The Great Gatsby

Every summer, I read The Great Gatsby, an exceptional book of fiction by brilliant but tragic author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's one of those rare books that gets better every time I read it. New, cool tidbits of information are found with each reading, as well as an appreciation for Fitzgerald's character development. And the themes and writing are, of course, outstanding. For example, Fitzgerald begins the novel with the narrator, Nick Carraway, establishing trust with the audience:
"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'"

Besides the fact that that's great advice, by the end of the second page, I trust Nick as a narrator. I feel like I know his moral compass and respect his judgment. He's already earned my trust as a reader. I can put myself in Nick's shoes, and see the story as an unbiased observer, not unlike the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg (for those who've read the book).

The Great Gatsby is a classic, a literary masterpiece, and a quick read all rolled into one. As Fitzgerald's editor Maxwell Perkins wrote him in November 1924, "The amount of meaning you get into a sentence, the dimensions and intensity of the impression you make a paragraph carry, are most extraordinary. It seems in reading a much shorter book than it is, but it carries the mind through a series of experiences that one would think would require a book of three times its length."

I agree Maxwell, and I encourage you all to read it, then post your comments to spark a discussion!