Well I finally managed to finish this book. I can't say that it is one of my favorite books that I've read and I doubt it will be one that I read again in a hurry.
On the whole I found it difficult to find any real plot at all, beneath the mass of description. Although I cannot fault the description used by Fitzgerald. Although I found that in many places it was harsh and sometimes almost vulgar, I thought it did a lot to reflect on Nick's character. When Nick says 'I am inclined to reserve all judgment', and then follows it up with page upon page of his opinion of people, it really goes to show how judgmental Nick really it. I felt that Fitzgerald got himself so lost and so deep in his excellent description that it's almost like he forgot to write a plot to the book and I think had it had a more solid plot then it would have made for an incredible book.
Towards the end some plot did begin to develop rather than Nick telling stories in between talking about himself and other characters, however I felt a little disappointed that this plot didn't come into the novel sooner. When I was reading it, it felt a little bit rushed and it think it had potential for Fitzgerald to do so much more with it, and I fear that had I not been reading this for my English Course then I may well have stopped reading long before the story really, truly got going.
Initially I thought that I liked Daisy the best out of all the characters however, this opinion has indeed changed. By the end of the novel, I can now say that I don't really like any of the characters at all. The only person in the book that I come anywhere close to liking is Gatsby and even then I spent most of the novel angry and frustrated with him because he was completely blind to the fact that he is such a great fool. I disliked Jordan from the start of the novel and although the initial harshness fell away as her character developed, I still felt uneasy when other characters were around her and at the end I see that I had good reason for this. Personally I felt that she behaved despicably towards Nick.
I feel that The Great Gatsby does portray a fairly accurate picture of 1920's Eastern America, even if it is all though the eyes of one upper-class individual. However no matter where you look, most stories are told from one point of view and that is what makes to warm to the characters and forces you to side with them. I thought it was nice to finally have a book that gives the upper-class perspective on things. I've found that many books set in this era tend to be about the struggles of the lower-classes and how difficult things were for them, so in that respect I did enjoy reading from a different view point. Also I thought the author also did a good job in presenting the difference between women in the different classes, e.g. Daisy and Mertyl.
All in all this book didn't live up to my expectations and left me feeling a little disappointed and I found myself having to plow through it to finish it. However there are indeed a number of good elements and once you sit down and start to analyse it there is a lot to this book. A good book to study for an English course, but certainly not one that I would choose to read for pleasure.
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