Can we talk about how people keep calling 'The Great Gatsby' a love story?

Honestly, my book club in Cincinnati spent the whole last meeting arguing about this. Half the group kept saying it's a tragic romance, but I think they're missing the whole point about the American Dream. I even pulled a quote from chapter nine where Nick calls Gatsby's dream 'already behind him'. How do you all handle it when the main debate seems to miss the book's core theme?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_cameron7d ago

It's the same thing with people who watch a movie like Fight Club and think it's just about guys hitting each other. They get caught up in the surface stuff and miss the actual message. Gatsby is a warning about wanting a past you can't have back, not some grand love. It happens all the time where the simpler, prettier story wins out over the real, messy point. What book is your club doing next?

xena_fox397d ago

That "tragic romance" take is rough. My friend had to sit through a whole class where people argued Gatsby and Daisy were soulmates, and he said it felt like they read a different book about parties and fancy shirts.