The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book I have long felt I know more or less what it is about despite never actually having opened it. In this case the omission was a bit embarrassing as the book in question has been quietly abandoned on my To Be Read shelf for years despite being neither long nor particularly heavy.
However, during a recent travel I decided only to bring books lingering on my TBR shelf and finally got started. (Well, the truth is that I first bought new books by Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Anne Fadiman, read those and then, when I was once more out of fresh reading material, started on my TBR books). Having once started on The Great Gatsby I found it a smooth, enjoyable read. I really don’t know why it took me so long.
The image I had of The Great Gatsby included a love story set against a backdrop of extravagant nightly garden parties during the 1920s. I wasn’t exactly wrong but after actually reading it the image I was left with was rather of the loneliness and futility hidden behind Gatsby’s shining dream. Perhaps not a new favourite but nevertheless a beautifully written novel which did not deserve to linger forgotten on my shelf.
The Great Gatsby was one of the novels on my Classics Club reading list.
I read that in a book 
I agree, I had watched the film (Robert Redford) and so thought I knew what it was about, but I found the book quite shocking, especially the ending. It is all about the emptiness of the jazz age, which I think is why it wasn’t well received at the time. I’ve got 2 jazz age books on my classics list so it’ll be interesting to see how they compare. An especially beautiful picture this time!
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Thank you! Looking through my photos for something vaguely related to the topic is half the fun of making these posts. I look forward to your jazz age reviews, reading classics gets so much more rewarding when you get more of the context.
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Maybe you just weren’t ready for it before. I read it in high school, hated it, and then just came back to it a few weeks ago and found it much, much more interesting.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it more now! In my case I believe it was more a question of never giving it a chance. It is hard to form an informed opinion about a book if you never opened it (I didn’t have to read it in school).
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