Time to talk about my favorite book: “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The first time I read it was in my high school honors English class during my junior year. Usually when you read a book for class, it’s not very enjoyable because you are being forced to read it. It may have had something to do with my teacher, but either way, I fell in love with “The Great Gatsby” from the first page. This is the type of novel that you either love or you hate because the meaning is hard to figure out at first glance.   

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third novel is the one he is most known for and with good reason. “The story is of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his new love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted ‘gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,’ it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s,” (courtesy of GoodReads).   

At its core, “Gatsby” is a story of love, loss, greed and tragedy. One scene that I adore is this:  

“Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens. I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that would do for the introduction.  But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone-he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was away from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness,” (Gatsby, pages 20-21).   

It’s hard for me to fully explain why I love this book so much, but the style in which Fitzgerald writes pulls you into the world he created.  If you read anything this summer, let it be “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You will not regret it!