[Reading the Classics] The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

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Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Publication Year: 1925

Pages: 177

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

My thoughts

The first (and second) time I read The Great Gatsby was for grade 11 English class (2009). It was one of the only books required for class that I actually read ahead of the deadline, and it was also one of the only ones that truly grabbed me and convinced me to love it. It was all so profound and felt somehow relevant to our times and just who I was as a person. I couldn't get enough of the story, the characters, the setting, the themes and ideas portrayed and explored by Fitzgerald, an author I've been itching to read more of since.

But in 2013, I dared to revisit this highly-revered modern classic: partly so that I'd be refreshed and ready to view the upcoming film adaptation (which I still have not watched!), but also because I was curious. Curious to see how I would react after a relatively significant amount of time had passed since my first reading it. It was like going to a reunion, a warm one, where everyone is the same as they were the last time you saw them, save for a few details here and there (that you may or may not notice).

Bottom line: I fell in love all over again.

[Reading the Classics] Animal Farm by George Orwell

[Rearranged from cover © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2003]

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Author: George Orwell

Publication Year: 1945

Pages: 84 (my edition)

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

My thoughts

"Four legs good, two legs bad"

I have decided that I love stories that utilise anthropomorphism to convey its ideas and themes. George Orwell builds an allegorical story based on the Russian Revolution: The Farm's ownership is overrun by its livestock (Battle of the Cowshed), and the pigs are the thinkers, the leaders, while all other animals do the labour and are quite content to do so under the new ruling.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

[Reading the Classics] Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

[Arranged from Vintage Classics ©Random House, 2004]

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Author: Virginia Woolf

Publication Year: 1925

Pages: 208

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity
  

Verdict: A poetic stream-of-consciousness narrative that follows the mundane day in a life of a middle-aged woman, Mrs Dalloway, as she prepares for her party. This party far from ordinary--a certain old flame from her past will be in attendance. Woolf portrays middle-class society in a sobering fashion; and yet, oddly, there is an uplifting quality that gives tribute to the preciousness of life.

My thoughts

[Source: Gilmore Girls + Tumblr]

Mrs Dalloway is kind of a British The Great Gatsby in the perspective of a middle-aged Daisy who meets up with Gatsby again, for the first time since war-time. With even more language than The Great Gatsby, more angled perception (by varied points of view) and the perspective of post-war depression to boot. The general feeling I was left with by the end mirrored that of Gatsby--this is a very serious novel, a dense piece of literature that speaks volumes, that unsettled me to my core.

[Reading the Classics] A Tree Grows in Brooklyn // Betty Smith

[Source: Deconstructed from 9780060736262; © Harper Perennial 2005]

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Author: Betty Smith

Publication Year: 1943

Pages: 500

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

Verdict: A poignant reflection on the coming-of-age of a girl whose future is as fragile as it is hopeful. The discord among social classes is explored with startling realism. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is now forever in my heart, stealing a place among my top 10 favourites of all time. The sensibility of this young girl, Francie, will astound you. Her quiet unnerving strength is inspirational as well as heart-breaking.

My thoughts

It is a magnificent coming of age story.

I have always had a personal love for coming-of-age stories, which A Tree Grows in Brooklyn most definitely is. This novel is not short, and maybe you're wondering what the story is about. If I could summarise the story it would be something like: the situation in which an impoverished family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been placed, the circumstances that have led to the situation, and a young girl's enduring will to change things.

[Reading the Classics] Of Mice and Men // John Steinbeck

[Source: Deconstructed from 9780241952481; ©Penguin 2012]

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Author: John Steinbeck

Publication Year: 1937

Pages: 107

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

Verdict: Simply unforgettable. Short but packed with atmosphere and emotion. A story about two men who fall prey to the promise of The American Dream (and many other characters). The importance of companionship is pronounced time and time again, the consequences of loneliness too high a price for instant gratification. One of Steinbeck's most famous novels, and for good reason.

My thoughts

OF MICE AND MEN is one of the few books I was required to read in high school that I actually loved and intended to revisit in the future. I will admit I had a few doubts. I worried that it wouldn't be as good as I'd remembered. I worried that I'd built it up too much in my head and that I'd just end up disappointing myself. Luckily, or maybe by my sheer force of will, I had nothing to worry about because it felt like I had just come back to something uniquely special.