The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was not a hit when it was published in 1925. Wait, what?! The beloved classic that everyone and their mother's dog has read hasn't always been considered the peak of American literature?

Well, first impressions aren't always right, but, in the case of a novel like The Great Gatsby, you can't help but ask why it wasn't immediately hailed as a masterpiece.

Here are my takes:

First off, you rarely (if ever) hear anyone talk about its protagonist, Nick Carraway-- and why would they? He's bland, boring, passive. The best he can do is sit back and make vaguely “deep” observations that come off like little more than an attempt to sound wise.

Next, at under 200 pages, the book is too short. Fitzgerald attempted to tackle the themes of wealth, the American Dream, class divisions, consumerism, and more, but he just barely scratched the surface because he needed more pages to fully flesh out the points he was trying to make. So, this novel comes of as half (or less) baked.

These issues aside, Fitzgerald's prose is solid. And it's hard not to respect a story that can garner so many fans when its plot is so unapologetically tragic. The Great Gatsby's characters may not be the most likeable, but their flaws make them human in a way that it seems like the vast majority of readers and relate to.

Overall, the mixed reviews The Great Gatsby originally received feel more like an honest representation of how good the novel is than all the 5-star reviews posted online nowadays.

3.25⭐️