The Great Gastby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I can't really believe that I could finish this book so soon.

At first, I thought it was going to be another book featuring an outsider that is drawn to rich people, somehow gets himself attached with the elite friends and is finally preoccupied with the riches. 

Don't get me wrong, it's really an amazing book. I like the narrative, the settings, and the characters very much. Well played out. The story line is complex but well-connected.

Before I proceeded to read this book, I had already known this was going to be a very tough book. This is what deters me from reading "heavy books" like the Catcher in The Rye, Catch-22, and On The Road in the first place. Such books would always demand you to have certain experience in your life as they are the type of books that requires you to fill in the "gap". 

There are certain parts in the book in which you are required to fill in the blanks. The narrator, Nick Carraway, purposely leaves certain details out so that you wouldn't know what is going on. You get the idea.

In the beginning, I thought Dr. T. J. Eckleburg is a person who always stands beside the road!! It turned out later that in fact, it is a giant advertisement showing a pair of eyes of an oculist. I was so naive to think about that! This shows how the narrative can be quite misleading at times.

One thing I do know is that Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters, is fond of Daisy because he is preoccupied with wealth and as Daisy comes from a rich family, he views Daisy as a symbol of the rich, and if he manages to attain her, he can finally elevate his status as part of the riches as a success of finally entering the rich club.

Meanwhile, Nick, in some of his lapses, at some points may be interested with Gatsby as he is the epitome of coolness. Gatsby likes to throw parties and he is always seen around the elite group of friends. How Nick manages to find out all about this is because Nick lives next-door to Gatsby's mansion. However, the reason why Gatsby throws such lavish parties is not because he wants to show off his wealth, he has another reason which is revealed in the book.

Some part of the books can be quite surreal: Gatsby's preoccupation with the green light from another shore and Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's eyes for example. As I have mentioned above, it is a book that requires you to fill in the gaps as in interpret the meanings itself using your own experiences.

I managed to finish this book in below 3 days. What a feat?!! It was a fast read. Totally unexpected. Over all, it is a fantastic book. Totally recommended.