and then wondering why so many people regarded it so highly. The next day I re-read some of the passages and I enjoyed it much more. I believe The Great Gatsby is one of those books which may have to be read several times to truly appreciate its greatness. I'm still not convinced it's a classic or not but I could see why some people consider it to be a fantastic piece of American literature.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned from the story of Jay Gatsby and his undying love for the already married Daisy Buchanan. The lesson is to a well rounded individual and have diversity in one's life. Gatsby's life was an obsession with his love and he did not have anything to fall back on just in case his desires did not come to fruition. A person should not become so enthralled in a certain passion rather he or she should have various outlets in their life.

There are also several other important themes the reader will find in the course of reading the book. What didn't really impress me was the basic underlying story - I didn't think it was original, it just reminded of a romantic tragedy and the way it was told from a third character's point of view seemed to me a bit bizzare.

3 1/2 candles out of 5