The Great Gatsby Book Review + Thoughts for Thursday

Persistence of Vision Blog Tour--Day 5

Today's tour stop is a spotlight at Far From Reality. If you get a chance, pop over and take a look! :D

Welcome to the Read and Review Hop! Hosted by Anya of On Starships and Dragonwings!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

goodreads.com

When I made my New Year's Resolutions, I said that I wanted to be always reading--albeit slowly--a classic book. I put I also wanted to be reading a self-improvement book. Already it looks like I'll be tweaking that resolution. I'll probably do one or the other--the classic or the self-improvement, but I'm already not having enough time to do both. But that's okay. I don't have many of either and only want to get through a handful of each this year, so it should work out. I may even throw a non-fiction or two in for good measure. :D

I knew the first classic book I'd be reading was F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Ever since I heard about the DiCaprio film being shot (over a year ago) I've wanted to re-read it. I remember reading it in high school and liking it. I remember that it was at tragic and specific scene at the climax of the story, but other than that I couldn't remember much.

Most of the stuff that actually happens in the book had slipped my mind. I knew I wanted to re-read it before the film came out and I'm so glad I did! Even liking it in high school, I'm not sure I fully appreciated it! The Great Gatsby is amazing! It's interesting and human and tragic!

Gatsby is a very human guy. He's a nobody who made a name for himself and tried to erase his past. In a way, he almost fits into the tragic hero's mold in that he simply couldn't move on.

Daisy and Tom are almost the same character, with Daisy being only slightly more sympathetic.

One character I never liked and still don't after the second read is Jordan. She doesn't have the obliviousness of money to hide behind like Tom and Daisy do. She's more grounded and in-the-know about things like Nick is, but still chooses the lifestyle of the Buchanans. At least Nick has the grace to feel sick about what happened and walk away at some point.

Overall, I immensely enjoyed reading Gatsby again. It's deeply thought-out, well-written, a quick read, and all kinds of tragic! I'm very excited for film to come out, now (in the summer, I think).

Lesson/Theme: Always move forward. Looking continually back only stagnates you and, in some cases, can utterly destroy you.

Watch the Trailer. Just 'Cause. ;D Totally love the music they use for this trailer! It's perfect!

What do you think? Anyone else read the book? Going to see the film?

Thoughts for Thursday

devor/123rf.com

Thoughts for Thursday is a new meme hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Readers may respond by either commenting on the quotes I put forward or contributing a quote of their own. Leave it in the comments or a link to your quote in the linky. Whoever comes up with the best one will get some swag and be entered to win a bigger prize later on!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

As we move into the New Year and start to see either the success or the drop-off of our resolutions, it's easy to get overwhelmed. This week's theme is Fear!!!

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free." --Jim Morrison

"Do one thing every day that scares you."--Eleanor Roosevelt

"Faith activates God--Fear activates the Enemy."--Joel Osteen

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."--Ambrose Redmoon

"If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery."--John Paul Jones

What do you think? Do you have a favorite quote about fear to contribute? Which of the above is your favorite?

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