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By Ghena J.
A few weeks ago, I finished the book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The book was assigned reading from my school and took about two weeks to finish as a class. In May 2013, the book was also produced as a movie. The book takes place around the 1920s and is based on the story of a man named Jay Gatsby who tries to win over the heart of his past love, Daisy Buchanan. The story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, Daisy’s cousin. Complications arise when Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, who is also having an affair, gets in between the two and stirs up drama.
The Great Gatsby, an award-winning book, to me was just alright. It’s filled with beautiful descriptions and deep symbolism, but the book itself lacks any emotional attachment to the characters. The reader feels absolutely no connection or affection for any of the shallow, superficial key people in the elite society life. Before I began reading The Great Gatsby, I had such high expectations for it from all the exciting reviews I had heard from people about the movie. Sadly, after I read it I realized that The Great Gatsby is nothing but hype.
However, the book is by all means better than the movie. When I watched the movie, I was morbidly confused. Why was a Kanye West song playing in the background of a movie that was supposed to be in the time of the 1900s? In the movie, the wardrobe is good for the time period and Daisy and Gatsby are represented well, but the tiny details in Fitzgerald’s writing that make it so much better are never portrayed. The book is beautifully written and filled with symbols and metaphors, but I can’t help feeling hatred to all the characters and a lack of interest in the plot for that exact reason. Overall, my recommendation is to read the book and see for yourself how accurately the movie portrays the story.