I just remembered this fact yesterday. This book is responsible for making me interested in Art Nouveau. The reason is simple, but it's not what you'd expect.
A series consisting of three books with Fitzgerald's novels was published in 1996 and so, I remember it on one of our bookshelves since I was small. Not yet acquainted with Art Nouveau, or Mucha, I was simply drawn to its cover, as a child. I imagined the contents to be mysterious and magical, because such beautiful pictures could not be put on covers of bad books. However, I grew to know who Fitzgerald was and what kind of stories he wrote. And I lost interest to the books. The dream to find a wonderful fairy-tale inside those books was gone.
story and characters
Now that I've read it, I feel sympathy towards Gatsby even less than I did after watching the movie. Call it the chemistry of acting, but maybe it were the crew, the screenplay and directing, the actors, finally, who made the story so attractive.
In the end, I pitied the Gatsby in the book much less than in the movie, and Daisy was much less a woman alive and much more a doll who loved rich life. I mean, she was really crying because of fascination by J's shirts sent from England. And he was really a man who loved her image in his mind, but not her the way she was.
One thing that I consider important in the book in contrast to the movie where this detail was left out, is the schedule of young Getz.
Rise from bed……………. 6.00 a.mDumbbell exercise and wall-scaling…… 6.15-6.30 ”
Study electricity, etc………… 7.15-8.15 ”
Work………………… 8.30-4.30 p.m
Baseball and sports…………. 4.30-5.00 ”
Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.00-6.00 ”
Study needed inventions……….. 7.00-9.00 ”
General ResolvesNo wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable]No more smokeing or chewingBath every other dayRead one improving book or magazine per weekSave $5.00 {crossed out} $3.00 per weekBe better to parents
To do without trifle and trite comments about 'American dream', this was one more thing that made me sure about what type of information metabolism Gatsby had. A perfect LIE (ENTj) for you.
style
I guess, this was an easy book for me. Well, since I didn't read it in the original. The style was not boring and was not excessively flowery or artificial, and was not straightforward, too. The only strange thing about the translation was that how they perceive the word cool in the following part:
“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby’s eyes floated toward her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool.”Was is that Gatsby was cool amidst the hot summer day, like the book said? Or that he was an ideal man, like Daisy said in the movie? Or that he was cool even though he was going to have a serious conversation? Or all of that? I guess, it's left to the imagination of the readers, anyway.
Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.
“You always look so cool,” she repeated.
She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago.
“You resemble the advertisement of the man,” she went on innocently. “You know the advertisement of the man ——”
conclusion
Most part of American literature is not for me. Hemingway, Shaw, Dreiser... Such books just feel like an obligation, because it's classics, it's not good not to know them. Now Fitzgerald joins the row. However, I cannot possibly deny that it's educating. And I guess I don't have any regrets.
Still, to be honest, I'm not sure I'd decide to read it, finally, if not for the movie.
