commit 0f6527f75b0c416d91b0882f4fede223e650b381
parent 76ebea19eb4f8cd193538d10ba79ab086a705366
Author: FIGBERT <figbert@figbert.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 16:53:53 -0700
Add Great Gatsby review
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 44 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/reading/great-gatsby.md b/content/reading/great-gatsby.md
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+title = "Some of This and Some of That"
+date = 2024-09-19
+[extra]
+book = "The Great Gatsby"
+author = "F. Scott Fitzgerald"
+finished = 2024-07-04
+rating = "★★★★★"
++++
+
+I read this and imagined it contained in a small pocket-sized book, and
+myself quite the intellectual, amused by quaint fictions. I sought to
+divine from the tale of hedonism and grandeur exactly the line where one
+crosses over from glory into excess. A selfish goal, to be sure.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+I [watched the movie] shortly after reading the book. I enjoyed the
+adaptation greatly. I thought it did well in capturing the scale of the
+parties implied in the novel. I was not a huge fan of the narration. I
+enjoyed that they threw out any historical pretense and embraced a
+radically modern soundtrack.
+
+It is a young man's interpretation of this book that defines it as a
+source of inspiration, but I can't help myself. I want to throw out my
+arms and present to an audience the splendor and spectacle of my life
+and tell them they can't find anything quite like it anywhere else in
+the world. Now ideally, I would be able to do as such without Gatsby's
+failings. I don't think a warning about spoilers is required some
+hundred years after publication: the book doesn't end well for Gatsby.
+Is it wrong to say this is due to his refusal to take the past as
+immutable? His dissatisfaction with only controlling the future? These
+seem remarkably solvable issues. I am surely missing many others.
+
+For now, at least, I will try and fold what showmanship and generosity I
+can from Gatsby into my own life. To give favors and gifts to those who
+wash up on my shores. To unabashedly [enjoy existence]. To fake it, as
+they say, until you make it.
+
+I dove into the world of Gatsby at the recommendation of Jack and his
+family. My thanks go out to you.
+
+[watched the movie]: https://letterboxd.com/figbert/film/the-great-gatsby-2013/
+[enjoy existence]: https://x.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1633882580746653696
