"The least funny book about rich people ever written"

[supergee]

The case against The Great Gatsby

Indeed, The Great Gatsby is less involved with human emotion than any book of comparable fame I can think of. None of its characters are likable. None of them are even dislikable, though nearly all of them are despicable.

Thanx to Arts & Letters Daily

Comments

[violsva]

I spent grade eleven English in a state of feminist annoyance that every woman in that book could be described by the single word 'bitch'. I didn't realize at the time that the men were about the same. I've had no desire to read it since.

[marahmarie]

But Nick! I like Nick!

Seriously, the characters are parodies only until you realize there are people just like them in real life. Daisy: the rottenest bitch ever. Gatsby: typical of many men who forget, on some basic level, how or why they should live. I think you're better off reading than skipping this book for its horizon-expanding qualities alone (ie: yes, there really are women as vapid as Daisy! As inwardly directionless as Jay! Yes!).