Having read The Great Gatsby this year (goes without saying that I did that before I saw the movie and I demand you to go the same way with book-to-movie-adaptions as often as you can) and liking his way of constructing a story and his main themes and setting (New York feat. 1920s, rich folks who don't really know what to do with their lifes (let's see: leave out NY, 1920 and the rich part and you got me)) I decided to pick up another of his highly acclaimed novels and found this used copy a couple of months ago which I completely adore! Honestly, the cover is probably the most beautiful one I own. Plus, there is a lot of turqouise at the back and spine which happens to be my favorite colour.
But you know, you should never judge a book by its cover, this goes for real life and books. So let's pretend that the cover didn't amaze you to start with: is this novel still any good or does it fail to keep up with the high expectations The Great Gatsby might have evoked?
I can only give you my opionion about the first half of the book since I am still in the reading process, but I really want to post about this book already!
The crucial thing for me about this book was the very beginning which I really love. While getting into The Great Gatsby took me some couple of chapters and visits at the Buchanan's, this one kicked off for me right from the start. It was entertaining, interessing, you get to know the protagonist's whole life story so far and a little bit about his family and what character traits he developed in which particular part of his upbringing. I found that quite amusing. After getting to know Anthony Patch (who I so far really liked as a character and kind of considered to be a little bit like me), we see him in some nowadays situation and get introduced to the who and who of his minimal social life. Even though there is not a lot going on there, I really liked Fitzgerald's writing style and how he always managed to get some really deep thoughts about the meaningless of life and society into somehow everyday life's thoughts and situations.
The novel starts to get even more interessing when the main female is entering the stage: Gloria Gilbert who is not only the perfect fit for a melodic alliteration but also the definition of beauty and witty and Anthony (who would have thought otherwise?) can't help but fall deeply in love with her.
What follows is a love story that you can not quite fall for - or at least I can't. It started to feel damned and destructive at least for Anthony, but turns out to be just bright and shinny thorughout a (maybe too) long phase of the book. Somehow, the two love birds spent their days and years being the most important part of eachother's life and finding excuses for not doing anything proper apart from travelling and observing life until it's not enough anymore. Or something like that. I don't really know because I just reached the part I am currently reading. And I don't really know where Fitzgerald is heading at the moment with his story. Should I root for Anthony & Gloria to be together and start a family? Or should I pray for them to get separated and finally find their place in life? I don't know, probably the former. Parts of his novel feel like a cheesy romance novel, parts feel like some of Nick Carraway's thought material and he definitely was better off without a girlfriend.
So writing style is A+, storytelling is leaving me conflicted so far but I enjoy the characters once again. Anthony although he slightly changed (or grow?) over this first half of the book and definitely doesn't resemble me that much anymore is a nice fellow that you like to listen to explaining how he sees the world. Gloria annoys me a lot but also has some interesting traits which make her not a very likeable but a strong and consequently built character. She reminded me a lot of The Sun Also Rises' Brett in the beginning but turned out to resemble Catherine Barkley (A Farewell to Arms) a lot more when it comes to here epic not-being-able-to-breath-without-each-other love with Anthony later on. But that might just be my inner Hemingway geek.
This is not my final rating of this book since there is nearly as much as I just wrote about to discover about the novel in its second half. But I really wanted to get this off my chest right now - so my new impressions won't influence my view of this first half.
It's basically YOUR chance to start the book and finish it before me right now! At least I got a little bit more motivated to read while typing these lines :)
enjoy reading & love hemingway
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