The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Book Overview

The only authorized edition of the twentieth-century classic, featuring F. Scott Fitzgerald's final revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and a new introduction by National Book Award winner... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743273567
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Scribner
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Amazing

This is one of my all time favorite books of all time.

This is "good" condition!?

I would have gladly paid a little more for a copy without writing and highlighting on every single page and a bent up book if they had just been honest about the condition

The Ok Gatsby

I loved F. Scott Fitzgerald’s style of writing, but the storyline itself was less than intriguing to me. I’m still glad I read it, mostly because it’s such a classic. That being said, I’m not sure it deserves all the hype.

Great Gatsby

I received my book. Not in good shape very used. Notes written all over it. Highlights all over. Hard to focus on the story with all that.

Disappointed

I ordered a “Very Good” copy expecting it to look nice. The cover is bent and there are notes written all in the book.

Read in School

Read this in high school and liked it, watched the movie adaptation with Leonardo Di Caprio and loved it. Bought again to read it and just never did. I have a bad habit about doing that. The quality of the book was great, was definitely one of the copies I had when I was in school.

I love this book but the condition was not as promised.

The book had writing all over it. The writing was comments that do not even pertain to the book. It looks like it was used as someone’s personal journal. There was massive amounts of highlighted content. It is unreadable. Now I need to find a new copy. Big disappointment. Should have never been sold.

Deemed one of the Great American Novels for a reason

I get not everyone is into classic literature but the Great Gatsby still rings true even today. The story follows Nick Carroway, who is well spoken and you kind of relate with as just being a guy who gets caught up in the crazy lives of the people around him. The novel itself drives home the point that not much has changed since the 1920s- the rich are still careless people who leave the lives of others ruined in their wake. People who are not crazy about the Great Gatsby novel because they think it is just full of unlikable characters and rich parties are kind of missing the point. A character doesn't have to be likeable to be interesting and the parties are supposed to be over the top. The novel is trying to speak to you and the people who listen will find that this novel is still amazing 100 years later.

The Great Gatsby

Was not expecting the annotations in the book.

I was okay with it

I had the time so I read it in a day. I kind of liked it. Although I hated the ending. Gatsby deserved better, a lot better. Daisy and Tom made my blood boil. I didn't like them. None of them deserved Nick. And almost everyone turned out to be fake and only cared for Gatsby's money in the end. Overall I recommend it.

An amazing classic

This is an an amazing read. Easy to read, and very enjoyable. Likable and relatable characters. An interesting glimpse into 1920's culture.

Correction

I ordered “good”

not acceptable

ordered an acceptable book, but it was not. It was thoroughly used. Written on the margins almost in most of the pages.

Disappointed

Received a acceptable paperback few months ago - it had been highlighted and wrote in - I couldn’t enjoy the book

Highly Recommend

Read this book for the first time in high school and absolutely fell in love. Bought it on here just to have my own copy. I love the symbolism and foreshadowing done by this writer (even though he does occasionally become long winded). If you enjoy a good detailed description to picture exactly what the author wanted you to, and you enjoy an overall great story I would recommend this book

"Good" condition

Arrived with heavy writing on every single page as well as some pages being ripped off partially.

Top favorite of all time

Probably the only kid in my senior English class who devoured this book. This made me fall in love with Fitzgerald’s style of literature and his symbolism is too beautiful. A must read for classic fiction readers!

A classic you’ll want to reread over and over

F Scott Fitzgerald was an amazing writer. Not only do the words flow together like poetry, he paints an outstanding scene in your head. This book is about love, finding yourself, and the pain of heartache.

Great experience

I bought The Great Gatsby as a second hand book and I love it. Not only do I enjoy the story, but I love overall old, used books. They give me that kind of vintage feeling. It’s maybe good to mention that the previous holder wrote down side notes inside of it but it doesn’t bother me at all.

Classic!

My daughter needed this book for her lit class. However, I want to watch the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio!

One of my favorites

Fitzgerald is one of my favorite authors. I love how he explores humanity in his novels. This book draws you into the shallow world of the 1920's elite--it's beautiful and magical and empty. I don't usually reread books but I certainly will reread this one again and again.

The reason I read

I've read this book several times and could read it 100 more times. I get so wrapped up in the story every time I read it. My absolute favorite book of all time.

A Fascinating Early Draft of The Great Gatsby

As a die hard Fitzgerald fan, Trimalchio has enhanced my love and understanding of The Great Gatsby. I really loved the signifance of the name Trimalchio, once I understood it. (For those of you who haven't read the 2nd century AD play by Titus Petronius in which Trimalchio is orignially referenced, Trimalchio is a slave who throws an extragavent feast that everyone laughs behind his back at.) Knowing the reference gave such new depth to my understanding of Gatsby's character, for who was he really if not an updated Trimalchio? Something else that seemed rather interesting to me were some of the white supremecy illusions that Fitzgerald sprinkled lightly throughout the novel, notably in conversations with Tom and Daisy about the "Master Race". I also noticed a Swastika Holding Company noted in one of Nick's outings to NYC. That alone, the Swastika Holding Company within an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, is worthy of a dissertation. This early draft seems far darker than The Great Gatsby, yet far clearer in character definition. I understood Gatsby and Daisy's characters far more clearly in this draft. This is an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous preview of what would become "The Great Gatsby" and I highly recommend it.

