The Great Gatsby Book
One day during channel surfing I caught the last half of a movie called G. It was interesting and I wanted to know a little more so I looked it up on IMDB.com
This is when I found out that it was loosely based on a book called The Great Gatsby. I mentioned to a co-worker that I had never heard of The Great Gatsby and he was like “YOU NEVER HEARD OF THE GREAT GATSBY?” then another co-worker was all, “DIDN’T YOU READ THAT IN HIGH SCHOOL?” The answers to both questions was, “No.”I made it my business to read this book. I found a free e-book version online and for two days I read it right from my phone. (take that you expensive Kindle book reader…I don’t need you after all!) So anyway the book was written ions ago and the story takes place in 1922, but its a great read.
Wanna hear the short version? Here it goes: This is a cautionary tale about love and money and the desire for the “American Dream”. The story is narrated from the perspective of Nick Carraway who is a neighbor of Gatsby. Nick moved to New York to learn about making a living in the bond business. Even though he can see Gatsby’s mansion from his porch, his house is tiny and modest in comparison. Jay Gatsby was a young, handsome, mysterious wealthy man. (I would say he had “swag”). He threw extravagant parties every Saturday at his massive mansion in East Egg where movie stars, models, the wealthy and everyone in between were on the guest list. Since, no one knew where he came from, or what he really did for a living, there were many rumors floating about “the great Jay Gatsby”.
Gatsby is secretly deeply in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy, who is married to a very wealthy man named Tom. Tom also has a lover named Myrtle, who is married to a poor mechanic named George. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without disclosing the fact that Gatsby will also be there. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy connected and rekindled their love. Gatsby takes her to his mansion and gives her the grand tour. She fell in love with all of the luxury and even went into a fit of happiness when she saw all of his fine clothing. When Gatsby asked Daisy why she didn’t wait for him while he trained to be an officer, she tells him that girls don’t marry poor boys so she married Tom. Gatsby and Daisy start having an affair. Her husband Tom is jealous of all the time Daisy is spending with Nick and Gatsby and is determined to expose the affair as well as “bring Gatsby down” socially (even though he too is having an affair).
This is where it gets good! During lunch at Tom and Daisy’s, Tom notices how Gatsby is looking passionately in his wife’s eyes and how much Gatsby is in love with Daisy. Then he forces the group, consisting of Daisy, Tom, Gatsby,Nick and Jordan (Nick’s lady friend) to drive to New York City(in the dead of summer with NO a.c.) where he confronts Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel. He announces to Daisy that Gatsby is not who he claims to be, that he really makes his money bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. This is when Daisy realizes that she wants to stay with Tom, and Tom sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, in an attempt to prove that he is not intimidated by Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby drove back in Gatsby’s car. Nick, Jordan and Tom followed in another car when they realized that Myrtle, Toms lover had been hit by Gatsby’s car. Gatsby later told Nick that Daisy was actually driving the car when it struck Myrtle, and that he was going to take the blame. The next day, Tom lies to Myrtle’s husband, George, telling him that Gatsby was driving the car that hit Myrtle. George, jumped to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, found Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. Then he kills himself.
Nick arranged Gatsby’s funeral and of all the people who surrounded Gatsby during the good times, only three people attended.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/
This link points to the free e-book version.
[...] about the mystery of good writing when I continued my fruitless search for an article I wrote about The Great Gatsby that appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian sometime in the 1990s. I loved that piece. I [...]