Re Gatsby.
I’ve read the book a bunch of times. When Squirrel and I first saw the trailer in a theater, he asked me after what the book was about. I struggled to explain it. This is not a matter of forgetting, but a matter of having a hard time putting it in to words. I could talk about themes, but how do you explain in a couple sentences why it’s still a big deal in American Literature? The plot isn’t the point, and a summary won’t convince someone it’s worth reading. I’m not convinced a discussion of themes means anything to someone who hasn’t read it. I think this difficulty in putting it into words is why Colbert’s half hour of Gatsby coverage was so good and clever. It manages to talk about it’s importance while acknowledging just how challenging the book I despite it’s length and maybe because of it’s fairly simple plot. I think everyone who’s read it in high school had a similar struggle at some point when faced with class discussions and test questions.
![tacitfawn:
A boy sits reading in a bombed bookstore, London, October 8 1940
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