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 Frazzled wrote:
Its quite good isn't it. A comet hitting the earth from a more hard science perspective. Have you tried The Mote inGod's Eye and FootFall?

Yep. Lucifer's Hammer has always been my favorite though.

The Scarlet Letter was a better book than The Great Gatsby and I can think of few books dryer than the Scarlet Letter where you literally read about a puddle for a page and a half (and then you read about a leaf).

I also had to read the Crucible in High School and that was a play (and still more enjoyable than Gatsby).

I can respect it as a decent and impactful book, but that doesn't stop it from being dull and using a sledgehammer to convey all of its metaphors. All of which make for the perfect novel to study in a literature. class. =P

 Frazzled wrote:
TKMB was a decent book, but it was an absolute epic film. Peck was perfect and its the first film with Robert Duvall.

I could not agree more

 Ahtman wrote:

 kronk wrote:

Red light, stop.

Green light, go.

Yellow light, go very fast.

Exalted for Starman reference.

I admit that I am surprised at the sheer number of people who really don't understand the book. You could only tell the story in twenty pages if you just relate basic plot elements, but if you do that you might as well make it one page, and then also pretend that things like phrasing, characterization, verisimilitude, metaphor, and other silly things like that aren't important to writing. I think some of the hate comes from being forced to read it.

I've used some hyperbole here, in this thread. Mainly in jest. I didn't care for the book, but recognize that its on many literary best lists.

 rubiksnoob wrote:
I imagine the conclusion we reached last time we did this won't have changed; dakka is largely comprised of uncultured heathens.

I think you could have safely stopped there.

I don't think I'll be seeing this movie because I can't watch something that long.

I found it an insipid overwritten book where the author was simply trying to imitate the style of other, more talented authors.

I really preferred the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird to the book itself, To Grill a Mockingbird, 170 avian recipes. Inspired self satire by the author.

 Ketara wrote:
I found it an insipid overwritten book where the author was simply trying to imitate the style of other, more talented authors.

Welcome to the story of a man named Francis Fitzgerald.

What i have to say about that book for fill a book three times it size. in 4 point font.
I hate that book with a passion, It simbilizes everything that is wrong with high school literature.

The Great Gatsby is tied with 1984 for my favorite novel I've had to read in English. The worst is probably Their Eyes Were Watching God or A Beautiful Mind. Oh lord were those books awful.

As for the movie, I'll probably end up watching it.

They should be focusing more on spelling, punctuation and grammar, eh?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
What i have to say about that book for fill a book three times it size. in 4 point font.
I hate that book with a passion, It simbilizes everything that is wrong with high school literature.

Exquisite agreement. Now lets break that down for an entire class to find my deep meaning.

Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

Well, except for Lord of the Flies, which was written by a schoolteacher with a degree in english literature.

Never read the book, but I really do like Carrey Mulligan. Might end up watching it for that alone.

 azazel the cat wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

Well, except for Lord of the Flies, which was written by a schoolteacher with a degree in english literature.

But even then, I doubt said teacher say down and said "Well I'm going to layer in THIS subtext and hidden meaning for people to puzzle and talk about for the next couple centuries" as opposed to the writing technique of the great Bard "Eh I'll throw a fart joke in there, that always gets a laugh..."

Daaaang, the unwashed barbarian masses have really descended on this thread....









.... I kid, I kid.

Tim?

 LordofHats wrote:
I found the Great Gatsby to be a terribly dull novel whose primary point could have been surmised in a twenty page short story. That twenty page short story conveniently made up the last twenty pages of the book.

Could you provide some historical perspective please?


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 Easy E wrote:
Of ourse I will watch it. The title says that it is Great!

You sir are a credit to the American nation


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 Frazzled wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Every newspaper and magazine from Juno Alaska to John O'Groats in the UK is featuring this film. Dakka cannot be left behind, Dakka cannot be seen to be a cultural wasteland!

Reading the GG is every high school kid's worst nightmare, but here on Dakka we need to ask the hard questions:

Will you be watching it at the cinema?

Is it reflective of the American dream turned sour?

What the feth is it really about?

I would rather stab myself in the family jewels with a rusty spoon than watch that film.

Twice.


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 Ahtman wrote:

 kronk wrote:

Red light, stop.

Green light, go.

Yellow light, go very fast.

Exalted for Starman reference.

I admit that I am surprised at the sheer number of people who really don't understand the book. You could only tell the story in twenty pages if you just relate basic plot elements, but if you do that you might as well make it one page, and then also pretend that things like phrasing, characterization, verisimilitude, metaphor, and other silly things like that aren't important to writing. I think some of the hate comes from being forced to read it.

At the same time I was forced to read the Great Gatsby, I was reading such joys as The Golden Torc, the musings of John Locke, Othello, Howard's Conan series, Noble House, the entire Time Life series of WWII, and Lucifer's Hammer. Imagine my wailing and gnashing of tears to have then read GG, and discuss it ad nauseum for weeks. GG was dogshit compared to, well everything. Of course this is my humble opinion, but if you disagree with it you obviously are in league with Satan.

