"The Great Gatsby" {by F.Scott Fitzgerald} Book Club Ideas

JULY BOOK CLUB:

"The Great Gatsby"

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

ABOUT FITZGERALD, DID YOU KNOW...

Many of the events from Fitzgerald’s early life appear in The Great Gatsby. Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated at an Ivy League school (in Nick’s case, Yale), who moves to New York after the war. Also similar to Fitzgerald is Jay Gatsby, a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a military camp in the South.

Having become a celebrity, Fitzgerald fell into a wild, reckless life-style of parties and decadence, while desperately trying to please Zelda by writing to earn money. Similarly, Gatsby amasses a great deal of wealth at a relatively young age, and devotes himself to acquiring possessions and throwing parties that he believes will enable him to win Daisy’s love.

"The Great Gatsby" {by F. Scott Fitzgerald} Book Review

The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Number of Pages: 180

Published: April 10, 1925

Publishers: Scribner / Penguin Books / HarperCollins

Genre: American fiction, modernist novel, social criticism

Summary:

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F.Scott Fitzgerald it is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby, who each weekend throws lavish parties hosting hundreds of people. Nick receives a formal invitation from Gatsby's butler and attends. The party is wild and fun, but he finds that none of the guests know much about Gatsby and rumors about the man are contradictory. Many have never even met their host, as the parties are open and guests often attend uninvited. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.

Daisy is Nick's second cousin once removed; Nick knew of her husband Tom, a celebrated polo player.  Their marriage is far from perfect, Tom is having an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. Jordon, a friend of daisy's reveals to Nick that Gatsby fell in love with her before the war and that his lavish parties are his way of trying to win her affection again. This leads to a series of unfortunate events that tell the story of the rich and famous of the 1920's.

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