EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

No, its a normal book. Not great. Actually its a passionate love story.
I must define my idea of greatness of a book. War and Peace by Tolstoy is considered great because it has not yet stopped to say what it has to say.(Italo Calvino's definition of classic)

I think if you’re not compelled to read it yet, then don’t. I however, absolutely adore it. I actually studied it in school, which in other cases would have made me hate it, but maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a romantic at heart? Maybe it’s because I adore the era. Maybe it’s because all the characters are so flawed, yet so loveable at the same time...Also I really fell in love with Fitzgerald’s writing style, he just manages to make something so tragic sound so beautiful. But hey, that’s just me!

I never cares for the book. I didn't like the chars. The writing is beautiful but the story was one of lies and greed. It was not my thing

Read it because I was curious, but I thought it was boring... I didn’t like the characters, I really don’t get what people like about it. You should read it only if you are dying too, it’s probably not for everyone, it wasn’t for me.

Amber, I read this book for the first time this month. I'm new to reading the classics and I too was skeptical about a lot of books. I personally loved The Great Gatsby and read it in one sitting (I couldn't put the book down). I loved the theme, the characters and the era.

However, I agree with Georgie that if you are not drawn to it don't read it. I will add don't read it now, instead save it for another time. There have been books that I have picked up and not gone beyond a chapter but when I picked the same after a year I have loved it. Sometimes our frame of mind and experience can impact our reading choices.

Another suggestion I can make is to try short stories by an author before you commit to reading a bigger book. I did that with Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, Virginia Woolf, etc before picking a full-length book by them.

I totally agree, sometimes stepping out of your reading comfort zone can be hard, especially if you’re not a fan of the era. I love the 1920’s so again that’s probably why I loved it!

Do let us know what you think when you’ve read it!

I've read "The Great Gatsby" multiple times for various courses in high school and college. IMO it's an ok novel, not great. A book that I was never assigned, but really liked was "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. It's set in the same time period as Gatsby, but the story is so much more interested. Plus, as a journalist I absolutely love Hemingway's writing style. While I love his style, I usually don't care for Hemingway's macho topics, but "The Sun Also Rises" is a big exception.

I've always loved it. Most people miss the pointed messages it has about class, money, corruption, excess, decadence and collective narcissism that are so rampant in America.

I don't think it's a passionate love story at all. Instead, it's about how love and ideals lose out against how the world actually is. Both become this twisted mess of obligation, obsession, compulsion and manipulation.

Nearly everyone in the book is living a miserable life before the book--and wind up living a miserable one during and after it as well. If they make it to the end.

It's a cautionary tale that the the world can be (and often is) a very brutal place.