The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
What with 2020 being a year of upheaval in so many ways, in particular with white, wealthy, patriarchal men trying to run roughshod over the rights of others in the US, I felt drawn to reread The Great Gatsby, a classic about the "American Dream" and how the wealthy can thoughtlessly and carelessly harm others.
When I then read up on Fitzgerald's biography, I came to understand why I feel the book now reads on multiple fronts like a tragedy. The story of Gatsby himself reads like a Greek tragedy, whereas the book as a whole celebrates a time/era even while acknowledging its inevitable loss:
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us the, but that's no matter--tomorrow, we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (121)
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