I don’t recall how we got on the subject, maybe I was overhearing someone else’s conversation, but one of my coworkers recently asked me if I had read The Great Gatsby. As much as I love literature (I jammed in American Lit and English Lit in high school) and consider myself a decently well read person I had never read this one. I’d heard of it but never been required to study the piece during my formal educational years and until now hadn’t been personally curious about it. So I checked it out of my local library.

It was reaaalllly slooowwww going at first but finally picked up the pace in the last few chapters. For those of you who haven’t read the book, in my first pass at it I’d describe it as a study of character and morals amongst the upper crust of society.

There’s lots of racial, prejudiced and condescending language used by self-important, egotistic people. Lots of people with no purpose in their lives except living for the next party. Lots of sexual references and marital infidelities leading to an accidental death swept under the rug and a murder-suicide.

I almost forgot my high school literature training, that you need a dictionary (online today of course) to understand some of the archaic early American English words that we don’t use any more like ‘wan’ (look it up people) and a few others of that sort.

You’d also have to research literary references that apparently would have been familiar to decently educated people in the early 20th century. Had to look up Trimalchio to understand what that referred to in this story (yeah, look that one up too – smile).

The analogies can be applied to all economic and social strata though and perhaps that was one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s purposes for writing it. It turned out to be a well written, very layered read. I’d definitely recommend you give it a try especially if you weren’t required to when you were a student. And as long as it takes to get you to the full development of the plot it’s worth it to be able to say that you gave it a try. I think you’ll enjoy so nab it from your favorite library or book store today.