The Great Gatsby

Review

2nd read (Sept 2024): I think it's curious that in my mind this is a "high school book" — maybe because it's short? — when it resonated much more strongly with me now than it did when I was younger: it’s about sacrificing things in your youth before knowing what they're worth; leaving people you care about to build a better version of yourself, not realizing they would move on in the meantime; believing that wealth and status will make you worthy of approval; and, of course, commuting to work in Manhattan because rent is cheaper outside of it.

He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever.

1st read (Mar 2018): After being halfway through this book since high school I finally read it! I really liked certain passages of the novel because of the descriptions and turns of phrase. I think I didn't enjoy it as much because I've heard about it so much/seen the movie so the novelty has worn off — would have liked it better if I didn't know what happened next or didn't have a visual to accompany my reading.