August 2011 Guest Editor Deborah Lawrenson on F Scott Fitzgerald...
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is so full of exquisite prose it’s like being glutted on champagne and diamonds and fluttering silk. And it’s the contrast between the glittering words, and the lost illusions and tawdry underside of the American Dream in the 1920s that makes this such a poignant read. That and the best closing lines of any novel, ever.
Visit our '50 Classics Everyone Should Read' collection to discover more classic titles.
One of Giles Coren's favourite books.
A classic that captures the mood of the 1920's, the time after the great War when life was for living. Gatsby in pursuing the 'American Dream' finds, with devastating consequences, that money may not be the route to happiness.
November 2009 Guest Editor Katie Agnew on F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Whenever I'm asked what my favourite book of all time is I never hesitate - 'The Great Gatsby'. For me there's no contest. I first read this novel at school and I've re-read it every couple of years since. I'm obsessed with it - Fitzgerald's flawless writing style, his painfully flawed characters, the deliciously decadent Jazz Age setting and, ah, that tragic ending.
The story breaks my heart every time but like a moth to the flame, I can't help myself. I love it! I want to be in it! In fact, whenever I need a pseudonym, I use the name Jordan Buchanan, a character from 'The Great Gatsby'.
A survey recently named The Great Gatsby as one of the greatest fictional playboys of all time … click to find out more
The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.'Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby's origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that 'he killed a man'. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for.As the tragic story unfolds, Gatsby's destructive dreams and passions are revealed, leading to disturbing consequences. A brilliant evocation of 1920s high society, The Great Gatsby peels away the layers of this glamorous world to display the coldness and cruelty at its heart.'Not only a page-turner and a heartbreaker, it's one of the most quintessentially American novels ever written' Time'He (F Scott Fitzgerald) was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a "generation"' New York Times'The most perfectly crafted work of fiction to have come out of America' Professor Tony Tanner'The American masterwork, the finest work of fiction by any of this country's writers' Washington Post
| Primary Genre | Classic fiction: general and literary |
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The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights.
The Great Gatsby features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classic fiction: general and literary, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Hardback, Paperback, Book, Ebook, CD-Audio. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published by Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
The Great Gatsby has 191 pages
Yes it is part of Penguin Essentials series
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
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