The Great Gatsby by Scott F Fitzgerald

 The Great Gatsby by Scott F Fitzgerald

Wonderful book

 

The Great Gatsby is one of the best books ever. In fact, according to the Modern Library list of best 100 books of the 20^th century, it is the second best, bested only by Ulysses.

This is the third time that I have read this fabulous book.

What struck me all the three times that I have been though these pages is its simplicity. The story seems a bit farfetched, only at one point, but then coincidences do happen and it is the only “extraordinary „situation.

Of course, we have Gatsby and the extravagant parties, which gave inspiration to Luhrmann to produce a wild, outrageous and unfortunately bad movie, based on the famous novel.

Gatsby is a fascinating character, played by Robert Redford, decades ago and Leonardo di Caprio only last year.

It is unfortunate though, that both great actors played the same Gatsby in two equally unsuccessful movies. How mysterious: such a great book has managed to generate scripts for modest productions.

Scott F Fitzgerald might have produced a great script, but who knows what Hollywood would have made out of it.

Gatsby reminds me of the cartoon millionaires and billionaires that we see in the world today and especially in the developing side of the planet. Where I live, the majority of the top 50 richest “businessmen” are now in jail.

Like Gatsby, they have all been involved in shady, illegal deals in order to amass a fortune.

Meyer Wolfsheim is the mentor who taught Gatsby how to make money and he is the one who

-          “Fixed the 1919 World Series”

He has the “goneggtions” and is the first clue that we have about the real deals that Gatsby is making. All the people who come at the Gatsby mansion, for the never ending party, talk about the dark side of the proprietor:

-          “They say he killed a man”

Nick Carraway seems to be the main character for a while, but he leaves the center stage to his neighbor, who is much more complex. Nick is interesting, likeable, good, but Gatsby has the evil side that, together with the glitzy, glamorous, shining aspect of his personality make for an unforgettable personage.

Gatsby is in love with daisy, but in a peculiar way. I still do not know why they had separated when they were young and loved each other, but it seems that money was the main issue. Indeed, when we come to think of it, Gatsby seems to want to own the woman he loves.

When faced with a rival for present and past emotions, Gatsby wants have control over all of Daisy, past and present.

That causes a revolt and the man who is used to have his huge house full to the brim with guests he doesn’t even know, finds himself lonely and abandoned. I will not go into the details, but even his partner Wolfsheim is avoiding to have anything to do with Gatsby at one important stage in the book.

The moral seems to be that money does not buy friendship or, indeed, anything except material things- you can have a huge house, a fabulous car, servants, and a plane and still suffer and be miserable.

And in the end, we are all the same, for when the moment comes, we do not take anything to another world- if there is one.

And if there is no after world, there is no sense in accumulating things, when you end up in smoke anyway.

The Great Gatsby seems like a wild joy ride, but full of significance. It offers both pleasure and meaning.