The Great Gatsby: The Only Authorized Edition

F. Scott Fitzgerald

May 2003 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

The only authorized edition of the twentieth-century classic, featuring F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

Ratings and reviews

There's nothing new under the sun - the plot is cliché but the way it was executed almost makes you forget that fact but nun the less, its a great time passer, as long as you don't have "Great" expectations, excuse the pun. If you are looking for something to enthrall you and have you flabbergasted over the serendipitous twists and turns with more of an original plot or story line, look elsewhere, but if you want to pass the time reading something equitable then this is definitely your favorite book.

BOTTOM-LINE: Over-rated as a classic . PLOT OR PREMISE: A man observes the comings and goings of a 1920s party host who is both his neighbor and a paramour of his cousin. . WHAT I LIKED: It is weird to go back and read this book some 35 years after high-school. I remember thinking it was this glamourous world of parties and high society, where people really did act differently from the common folk. As an adult, I see it for what it is -- a portrayal of a shallow summer, without substance or value, leading to an inevitable tragedy of people over-estimating their self-importance and narcissism. Beautifully written, harshly portrayed as Nick Carroway observes the desire by Jay Gatsby for a married Daisy Buchanan, the woman he loved but lost years before. All of the summer reads like life without consequences, an embracing of hedonism and simple pleasures, but without anyone asking if it is really what they want or just what they think they want. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I find it intriguing that my young self saw it as a tragedy, but without particular indictment of the lifestyle of the secondary characters. They seemed more cliché or farce than real at the time, but now it just seems simply depressing across the board. I didn't care about any character anywhere in the book, not even Nick, who is mostly a blank slate. . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review.

I hated most of the books i read in high school until the next year then i would realize i actually enjoyed them, for instance Animal Farm, Fareneheit 451, edgar allen poe's work and shakespear, but The Great Gatsby i enjoyed from page 1 and still love this book, it can get a little tricky for some which i noticed in class, but ive always read a lot of books growing up way above my "reading level" so i had no difficulty but honestly it lives up to its hype in my opinion

About the author

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1896. He attended Princeton University, joined the United States Army during World War I, and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. That same year he married Zelda Sayre and for the next decade the couple lived in New York, Paris, and on the Riviera. Fitzgerald’s masterpieces include The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. He died at the age of forty-four while working on The Last Tycoon. Fitzgerald’s fiction has secured his reputation as one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.