"The Great American Novel"

The Great Gatsby… ah jeeze, I smile just typing it. Love, Love Love – that is how I feel towards this book. I read this when I was a junior in high school and I was completely swooned by it.

Quick interjection – I also may have been swooned by my teacher… ew, no, not romantically. What I mean to say is that he was the guy who said “books are great,” and although I already knew that, he opened my eyes to a whole new way to look at literature. So, perhaps my love for this book was influenced by that rather brilliant teacher. 

[Please ignore the bad picture - I couldn't find my copy of the book (sad day!), so this will have to do.]

I listened to this book while I was driving that inordinate amount of time in my car. It’s like the fifth time I have listened to it, and I’ve probably read it five more times on top of that… so, there was really nothing new this time around that I hadn’t thought about before. But, it was a good way to pass the time in my car.

If I was smart, I would look into getting MORE audiobooks, so I would have more to listen to than The Great Gatsby. I also love that Tim Robbins narrates it – although his voice for Daisy tends to get on my nerves.

The plot of the book goes like this – a young guy named Nick moves to New York to get into trading bonds. He rents a house next to this guy named Gatsby, who throws these outrageous parties at his giant home. Nick visits his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom for dinner, where he is also introduced to a girl named Jordan Baker – and they later get together, yes, romantically.

At dinner Nick learns that Daisy and Tom’s marriage is faltering, and that Tom has another “girl”.

I’m not going to give a play by play on the whole plot – that would just be boring. But, the point is, there are love stories – some genuine, some not so genuine, there is jealousy, there is death, there is sadness.

I have to recommend this book to everyone, although a lot of people have already come across it in their academic careers. It covers a lot of themes that are inherent to human nature, so it is in a way, a very timeless novel. My great grandchildren would be able to read it and, although set in the 1920s, they would still be able to connect to it.

Now, what I could not stop thinking about the entire time I was listening to Tim Robbins narrate the novel, was how [and/or why] they would make this a 3D movie. I could see them doing cool stuff with the party scenes and possibly T.J. Eckleburg’s spectacles, but other than that I was stumped. We will see though, it could be great, and lord knows I will definitely go see it whether it sucks or not.

Anyway, on to reading!