Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the story of America in the 1920s and of Nick and Gatsby on Long Island, New York. Nick is invited to dinner at the mansion of Daisy and Tom Buchanan at West Egg, Long Island. Daisy is a distant cousin of Nick's. The other guest is Jordan Baker, a golf pro. Daisy plans to match her with Nick. Jay Gatsby lives in the mansion next door.
Tom takes Nick one morning to meet his mistress at an auto repair shop. Myrtle is married to Mr. Wilson and she and Tom make plans to meet at the train station. Myrtle buys a puppy along the way to the city. When they get to the apartment, Myrtle calls several friends. The party, fueled by drinks and sandwiches, lasts all day and night. Myrtle says Daisy’s name over and over again. Tom slaps her and breaks her nose. Everyone cleans up the blood and Nick gets his hat before leaving. Nick finds himself sleeping on a bench at Penn Station at dawn.
Author Fitzgerald describes in great detail the doings at Gatsby’s mansion: the music, the Rolls Royce, the servants, the caterers, the bar, the buffet and a full orchestra at every party. People are not invited; they just go there. Nick is invited. Everyone speculates about Gatsby: was he a German spy? Had he killed a man once? Hilarity increases by midnight. Nick meets Gatsby and is surprised by his ordinariness. Gatsby invites Nick for a hydroplane flight in the morning. He calls Nick “old sport."
One day, Gatsby picks Nick up in his fancy yellow car and they drive to the city. He tells Nick of his life: he really did go to Oxford but only for five months; he fought in the Argonne and killed Germans and been given a medal of honor. Gatsby had known Daisy years before and now wants to re-enter her life. He bought his mansion next door to the Buchanan’s to be close to her. He wants to invite Daisy to his house so she can see the splendor of it. He wants her to go back to Louisville with him to be married as if it were five years ago. You can repeat the past, he insists.
One day, after luncheon at Daisy and Tom’s on a stifling hot day, Daisy wants to go to the city. Everyone agrees. They rent a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy doesn’t love him. Daisy offers to make mint juleps. On the way home to Long Island, they take two cars, Daisy and Gatsby in the yellow convertible, Tom, Jordan and Nick in the station wagon. They stop at Wilson’s garage for gas. Wilson and Myrtle had been fighting and Wilson locked her in her room. She escapes and runs into the road, waving her arms. A car comes from both directions. Myrtle is killed instantly. Mr. Wilson vows to find the car and driver that drove off after hitting her.
Does Mr. Wilson find the car and the driver? Who was driving? Nick guesses correctly. What does Mr. Wilson do? What happens to Gatsby? He had gone to his swimming pool for a swim. Find this classic story of New York society in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library.
Tom takes Nick one morning to meet his mistress at an auto repair shop. Myrtle is married to Mr. Wilson and she and Tom make plans to meet at the train station. Myrtle buys a puppy along the way to the city. When they get to the apartment, Myrtle calls several friends. The party, fueled by drinks and sandwiches, lasts all day and night. Myrtle says Daisy’s name over and over again. Tom slaps her and breaks her nose. Everyone cleans up the blood and Nick gets his hat before leaving. Nick finds himself sleeping on a bench at Penn Station at dawn.
Author Fitzgerald describes in great detail the doings at Gatsby’s mansion: the music, the Rolls Royce, the servants, the caterers, the bar, the buffet and a full orchestra at every party. People are not invited; they just go there. Nick is invited. Everyone speculates about Gatsby: was he a German spy? Had he killed a man once? Hilarity increases by midnight. Nick meets Gatsby and is surprised by his ordinariness. Gatsby invites Nick for a hydroplane flight in the morning. He calls Nick “old sport."
One day, Gatsby picks Nick up in his fancy yellow car and they drive to the city. He tells Nick of his life: he really did go to Oxford but only for five months; he fought in the Argonne and killed Germans and been given a medal of honor. Gatsby had known Daisy years before and now wants to re-enter her life. He bought his mansion next door to the Buchanan’s to be close to her. He wants to invite Daisy to his house so she can see the splendor of it. He wants her to go back to Louisville with him to be married as if it were five years ago. You can repeat the past, he insists.
One day, after luncheon at Daisy and Tom’s on a stifling hot day, Daisy wants to go to the city. Everyone agrees. They rent a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy doesn’t love him. Daisy offers to make mint juleps. On the way home to Long Island, they take two cars, Daisy and Gatsby in the yellow convertible, Tom, Jordan and Nick in the station wagon. They stop at Wilson’s garage for gas. Wilson and Myrtle had been fighting and Wilson locked her in her room. She escapes and runs into the road, waving her arms. A car comes from both directions. Myrtle is killed instantly. Mr. Wilson vows to find the car and driver that drove off after hitting her.
Does Mr. Wilson find the car and the driver? Who was driving? Nick guesses correctly. What does Mr. Wilson do? What happens to Gatsby? He had gone to his swimming pool for a swim. Find this classic story of New York society in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library.