Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I read a book!

THE GREAT GATSBY
(and my opinion of it!)




















I started this book several months ago and got ten pages in before life got in the way. It sat sad and lonely on my bedside table until I packed it in my bag last Thursday night.

Now it may be the fact that this is the first book I’ve been able to read in a concentrated session since parenting became a part of my life but… I REALLY ENJOYED IT. Like, REALLY. It’s obviously a classic for a reason and although not all classics are created equal I am happy to pop it on my ‘top shelf’.

Short, sharp and wonderfully written.

Having just struggled through an Intro to Creative Writing unit this semester I could definitely appreciate the skill shown by Fitzgerald in bringing such imagery to life through his words. One of my favourite sentences, nothing pertinent to the story at all, was this ‘A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms…’

I would have just said ‘We passed a hearse.’ How dreadfully boring of me.

All the main characters were likable in their own sort of way and plenty believable too. Nick’s (the narrator) insights into what he thought of his contemporaries and the scenarios that unfolded was probably what drew me in the most. I liked his turn of phrase and his not overly biased descriptions; a rather more interesting character than Gatsby himself.


So anyway, I now have some anticipation for the movie. I can just imagine the 1920’s being played out in all that Baz Luhrmann glory.


No comments:

Post a Comment