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• Biography
• More titles by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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• More titles by Gerald Durrell

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Synopsis

In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the disillusion of post-war America and the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status. But he does more than render the essence of a particular time and place, for in chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream, Fitzgerald recreates the universal conflict between illusion and reality.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is available as an eBook.

Special editions:

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is also available as an Hardback Classic.

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Reviews

Customer Review: 16 June 2011

Reviewer: Ricky Taylor

'Possibly the most classically beautiful novel that I have ever read. Fitzgerald''s magnum opus is so much more than just a social commentary. It is, in parts, witty, romantic and brutal, as a story. It is honest, melancholic and remorseful in it''s message. Quite rightly considered as the pivotal representation of the jazz age.'

Critic Review:

'A classic, perhaps the supreme American novel' John Carey, Sunday Times, 'Books of the Century'

'I've read the best novel ever this year. For beauty, economy and clarity there is no one to surpass F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. If you haven't read it, do' The Times Metro

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Student review by Maybelle Law, studying at University of Nottingham.

Despite first reading Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby many years ago, it still remains a literary masterpiece that never fails to illuminate my childhood fantasies. The novel instantly transports you into the opulent and dazzling maze that is 1920’s New York. Fitzgerald’s lavish soirees of high society vicariously leave you with cigarette smoke entangled in the hair and the taste of champagne in your mouth.

The novel depicts the narrator Nick Carraway, who unwittingly delves into heart of a tumultuous and highly unsympathetic society that consumes bewitched romantics such as the enigmatic Jay Gatsby that Nick later befriends. Tragedy of incredibly emotional dimensions unfolds upon the characters and juxtaposed with the magical background of the glittering blue gardens of Gatsby’s colossal ‘chateaux’ the reader is left even more staggered. The savage intensity of the power-hungry mobs that swarm to Gatsby’s parties and their misguided assumptions of Gatsby’s past, perfectly encapsulates the unabashed cruelty and cold demeanour surrounding the lonely and hopelessly romantic protagonist. Fitzgerald creates touchingly palpable characters that are entirely relatable but at the same time meander through settings that to the reader appear startlingly fantastical. The reader visits the ‘grotesque gardens’ of the Valley of Ashes then travels to the luxurious parlours of The Plaza Hotel and comes to a rest at the eerily still aqua waters of Gatsby’s swimming pool. However, Fitzgerald’s narrative does not only serve to describe but to critique. He overtly undermines the constrictions of the class system and the upper-class dependency on illegitimate proceedings to power and fund the opulence of high society living.

An incontrovertible classic; untouched by any other literary depictions of 1920’s high society. The Great Gatsby is a novel that remains embedded in the hearts and minds of readers of all ages and courageously entails of the swooning highs and desperate lows that are encountered on the desolate road to true love. 

The reader is left enchanted, distressed but all the more, hopelessly enamoured.

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