Quote:
Originally Posted by RarneyBubble
It might be a soppy one ...
|
I agree with the poster who couldn't see how the Great Gatsby is soppy. I think it's a great book - quite as bleak as Eliot's Wasteland, which Fitzgerald references with his own wasteland:
Fitzgerald's (and the reader's) conclusions about Gatsby's dream are not necessarily the same as Nick Carraway's. Nick is one of the greatest examples of the 'unreliable narrator' in literature. He always fails to ask the difficult questions about those things he imagines would be pleasant to believe in.
I love the book because it is not only thought-provoking, but Fitzgerald includes likable characters and notions at the same time. There's a really appealing lyricism and romantic feel to the novel - which is I suppose to say that it mirrors Gatsby himself perfectly.
For my own 'book that changed your life?'
I suppose Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Not by any means my favourite book, or even a particularly likable one, but the first book I studied under a really good teacher and spent longer thinking about than I had reading it. The first novel that made me realise how many different strands of life, culture, history and ideas can all be woven into such a concentration of language.