Nick Carraway, originally from Minnesota has spent quite a bit of time on the east coast. After fighting in World War Two and going to Yale he decides to spend a year in New York. He winds up living in a bungalow near his second cousin once removed, Daisy and her husband Tom, a man he went to Yale with. He also lives next to door the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who is throwing elaborate parties ever weekend. Tom is the witness to a summer's worth of drama in Long Island with secrets, old loves and huge tempers.

When I picked up The Great Gatsby for the first time four days ago I didn't really know what to excpet. Recentlly many people had told me I would enjoy it, but never gave me a reason why. When I got the book as an early Christmas gift a few days ago I was more interested in what was the big deal with this 'classic' then with the story or the characters but that quickly changed. There is something very simple and beautiful in the way Fitzgerald made these characters. They're all so tragically flawed, but you feel for most of them at one time or another. Gatsby is intriguing, it's hard to tell when he is being honest, but that doesn't really matter, it's just who he is. it's a short book, but it moves quick. It's refershing to see the 1920's in a way that doesn't focus on the family, World War One (well, more than it does) and music. A great read. ( )

Incandescently beautiful portrait of the lovely but fatally flawed nouveau riche of the 1920s in the US (and their hangers on). ( )

Hey, it's me again...'The Great Gatsby'....Remember? From 10th grade? The jeremiad about Jazz Age decadence? The litmus-test for all 20th-century American novels? West Egg? Nick Carraway? Rampant classism and clandestine romance? Remember...?Oh...all you remember is 'West Egg'? For shame...I was a novel before Cliffs Notes were even invented, dude. I suggest you call up Mrs. Mulcahy and ask her to remind you why she assigned me in the first place. ( )

Just didn't work for me - I couldn't connect with any of the characters. I see it's value in American literature, but will never be a favorite of mine. ( )

Langweilig: Leider kann ich mich dem Lob meiner Vorredner nicht ganz (bzw. überhaupt nicht) anschließen. Ich finde dieses Buch einfach langweilig. Es ist keinerlei Spannungsbogen drin, die Figuren sind so schemenhaft gezeichnet, dass sich kein Interesse für sie einstellt. Darüber hinaus weist die Geschichte etliche Sprünge auf, die sie sehr gekünstelt erscheinen lassen.
Dazu ist die Übersetzung an vielen Stellen reichlich holprig.
Warum dieser Roman zur Weltliteratur gezählt wird, erschließt sich mir nicht.