The Beginning

I have successfully read another book this month. I read The Great Gatsby, and I am tongue tied, I bought this book in 2016 if I am not wrong, I wanted to read it long back especially when the movie came out in 2013, I was quite eager to watch it but, I didn't want to spoil the experience of reading the book by watching the movie prior to it. But 2013 was a time I wasn't exactly in a space where I could really read much, I was supposed to bury my nose in other kind of books, the books which would help me clear the UPSC not the books which challenged my imagination and rose intrigue about an era gone by. I will admit though, what attracted me to it was the era that the book was set in, I have this craze for the yesteryears, mainly to do with their clothes more than anything else. I love the kind of clothes women wore back then, the fabrics, the glimmer, the accessories, the way they wore their hair, I have always been so charmed by it. I know there were plenty of problematic issues back then, but the clothes were something that I have had an admiration for. Something about clothes always interests me, I always thought fashion could be a possible career for me but never thought too much about it, because the prospect of me entering into a career was profoundly slim. A career as a writer or psychologist is frowned upon even though they are thought to be respectful, still looked down at home, so let us not even venture into the idea of venturing into a career in fashion. Anyway I seemed to have drifted into another topic, I don't wish to delve into it today, it opens up a lot of issues I am not quite ready to talk about right now. 

Getting back to the point of discussion today, Gatsby, I wasn't able to get my hands on this book for a while and I finally bought it in late 2015/early2016. I tried to read it back in 2016, my former years of PhD, I think I had too many distractions back then, So I remember I had left it in one of the draws in the scholars' room and had forgotten all about it and it was lying there for at least two years. One day I went to clear out that desk and found quite a few books I had left there. I took them back in installments because I couldn't carry them all at once. And it gathered dust in my bookshelf at home there, I moved from there now to a new home and was beginning to collect dust here too and I finally picked it up to read. I feel good inside that I finally read this book that I so excitedly bought,I am also glad that this is the second book I have finished reading in the recent past, like past ten days. So that is some progress from hardly reading anything at all. I hope this streak continues, (fingers crossed). It feels good to be able to read something and finish it so quickly. The idea of reading books sure makes me feel good. Anyhow, I am not going to write a discourse about the benefits of reading books so I shall turn my attention to the purpose this post was intended to serve. 

The cover of the book read, 'greatest American Novel ever written' so naturally I was curious as to what was so great about Great Gatsby that it earned such a reputation. However I am not sure I would be the judge of whether the title 'greatest American novel' fits it or not for, it is only today I have realised I have not read much of American literature. Greatest novel ever written or not, the lesson I take from this is you can tell a compelling story within 200 pages, the novel doesn't need to be lengthy and verbose. I like how in a few pages the whole story unfolds. There are quite a few elements I liked in this actually. I liked how the mystery of Gatsby was brought about as we actually don't meet him in the first few pages other than know that there is someone called Gatsby. It has this intrigue as to who this guy is and what is so special about him. I liked the foreshadowing, the mention of a 'bad driver' or the 'hearse' or the 'death car'. I liked how the element of surprise and obvious coexisted in it. There were some writing techniques that I myself would like to implement in my writing someday. I sat glued to the book after a point, I didn't want to move at all, it reminded me of how I used to glue myself to a book back in the days. 

By the time you read the last page your heart really goes out to Gatsby, leaving one with the feeling he was really great in some way. It felt so bad especially because he worked his way to where he reached in life from nothing to a guy who had everything save the woman he loved. The part where his father comes and beams with pride thinking of how far his son made it and how he had a future, it makes you really sad. I almost felt like crying reading it. I didn't have much of an impression about Nick except he seemed like a bit of an uptight guy bordering on the mildly on the self righteous territory, but he was ok I suppose and so was Jordan, not much of a feeling about her either. Daisy seemed like this damsel in distress trapped in a loveless marriage, who was trying hard to hold it all together. Maybe it was the name 'Daisy' that gave me the feeling that she was supposed to be this person full of sunshine, but she wasn't quite that. And Tom was one guy I hated from the beginning, he is the one guy who behaved badly toward almost everyone and in the end things almost fall in place for him. Gatsby who tried to take the blame for Daisy so as to protect her meets an unfair end as opposed to Tom and Daisy who vanish from the scene and move on with their lives. But then again, life isn't always fair and people don't always get their just desserts.

So that's about Gatsby, at least for today, hey who knows may be I will write about it another time Old Sport!