Something Old, Something New discussion

Here's a place to discuss our May read as chosen by our members. Please be advised, there are likely to be spoilers in this thread.

Hope everyone is getting excited about this...

Here's a little background information about the author and the novel from Wikipedia.

Optional discussion questions

1. How does Nick see Gatsby? How does this affect the reader's perception of Gatsby? What makes Gatsby "great"?

2. Is Nick a reliable narrator? In what ways?

3. The Great Gatsby is viewed in many ways as an autobiographical novel. What characteristics of Fitzgerald's life are portrayed in his characters?

4. How are Gatsby and Nick similar? How are they different?

Oh yay! I am actually quite excited to read this finally.
I hope it lives up to my expectations....

My favorite book! Don't know if I will get a chance to re-read it thus month, but I hope everyone enjoys it!

It's already on my TBR and I will try to read it this month as I've recorded the movie on Foxtel but can't watch it till I've read the book!!

Elaine wrote: "It's already on my TBR and I will try to read it this month as I've recorded the movie on Foxtel but can't watch it till I've read the book!!"

I haven't seen the movie yet either as I've been waiting for an opportunity to read the book first. Maybe we should also watch the movie afterwards and compare it together!

I'd be happy to do that Michelle but I have a feeling you may get to the book before me. I will try though to read it before the end of the month. At the moment it's about 6th on my list of books I want to read this month.

Elaine wrote: "I'd be happy to do that Michelle but I have a feeling you may get to the book before me. I will try though to read it before the end of the month. At the moment it's about 6th on my list of books ..."

I won't get to it too quickly. I have two other books I'm going to try and read before I get to it too and so I can get my reading pile under control a little bit :-)

So I finally finished this book today and I'm a little bit mixed of my opinion of it.
I never realised it was such a depressing novel until now and I found myself swinging between enjoying it and being utterly frustrated by it because of some of the language. I guess I'm still getting used to reading novels that were written in such different eras that it still amazes me how different life and people in general are these days compared to back then.
The ending was definitely a big eye opener and really makes you stop and think about who your true friends in life really are.
I'm still glad it's another classic to tick off my list!

Michelle wrote: "So I finally finished this book today and I'm a little bit mixed of my opinion of it.
I never realised it was such a depressing novel until now and I found myself swinging between enjoying it and ..."

Well done Michelle. I think the classics can be a bit difficult sometimes. I know I've often started some and can't seem to read them. It's a good feeling I bet to be able to cross it off your list though.

Glad you finished it, Michelle! It's interesting, part of what I love about this book is the setting (time period and location) and the language. I think Fitzgerald managed to create a believable wild atmosphere and still make us take a good look at humanity.

As a side note, looking at two of our group reads this month (this one and The Big Sleep), the setting in each book was so important and they were only a decade apart. The party atmosphere of the 1920s which led into the bleakness of the 30s is amazing. The hours which could be spent comparing those two classics...

Kate S wrote: "Glad you finished it, Michelle! It's interesting, part of what I love about this book is the setting (time period and location) and the language. I think Fitzgerald managed to create a believable ..."

It's funny though as I much preferred the way The Big Sleep was written to this one. The Big Sleep just seemed so much more modern purely because of the writing even though it was only a decade later. The women were still portrayed as being just as idiotic in both novels but the tone of The Big Sleep was much easier to relate to and visualise in my opinion.
I was lucky to have a good reading day yesterday because my son was really sick so I couldn't do any work because he wanted to sit and cuddle me all day. There was nothing much else to do but read so I got two books finished!