Thursday 21 August 2014

The Great Gatsby



I am racing through all the Doctor Who episodes so I will be up to date when the 12th doctor starts on the 23rd, so this is me going for the thinnest book I own while still looking for quality and something I hadn’t read yet.
You might agree that I have excellent taste.

I watched the movie with Leonardo Dicaprio first- when it comes to books versus movies, I am convinced that the book is almost always better (one of the exceptions being Matilda, which was equally good). So when I watch the movie first, I can still enjoy it without commenting on every little thing they got wrong. And yes, the movie was great- but the book was better. Fitzgerald is a very sensitive writer; his words feel very delicate, and throughout the book I felt like the story was already broken before it started –like glass cracked, but still held in place because someone is keeping the pieces together by pushing the edges towards each other. But that probably doesn’t make any sense.



I had heard of this book before- like most people, I had seen the trailer of the movie a couple of years ago- but I had gotten the impression that it was a novel about gambling and money, and fake glamour. Boy did I get it wrong. I’ll admit there’s a touch of gambling, a vague mentioning, but that’s about it. No; this is a catastrophic implosion of longing.
But the best quality of the book is the way Fitzgerald sketches the mood. His description of the heat in New York during the summer is just fantastic, and I love the subtle transition in the weather and temperature that runs parallel with what’s happening in the story.

“What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?”
“Don’t be so morbid,” Jordan said. “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
“But it’s so hot,” insisted Daisy, on the verge of tears, “and everything’s so confused. Let’s all go to town!”
Her voice struggled on through the heat, beating against it, moulding its senselessness into forms.
[…]
“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby’s eyes floated towards her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool.”
Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.
“You always look so cool,” she repeated.




I found that this story is very readable- something I always fear for since I never studied literature, and that means I might miss details and symbolic actions. For example, I’d previously read somewhere that Gatsby was afraid of swimming pools- I did not get that detail in the books. So I’m not sure if that was a lie or not, but I’m pretty sure my friends who do study English lit will help me out here.

Until next time,

Bejoes

1 comment:

  1. Wow this was so accurate and beautiful: " And yes, the movie was great- but the book was better. Fitzgerald is a very sensitive writer; his words feel very delicate, and throughout the book I felt like the story was already broken before it started –like glass cracked, but still held in place because someone is keeping the pieces together by pushing the edges towards each other."

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