Synopses & Reviews
The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925 and is considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. This is a large print edition printed in 16 point font size.The mysterious Jay Gatsby uses his fabulous wealth to create an enchanted world fit for his former love, Daisy Buchanan, now married to Tom. Daisy, though, is a romanticised figment of his own imagination, and the extraordinary world that he creates is equally illusory. He gives lavish, legendary, parties where the guests and gate-crashers enjoy free-flowing champagne and cocktails and carefree hospitality. It is easy for modern readers to forget that the story takes place in the time of Prohibition (1920 to 1933) something that would have been immediately apparent when the book was first published. It enforces the nature of the unreal world that Gatsby creates, beyond the reach of the law and the police.But a more sinister reality begins to break through, as idealised romantic figures prove to have human frailties and selfish motivations, and the grandiose world of Gatsby's creation crumbles and disillusion turns to tragedy.A new film, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan will be released in 2012.
Synopsis
The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.
'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.'
Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby's origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that 'he killed a man'. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for.
As the tragic story unfolds, Gatsby's destructive dreams and passions are revealed, leading to disturbing consequences. A brilliant evocation of 1920s high society, The Great Gatsby peels away the layers of this glamorous world to display the coldness and cruelty at its heart.
'Not only a page-turner and a heartbreaker, it's one of the most quintessentially American novels
ever written' Time
'He (F Scott Fitzgerald) was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a
generation' New York Times
'The most perfectly crafted work of fiction to have come out of America' Professor Tony Tanner
'The American masterwork, the finest work of fiction by any of this country's writers' Washington Post