Personal Review

Although The Great Gatsby was very well written and realistic for the time period, the plot was uninteresting and the characters’ flat qualities were extremely boring.  Their petty lives and moral deficiency were even offensive at times.  For example, Daisy hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, and no one seems to care.  Gatsby worries that Daisy will be all right, but he expresses no concern for Myrtle or her husband.  In addition, when Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby, only Nick, his father, and a few others actually show up to his funeral.  This shows his acquaintances’ lack of respect towards him and their own self-absorption.  It was especially appalling when Daisy simply left with Tom after Gatsby—a man she claimed to love—died.  It turns out that she only loved his money, and when that was gone, Gatsby had nothing left for her.  Gatsby was the only one who spent all of his time focused on someone other than himself: Daisy.  Everything he does is done to please her, and all she cares about is his money and reputation.  In this novel, the people have simple lives and concerns; it is frustrating to think how trivial their problems seem when compared to issues like starvation in third-world countries.   

I do not enjoy reading books about shallow people with no values and their petty lives.  Admittedly, the writing was very sophisticated and complex, but it would have been a better book if the subject matter mirrored the way it was written.