Beautiful & fascinating -- A must-read for "Gatsby" lovers

"The Great Gatsby" is my favorite book. This early version is absoultutely fascinating to me. I've read much about the history of the manuscript and the changes made to it, and with "Trimalchio" we get to read for ourselves one version. I was thrilled to have this unusual opportunity; I felt privileged. (Only one complaint in this review is in my last paragraph.) Aside from the sheer thrill of witnessing at least part of the transition and revision, the book itself is a wonder--to one end--to be viewed along with "The Great Gatsby." Things I've been bothered by in "Gatsby" are different in this book, and it's interesting to read that they had indeed been altered - most notably, the mid-section in "Gatsby" when Nick tells the reader in a near omnicient narration Gatsby's true story; this happens entirely differently in "Trimalchio" and in my opinion does not break the narrative flow the way it does in the final "Great Gatsby." Some unanswered questions, some debated items become clearer after reading this. Is Gatsby a good guy or a bad guy? Is Nick? Who is Jordan Baker really? Is Nick the agent of the action or an observant/removed narrator? "Trimalchio" presents the answers to some of these questions differently than does "The Great Gatsby," or in a more straightforward and clear fashion. In a sense, this could be a truer-to-Fitzgerald's-soul account, as many of the changes were suggested to him from the outside. Many of the characters underwent changes from this version to "The Great Gatsby," though some changes more major than others. I'm trying, in this review, not to write what would be a book's worth of my opinion about which is a superior book. Gatsby is such a part of me I could write forever. I will mention that typos and other necessary changes were made from this to the final, as well. And although some things I've questioned and have bothered me simply because I do love the book so much are different in this early version, I don't know how I'd feel if this were the *only* version of the book, as what we have here is an early version of a book I'd always thought brilliant. The language is beautiful; the characters amazing, sad, complex. I'm infinitely impressed by this book, whichever level of "completion." I've got one complaint about this edition of "Trimalchio": at the back of the book, there is a list of changes made - galley version, holograph, 1st edition, etc. They are laid out in such a way that they are hard to follow and hard to study. I nearly know "The Great Gatsby" by heart. While reading "Trimalchio" I noticed tiny, tiny differences. But, after I finished, I wanted to truly study the changes at each stage of Fitzgerald's writing, and the lay-out and lack of explanation made it oppressively uninviting. It's too bad, too, because I am ceaselessly (as FSF might say) interested in this - this book, the revision process, its history, everything Gatsby.

A Must-Read for Gatsby/Fitzgerald Fans

I first encountered "The Great Gatsby" in 11th grade and its sheer lyric beauty has transfixed me to the point of at least 4 readings per year ever since. Therefore, "Trimalchio" was a joy for me to read and I believe it will bring the same amount of happiness to fellow Fitzgerald fans. The book is a brief read at only 146 pages of actual text,( as opposed to "Gatsby's" 189 in the most recent Scribner paperback edition) but the opportunity to read the rough draft of a genuis like Fitzgerald is an invigorating experience- reading passages from "Trimalchio" and then looking at their equivalent passages in "Gatsby" allows you to enter the mind of Fitzgerald through his revisionary decisions and enchances your appreciation of the sheer amount of work which Fitzgerald devoted to crafting his masterpiece. That being said, do not expect incredible differences between the two texts: the most notable changes are minor details and the chronilogical order of events and revelations. Reading "Trimalchio" is ultimately like watching deleted scenes from a movie on a DVD- they are of comparatively minor significance, but they enhance one's appreciation of the work as a whole. If you loved "The Great Gatsby," take the time to read "Trimalchio."

Jazz Age Beauty

In the Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald created a wonder. He described a world and a fiend we can all relate to, that of frustrated and not fully requitted love, and he described it with all the beauty that anybody using the English language could muster. His message was the we are all fighting against the tide of time, which beats us back ever more forcefully with the progressing years, and yet we all feel that our youth, our elixir, our perfect moment and strength of Orient is within our grasp. Gatsby was a man who had lost once, and yet felt the compulsion to fight again, for the ultimate prize that would revoke his past defeat. A simple and bewilderingly focused passion that in the end destroyed the man as only it could. That was Gatsby's only goal, but in stripping his life down to such basics, and in essence, seeking to negate the past, Gatsby found he was fighting against the viscious tide of time. Read this book for the narrative, if you like. Read it for the beautiful Jazz Age description if you like also. But read it most of all for the moments in it whose beauty surpasses all contemporarys'. Find the green light.