Unpopular opinion: The Great Gatsby is not a great American novel

I was at my book club last Tuesday in Chicago when everyone started praising Fitzgerald's writing style as genius. I had to speak up and say I thought the whole book was just about shallow rich people doing nothing interesting. The plot barely moves and Daisy is one of the most boring characters I've ever read. Has anyone else felt like this book gets a free pass just because it's assigned in every high school?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_perry381mo ago

Same here. Felt like watching rich people be boring for 200 pages.

thea_mitchell201mo ago

okay but i kind of loved it actually. maybe it's just me but i felt like the whole point was that these people are so out of touch with real life that even their drama is boring and that's what makes it interesting. like the emptiness is the whole vibe.

lopez.karen1mo ago

Nah, hard disagree with that take @thea_mitchell20. If the whole vibe is supposed to be boring emptiness, then it's just a boring book about boring people. That's not clever, that's lazy writing. Plenty of ways to show rich people being out of touch without putting me to sleep.