DECEMBER - THE GREAT GATSBY BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

LESLEY  She was glad it was short.  It was written well.  Lesley could see the houses, feel the tension of the unlikable shallow characters.  They thought they were living the American dream of wealth and parties but they were all unfulfilled and restless.  The narrator Nick was not a moral compass either and Lesley did not warm to his character.  It was a sad reflection on Gatsby's life that only his father turned up at his funeral with Nick.

PAM  said it was a good book.  None of the people were very interesting. The language of the book was associated with restlessness with constant references to yawning, flickering and drifting as well as references to ashes, death, powdery etc. Gatsby turned out to be superior morally, taking blame for the death of one of the characters to save Daisy, the love of his life.  Daisy married Tom for money and Gatsby had thought he could buy Daisy back with money.  This proved unsuccessful.  Tom is summed up as most despicable.  Nick showed himself  to be unreliable and dishonest.  He says dishonesty in a woman is quite alright.  Pamela loved the book.

WENDY  agrees with previous reports.  It's well written and she enjoyed it.  Gatsby is a make believe person.  The book is about a superficial shallow society and Wendy questions "Is anything different today?"

JOAN  was interested in the class system, the new money/old money.  Joan liked the writing.  She was very drawn into the period.  The Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age was an era of great change with motor cars, electricity,radio, talking movies, prohibition, women's rights etc.  Joan questions whether Gatsby was having illegal grog at his party and was he raided? She enjoyed the descriptions of driving through the badlands (valley of the ashes) to get to New York. She thought the book was excellent.

JANE  did not read it but had read the book many years ago.  She remembers the decadence and the drinking, the lack of morals.  The sad funeral scene seemed to sum up his life.  She enjoyed the book.

ROSEMARIE She read it 12mths ago and enjoyed it.  She felt it was symbolic of society at the time.

KRIS  The book is set in 1922 after the war, in a time known as the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties.  The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession".DECEMBE  The book is widely regarded as one of the great American novels but was not well regarded at the time.  Like Joan I enjoyed the comparison of new money and old money explored in the book. Jay Gatsby, the central character is "new money" and holds lavish parties. There are glimpses of Jay Gatsby's criminal background, the supposed source of his new found wealth. Nick the narrator chooses not to see this.  It is a book about shallow, self serving people.  It is very well written and worth reading, although there is an aura of sadness and emptiness.

CATHY didn't read the book as she had been away.  She may look at the movie after hearing the reviews of the book.

MARIE  didn't like first 40 pages.  She went to her kindle where she found the book had 4 or 5 stars and there were a few good comments.  Marie went back to the book and once it moved into the storyline she started to enjoy it  She then wanted to finish the book.  The book was not well received at the time it was written.  Marie enjoyed it.

KATE  agrees with everyone else.  The characters were quite shallow.  She didn't like or admire any characters.

CONNIE  read the very long introduction but couldn't make sense of it.  She came back to it after reading the book and it helped put it in context of the era.  She didn't like the people in the book and said "she wouldn't have them in her lounge room".  "What is a great American novel?" Connie asks.    She found the mistakes in geography very frustrating but she could not fault the writing.

JUDY  said the book was well written but she felt the emptiness of the book.  Judy will see the movie.  She felt the language was difficult in some parts and one paragraph had made no sense at all.

ANNE  expressed that "Everyone said it all".  Anne said some of the language was so lyrical but didn't make sense.

JO She felt the same as everyone else.  It was well written. She found the characters shallow and found this annoying.  She wondered if it was just her, as it was supposed to be a good book.

JULES said it was supposed to be a great book but she found the first part irrelevant but enjoyed the second half more.  Jules is looking forward to seeing the movie saying it should be very lavish.