The Great Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

After reading This Side of Paradise I thought I wouldn't read more Fitzgerald. I know his works are huge and maybe it was just because Paradise was an early book but I just didn't enjoy it.  However, I did sit down and read Gatsby which is probably his best known work for it's exploration of the Jazz Age.

As always I found that I couldn't really like any of the characters; when I read This Side of Paradise there were no characters I could love; in fact I downright disliked some.  In the case of The Great Gatsby I found that I didn't hate anyone but I didn't love them either.
I thought this book was about the American Dream, but when I discussed it with others they said no, it is about the Jazz Age and having a roaring good time. 
I think it's both.

"Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry."

Gatsby is the mysterious and very wealthy neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. They live on Long Island, Nick commutes into New York City to sell bonds. Gatsby is famous for having wild, turbulent parties. As stated by Nick in the book, "People were not invited- they went there."
Nick has a beautiful and shallow cousin named Daisy, she is married to Tom who is an arrogant block. Nick is introduced to Daisy's friend Jordan, a pro woman golfer whom Nick starts dating. When Nick is finally invited to one of Gatsby's roaring parties, Nick actually does wait to be invited, he finally meets the mystical Gatsby about whom swarm many rumors about his past and his current business connections. As is typical of Fitzgerald the Great War is discussed, both Nick and Gatsby fought in it. 
Soon, Nick discovers one of Gatsby's great secrets: he is in love with Daisy. He first fell in love with her when he was an officer. The past history between Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom is reminiscent of Fitzgerald's own personal life. 

I know this is the Great American Novel, I also think it could be about the American Dream.  Jay Gatsby is a self-made man. He goes from being simply James Gatz from Minnesota to becoming the wealthy and influential Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is thought to be a bootlegger which is what gave him his enormous fortune and brilliant mansion.   
"His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people--his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God... and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end."

I actually did enjoy reading this, it was definitely quicker than Paradise and the story felt more solid and real. Fitzgerald has his typical vague metaphors in describing aspects of people and ideas but maybe that is what makes him so popular. I suppose it is the Great American Novel.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."



 

19th Century England...Again!

The Silent Governess
by Julie Klassen

Ah, nothing like a trip back to merry old England back in the 19th century.   
Melodrama- the servants' world below stairs...the handsome Lord and his secretive cousin...the persistent stable boy...the strange gamekeeper...and the mysterious governess with a hidden past...
What do they all have in common? A penchant for stirring up trouble in unexpected ways. 

Olivia is forced to flee from her parent's house when a horrible incident causes her to fear for her life and her mother's. She runs away to Brightwell Court where she accidentally overhears a dreadful secret that will greatly affect Lord Bradley, the young son of Lord Brightwell. Intending to keep her from revealing his secret Lord Bradley forces Olivia to become the new under nurse to the children of his beautiful cousin Judith, recently widowed and residing at Brightwell Court. Olivia soon becomes fast friends with the children but does not convince the Lord of her innocence quite so quickly.   
But, Olivia is not the only one aware of the Lord's secret; someone is blackmailing Lord Bradley. Could it be Felix, the lazy dandy under pressure to graduate from school who might just snap? Is it Croome, the frightening gamekeeper with something to hide? Is it a poacher, intending to make a pretty penny off of Lord Bradley? Or could it be Olivia herself, who has a great secret of her own and was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Julie Klassen really did her research when she wrote this story, each chapter starts off with an excerpt from a book about 19th century English life and sets a precedent for what the rules and conventions were for a typical household. Without giving away the main conflict: the details and intricacies can be muggy but it is all explained in the end.  
I really like the story and would definitely recommend it. Now excuse me; I'm off to reserve more Julie Klassen books from the library.

 

As I See It

Life As We Know It

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas

Rating: PG-13 

Score: 3.5/4

This movie starts off with the awkward date that first sets Holly against Messer for several years. They were set up by their mutual friends, Peter and Alison. When the date goes south before Holly even pulls out of the driveway in her 'Smart Car' it will become a running joke in the group of friends that Holly can't stand Messer. 
Fast forward to the present day, Peter and Alison live in a gorgeous house and have a baby girl named Sophie. Her one year birthday has just been celebrated and life is perfect.  Until the night that Holly gets a phone call from the police station telling her that Peter and Alison are dead and Sophie is an orphan.

A la Raising Helen, Holly and Messer have been appointed Sophie's guardians...even though they both have busy jobs and have never raised a child before. There is also the fact that they can't get along and the added bonus of Sophie's cute doctor, Sam, who likes Holly. 

Even though the concept of this movie has been done many times and of course had a predictable ending, I couldn't help but enjoy it.  Mishaps, that would probably not happen in real life, with the baby were funny (at one point Messer pushes Sophie down to keep her from walking for the first time before Holly gets there to see it) and the nosy neighbors that lived next to Alison and Peter's house were fun to watch. 
The movie felt longer than most chick flicks, I found myself shifting in my seat after the 90 minute mark, it's almost two hours long which is really no great stretch. 


It's predictable, unoriginal, and exaggerated. But it's also cute, sweet, somewhat funny, and great for just a day of relaxing.

Jane Austen: One Hundred Years Later

Frederica

By Georgette Heyer

When I first heard about Georgette Heyer I thought she was just another "chick-lit" writer.  I definitely wasn't expecting a story this charming!

Set during the Regency period of England's history Frederica is a sweet novel depicting the trials and tribulations of Frederica and her siblings.  Their parents are dead leaving Frederica as the head of the family.  Technically her older brother Harry is the head of the family but "Freddy" is much more capable.  Frederica brings her beautiful sister Charis to London for the Season so that she might make a wonderful match.  Accompanying them are the younger brothers Jessamy and Felix and their unhappy aunt.  Frederica makes an appeal for help to their distant cousin the Marquis of Alverstoke who is indolent and selfish. 

Frederica doesn't want financial support, she wants the Marquis to use his social influence to launch Charis into Polite Society.  The Marquis of Alverstoke surprisingly agrees to do so; but only because he wants to spite his arrogant, demanding sisters who want him to launch their own daughters into Society. 

The Marquis soon finds that his Merriville cousins do not always follow the precedents set down by their peers, inadvertently of course they always seem to be getting into scrapes.  Along the way Charis gains a large set of suitors and to her surprise, and Alverstoke's, so does Frederica.  

This novel was delectable! Although at times I had trouble understanding the vocabulary because of the liberal use of nineteenth century British slang, I enjoyed it so much that using the context was enough.  It was like reading Jane Austen; the author had done so much research that the background and diction could have easily been Austen.

This is recommended for anyone who loves historical settings, Austen, and a good story!