The Great Gatsby: an audiobook adventure

Audiobooks can be a great way to read a book that may be difficult to read in print.  I wish I had known this in high school.  I struggled so much with Shakespeare and classic books like Jane Eyre.  They read to me like another language.  I could not understand what was going on, no matter how much I poored over the material.  About a year ago I read Pride and Prejudice (Amazing book.  Please read it and fall in love with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.) on audiobook.  It changed my life.  Since then I have read numerous classics this way and have thoroughly enjoyed each one.  I know that there are many I could not have read in print (Les Miserables, The Three Musketeers, and Emma to name a few) because of the language in the book.  The structure of the sentences and turn of phrase. I would just not have been able to do it.  But with someone else reading it to me, speaking in a French or British accent, I enjoy my time driving to work.

I saw the trailer for the new movie version of The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio and was stumped.  The Great Gatsby was one that I actually read in high school and enjoyed.  I couldn't tell you a dang thing about it until three weeks ago when I read it, but I remember being in high school, reading it, and thinking that this was a classic I could actually read in print.  I wanted to read the book again before I saw the movie (and my future brother-in-law, Kurt, said the trailer wasn't anything like the book he remembered reading).  So I read it.

It was enjoyable.  It wasn't great.  It wasn't bad.  But it also was not what I expected. 

Premise from Infosoup: Jay Gatsby had once loved beautiful, spoiled Daisy Buchanan, then lost her to a rich boy. Now, mysteriously wealthy, he is ready to risk everything to woo her back. Bathtub gin, flappers and house parties that last all week enliven Fitzgerald's classic tale, a startling portrait of Gatsby's search for meaning in his opulent world.

I enjoyed the slight East cost accent of the reader, which was fitting because this occurs on the East coast.  I also had not read the description of the book before I read it, so everything was a surprise.  The book centers more around Daisy's cousin, Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire) who knows both Gatsby and Daisy, than Gatsby himself.  If you've seen the trailer for the movie, it comes across that way although it's made clear that Gatsby is a main character. 

I wasn't overwhelmed by the plot.  It was fine.  The pacing was a good speed.

But I loved the turn of phrase.  Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald knows how to write a sentence and make it come alive. 

"Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively under mine, Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square."

"For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened- then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk."

Those are just two examples, but sentences like this were scattered throughout the book.  It has been a long time since I read a book where the author literally painted the image upon my mind.

The Great Gatsby was a good book and I'm very glad I read it again before I saw the new movie installment.  It was a wonderful read on audiobook if that is a preferable option for you.

Consensus: 3 out of 5 stars.

~M