Recently, after watching the movie, I began The Great Gatsby. Considered by many to be the “quintessential American novel,” The Great Gatsby was one of the great books of its generation. While I initially felt ambivalent towards the modernist genre of novel in general, This novel changed my mind; I found this book very interesting and relevant to today’s world.

The novel starts with an introduction from Nick Carraway, the main protagonist and the narrator of the story. Nick introduces the line that divides the two cities, East and West Egg, as well as the lower-middle class industrial area known as the Valley of Ashes that splits the two districts. Nick lives in East Egg, even though he has the connections and family wealth typically associated with the “Old-Money” class of West Egg. At the same time, Fitzgerald also introduces one of Nick’s old acquaintances, Tom Buchanan, a temperamental, dishonest character who used to be one of Nick’s classmates at Yale. Nick also introduces Tom’s wife, Daisy, who will later be important to the plot of the book.

Nick first meets Gatsby through one of his lavish parties, which he throws weekly at his large mansion in East Egg. It is revealed that Nick had served with Gatsby in the WW1, fitting of the post-war setting of the book during the Roaring ’20s. Nick finds Gatsby’s parties shallow and garish, reflecting the West Egg sentiment about East Egg. Nick later uncovers that Gatsby’s parties were a futile attempt to win back Daisy, with whom he was deeply in love.

As the story progresses, the rivalry between Gatsby and Tom deepens, and the reader is also introduced to the lesser-known, shadier side of Gatsby. Fitzgerald includes several references to prohibition-era legislation and politics, including references to bootlegging and the 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal, using the character of Meyer Wolfsheim, one of Gatsby’s shady contacts, as an allusion for Arnold Rothstein.

I won’t spoil the rest of this story, but this book is definitely a classic that is worth reading. I really like how Fitzgerald is able to make his message about the American Dream and his overall Modernist sentiments about the meaning of life very clear to the reader, allowing them to create their own interpretation of the novel. I would recommend this novel to anybody who is interested in reading about life during the Jazz Age, or in general, anybody hoping to add a new piece to the puzzle that is the American story.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.