From a literary perspective, it was amazing. The way Fitzgerald can shape his words to put such clear, vivid pictures in your head is miraculous but I do suppose naturally, who else could do a better job than him?
 
He was around in the roaring 20’s, which was ironically partly responsible for the Great Depression (a reference to Grapes of Wrath!), so it was most interesting to get a bit of history in there too. I won’t spoil the book, but the description of death in this book is simply the best I’ve seen; euphemism at it’s greatest. Poor thing.
 
However, it did leave me feeling rather cheated, disheartened and quite angry. I suppose I’m a sucker for it, but why couldn’t it by a happy ending like the Cinderella story or our beloved Three Little Pigs? Why couldn’t Nick wake up and go West with Jordan? Why didn’t Gatsby stop messing around and get off with Daisy? Why was Tom such a berk?
 
I must admit, after reading both Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières in the past few months, I’ve become rather accustomed to the darker, more depressing side of literature! To think, I complain to my mother that she reads depressing books about love, but damn I’m becoming a clone!
 
Although coming back to reality, all this did make me wonder. By now we’ve seen it in many books, from those on abuse and those on love; it turns out that all this anger, dispute and pain is exactly what makes good literature.. and an even better author. It’s well worth a read. Go buy it. Now.
 
Has anyone else read it? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

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