Heidi’s Comments (group member since Feb 26, 2008)

Heidi’s comments from the GoodReviews: The Official Book Review Contest group.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46...

So much of the lore surrounding this book focuses on Gatsby that I was surprised to finally meet him a quarter of the way into the book.

More than Gatsby, I am interested in the almost nameless narrator. Questions to consider: Why does he consider Gatsby great? Why is he peering back through time, sifting through the pale memories for the bright spots of color that mark the significant people and moments?

Allow yourself to sink into the greys, and be just as startled as Nick Carraway when a color reveals itself. I noticed no mention of color, or of grey, is trivial. I think the more intriguing character is Nick, not Gatsby. This can be missed because all the sparkle and dash of the parties, the drama, and the larger-than-life Gatsby can keep the reader flitting about on the surface, rather than sinking deeper for significant Nick moments. Nick, after all, is the one in the book who changes. It may not be that Gatsby is great, but that Nick's perception of Gatsby is great, and I find myself wondering, How did that affect the rest of Nick's life?

Nick says up front, "When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses in the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn."

Nick seems to need to downplay the impact that significant people and events have on him, such as Jordan Baker. "She was incurably dishonest." That seems to be attractive to him. Then Nick reveals this about himself: "Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."

I leave you with the first glimpse of Gatsby.

"I was still with Jordan Baker. We were sitting at a table with a man of about my age and a rowdy little girl who gave way upon the slightest provocation to uncontrollable laughter. I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two finger bowls of champagne and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental, and profound."

See the book for the smile that comes next.