Just finished this meme. Why is it widely regarded as one of

>>8327803
>Hey guys, this classic work of objectively brilliant literature that has shaped thought for decades is terrible

>I should know, I'm like super clever and stuff. It's trash. Everyone has been wrong about this book the whole time.

>this isn't a bait thread I swear

>>8327803
Simple yet descriptive writing used to tell a story with a powerful life lesson. What's not to like?

>>8327803
>Why
Because Americans needed something short and easy to canonize and teach, and because of this good old sheepish behavior you have a perfect example of right here >>8327816

>>8327816
>Hey guys, I can't accept that fact that people have different opinions from myself because I'm a betafaggot.

>>8327803
I completely agree anon.

>>8327803
Modern bullshit. No wonder Scott Fitzgerald is a member of the "lost generation".

>>8327803
Because it's simple but with enough pretence depth so plebs feel good about "getting it". Fitzgerald was a slightly better John Green of his generation.

>>8327816
kek

>>8327816
>objectively brilliant

go on, defend how The Great Gatsby is objectively brilliant.

>>8328097
My HS teacher said it's good!

>>8327803
the book is deceptively simple. it really does fool stupid people into thinking it's really plain. that's what I love about it.

>>8327837
This guy's got it.

>>8328207
>>8327816
probably the same guy

>perfect prose
>prescient themes
>Fitzgerald never fell for the maximalism meme

It's a hat trick

>>8327816
plain autism

>>8327803
Agreed. Also, Tom is one of the most superficial characters ever written.

>>8327837
Is it simple? I had to read a lot of paragraphs twice and have a dictionary next to me desu. This was the summer going into university though before I had more reading experience. Perhaps I should read it again.

>>8328307
Did you really have to read it with a dictionary by your side?

The book has beautiful prose. What other books are like it? Someone mentioned Fitz's other books but I can't remember which was the better one

>>8327816
cuck

I can't really think of a book with tighter prose. The book is wonderfully nationalistic but deals with deceptivly simple universal themes, the characters are gripping, memorable, and complex, and, above all, it's just really pretty in a Flaubertian way that's more rapturous than sublime. Not too mention it's a book you can interpret with a myriad of critical lenses and have every interpretation seem "right," as if old Fitzy was clever enough to pack in so much subtext. Not many novels can do that in under 200 pages (assuming you're using the Scribener).

>>8328770
Tom isn't complex at all. Neither is Jordan, nor Myrtle. They're pretty superficial, anon.
Also, what universal themes?

REMINDER THAT TOM DID NOTHING WRONG

>>8328760
Try Winter Dreams. It's a short-story that's basically the proto-Gatsby

Say Nick, have you ever read a book called "The Rise of the Colored Empires" by this man Goddard?

Bae across the Bay is the meaning of suffering

A book of genius written by a mediocre writer.

Thinking Gatsby, Hemingway, Salinger = pleb is a tryhard phase you'll grow out of on the road to true patriciandom.

>>8329511
Thinking in terms of trying-hard and patriciandom is something you'll, ... well, probably not.

It's Firzgerald's shortest, best, most focused work. Fitzgerald was a fairly popular writer already. This book is also one of the best artifacts of the Jazz Age

I mean, it's popular for lots of reasons. If you didn't like it, literally nobody cares, because every book is worthy of somebody liking or not liking it. You're not breaking new ground by shitting on the Great Gatsby. There are thousands of high school kids just like you who don't appreciate it for whatever reason. Maybe some day you will. Maybe not. It literally doesn't matter

>>8328708
>dictionary
not literally but there were a few words I remember having to look up. It isn't an easy read for the average high school student.

>>8327803
I think the thing about this book is that it's easily taught and easily learned. It IS a good book, but it might not hit as hard if you skipped it when you started getting into literature and read a ton of varied and complicated stuff before.

You should try reading it again in five years.

>>8329686
You think so? Maybe it's just a case of, due to being written a while ago, some of the words have fallen out of common-use.

>>8329743
I'll consider that. Thank you, anon.

Tender is the Night is his best work

>>8331382
I think so as well. I had to reread TITN when I was in college and it is so much better than Gatsby.

>>8331729
>TITN

>>8331382
I thought it was garbage. Stupid little bourgeois ditty about horny white people on vacation. Then one of them became an alcoholic. Wow. Can't stand Evelyn Waugh for the same reason.

>>8329686
>average high school student

Next time just lead off with letting us all know you are retarded so we don't waste our time.

Everyone who reads GG and doesn't think it is the best piece of modern anglo literature is like Hitler to me.

>>8327842
underrated post

>>8327842
>Durr murrcan meme
Adorable.

>>8333256
It's pure truth, anon.

>>8327803
The ending was embarrasing.

>>8333256
It seems absurd to say this given how culturally specific it is, but that sort of book would never have been given consideration in any other context, and especially not in a country secure in having a greater literary tradition.

>>8327803
I agree, except for the last two chapters being good. I can't understand why this is considered a classic let alone "the great American novel".

>>8333005
It's getting far too summer in here.

I kinda liked This Side of the Paradise too