The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
“A devastating critique of the American Dream, written by a man who lived it and lost everything.”
Short Summary
Nick Carraway moves to Long Island in 1922 and becomes neighbors with the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire who throws lavish parties to win back Daisy Buchanan — Nick's cousin and wife of the brutish old-money Tom Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy reunite, but the dream collapses when Tom exposes Gatsby's criminal past. Daisy kills Tom's mistress Myrtle in a hit-and-run with Gatsby's car; Gatsby takes the blame; Myrtle's husband shoots Gatsby dead in his pool. Almost nobody comes to his funeral. Nick returns to the Midwest, disillusioned.
Detailed Summary
Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and WWI veteran from Minnesota, moves to West Egg, Long Island, in the summer of 1922 to learn the bond business. His modest rental sits next to a colossal mansion belonging to Jay Gatsby, a man no one seems to know but everyone attends parties at. Nick reconnects wit...