The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Young Adult Classic Novel
ISBN: 0-684-80152-3
216 pp.
Suitable 14+
Readers Annotation: Wealthy Jay Gatsby is in love with already married, but beautiful Daisy Buchanan in this 1920s classic.
Plot Summary: Nick Carraway is a young veteran and bachelor that has moved to New York City, the wealthy West Egg, to be exact, in order to learn the bond business. His next door neighbor who throws lavish parties with hundreds of people attending is the mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby. Nick and Gatsby form an interesting friendship and through telling each other's pasts, they find out that they were in the army together and Gatsby has been in love with his cousin, Daisy for many years. Beautiful yet pampered and materialistic, Daisy lives with her wealthy husband Tom in East Egg. When Gatsby joins Nick at their mansion, drama ensues between Gatsby, Daisy and her husband. Egos clash, reputations are tarnished and Tom's mistress gets ran over in a confusion of events when Daisy leaves with Gatsby in Tom's roadster. Like Gatsby's parties, this event causes a chain reaction of memorable events and themes that makes this novel a classic.
Critical Evaluation: Though on the surface this book may seem like a simple love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. But it has become a symbol for the disintegrating American dream, which is replaced by materialistic excess such as Gatsby's lavish parties and jazz music. The West Egg represents the new money where excess replaces moral values. The East Egg represents old money and older American values. Greed and lust are shown in both Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. They both want something they can't have and believe it or not, money can't solve this issue but having a heart and values, both of which they all lack, could. Nick observes all this just like we, the reader, and serves his purpose well, being lost in the middle of it all. The pacing is very steady covering a few months time and the language is surprisingly timeless. Through all the glitzy glamour, inflated egos, and wealthy excess, it is in the end morally hollow, filled with hypocrisy and lacking values and something worthwhile; therefore excess can only go so far.
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota in 1896. He attended the prestigious Princeton University and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. He married Zelda Sayre and entered the new stratosphere of wealthy celebrities. His other novels include The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night.
Fitzgerald died in 1940 at the modest age of only 44 years old while working on The Love of the Last Tycoon. Fitzgerald will always be known for his sharp insight and social awareness. He stands out as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century.
Booktalking Ideas:
1) Money
2) Greed
3) Social circles
4) Love affairs
5) New versus old money
6) Death and suicide
7) Excess
Challenge Issues: Due to some sexual reference and language throughout the book there are some challenge issues.
A librarian should state that the ALA mission is "to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all," which is embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association's basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. Librarians must act as an extension, making sure that they educate the general public, and themselves, about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.
Why Included: I read this in high school and its theme has always stayed with me. Money can not do everything.
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