I think there are multiple that end up making a list like this one and it gets to personal taste at some point. We get stuck on this ridiculous list of "classics" because academia breeds that sort of approach to literature. There are a mounds of exceptionally well done American novels. I have read Gatsby multiple times and just can't make myself enjoy the book. I'd prefer To Kill a Mockingbird if we're going to stick to lists of the "classics." I'd take most Jack London novels. Hell, I like SE Hinton's style better, it just happens to be played out in a different part of the America's social fabric.
losing to whom? you're going to tell me that your opinion should help me make up mine regarding Gatsby? I never once felt engrossed in reading it.
I like Hemingway very much. His best long works, though, were about a soldier in the Spanish Civil War, an ambulance driver in Italy, a Cuban fisherman, and a group of expats living in Spain. I think subject matter disqualifies them from consideration, not merit. At some point, the great American novel has to have something to do with 'Merca. I'm not sure what you mean by a disclaimer, either. Moby [penis] is certainly a sign of the time, as is Huck Finn, as are all of Hemingway's works. The setting doesn't limit their importance. I can't disagree with this. I think Gatsby is indisputably on the short list, and among that list I think it is the best. Sure, that's subjective, but it is also right.
I liked it the first time I read as a sophomore in high school with zero knowledge of its fame beforehand. And it's not as if Hemingway doesn't have a stigma of greatness associated with him, so any predisposition one would have toward Gatsby would be just as pervasive in an evaluation of A Farewell to Arms.
Everyone in Gatsby is pretty thoroughly developed save Nick the narrator, which I'd say was intentional. The story, as cotton mentioned, has several interesting facets. Ultimately, it's a love story/ tragedy, so I'm not sure how wild the plot can be. The mystery of Gatsby and the looming decision of Daisy were enough to drive things, in my opinion.
I can't get into it because I feel very detached from the story. It makes me feel better that you feel the same way.
Going to have to put me in the its a work of art crowd, if only for the St olaf reference, which i assume was taken by the writers of the golden girls. Any book that can make me dislike the damn narrator at times is a good book.
It's not about my opinion. It doesn't matter if you "like" the book. I don't "like" most Shakespeare, but that doesn't make me question his greatness or say he isn't as good as people claim. If you want to say that you don't like Gatsby, that's fine, you're entitled to your opinion, but claiming it isn't a great piece of work? That's an argument that won't hold up.