Frazz, I've prayed to every god who will listen that your wife demands to be taken to the cinema to see the GG and you are forced to watch it four times in a row


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I get the impression that people on this site would rather shoot guns, drink beer, and push bits of plastic around the tabletop than watch the GG. Heathens!!!

You don't deserve to be Americans!!

In a hundred years time when the Chinese take over and America declines, historians will say that they had more resources and more people, but we will know the truth....

The truth being that China beat us down into mental stagnation with gakky cinema and secret agents forcing us to read tripe like the Great Gatsby in high school instead of doing something productive?

KalashnikovMarine wrote:

 azazel the cat wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

Well, except for Lord of the Flies, which was written by a schoolteacher with a degree in english literature.

But even then, I doubt said teacher say down and said "Well I'm going to layer in THIS subtext and hidden meaning for people to puzzle and talk about for the next couple centuries" as opposed to the writing technique of the great Bard "Eh I'll throw a fart joke in there, that always gets a laugh..."

Hamlet stands as proof that you are wrong, good sir. And yeah, I think Golding actually did sit down and say something to that effect; I recall reading something about how displeased he was with the then-current reading list of trite, golly-gee-whiz BS (something akin to Swiss Family Robinson) that was being read in English classes at the time.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
The truth being that China beat us down into mental stagnation with gakky cinema and secret agents forcing us to read tripe like the Great Gatsby in high school instead of doing something productive?

At last - somebody understands how the communist mind works!


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 azazel the cat wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:

 azazel the cat wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

Well, except for Lord of the Flies, which was written by a schoolteacher with a degree in english literature.

But even then, I doubt said teacher say down and said "Well I'm going to layer in THIS subtext and hidden meaning for people to puzzle and talk about for the next couple centuries" as opposed to the writing technique of the great Bard "Eh I'll throw a fart joke in there, that always gets a laugh..."

Hamlet stands as proof that you are wrong, good sir. And yeah, I think Golding actually did sit down and say something to that effect; I recall reading something about how displeased he was with the then-current reading list of trite, golly-gee-whiz BS (something akin to Swiss Family Robinson) that was being read in English classes at the time.

Are you referring to the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet?

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:Are you referring to the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet?

I am referring to the script, as written by Shakespeare, and will hear no more mention of that ....that thing with Mel Gibson in it (Which was still far better than the Ethan Hawk version).

I, for one, am interested in seeing how it's interpreted in film

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Could you provide some historical perspective please?

Yes actually

Fitzgerald was a man who really really wanted to be the next Earnest Hemingway (exaggeration). He wrote The Great Gatsby hoping it would enshrine him forever in the writing hall of fame, but despite critical praise from his peers the book sold poorly in his life time. After his death however one of his buddies managed to use his political connections to get the book issued to US soldiers in WWII. The book earned its reputation because of its very negative (if sympathetic) portrayal of the rich prior to the depression which people from the depression era could really get behind. Following the war the book ended up becoming basic curriculum in schools during the 50's (with no small help from Fitzgerald's personal friends) and thus the book became forever enshrined in the writing hall of fame more for making rich folks look like douches than for actually being any good.

Kind of like the Gettysburg Battlefield in more than a few ways actually

Clarification: I don't really have anything against Fitzgerald, I just think The Great Gatsby is a book that has been taken far beyond its actual merit. It was enshrined by a small group of men who appreciated it and shoe horned it into American schools demanding everyone else appreciate it as much as they did.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
[Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Easy E wrote:
Of ourse I will watch it. The title says that it is Great!

You sir are a credit to the American nation

Also, as a Minnesotan I am required to either read/watch F. Scott Fitzgerald or listen/watch to a Prairie Home Companion by Garrison Keeler. If I don't do this annually, they physically have you deported to one of the Dakotas or Wisconisn.

I choose to watch the new version of the Great Gatsby! Don't Deport me St. Paul!

 azazel the cat wrote:
I am referring to the script, as written by Shakespeare, and will hear no more mention of that ....that thing with Mel Gibson in it (Which was still far better than the Ethan Hawk version).

Dear Lord. Mel Gibson's version was an abomination. It was as if the screenplay was developed by attacking Shakespeare's work with a rusty meat cleaver. If Hawke's version was worse I dread to imagine how bad it could be.

 azazel the cat wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:Words to remember: No story was every written with English teachers in mind.

Well, except for Lord of the Flies, which was written by a schoolteacher with a degree in english literature.

Well, now the Lord of the Flies makes more sense. It was a documentary.

 LordofHats wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Could you provide some historical perspective please?

Yes actually

Fitzgerald was a man who really really wanted to be the next Earnest Hemingway (exaggeration). He wrote The Great Gatsby hoping it would enshrine him forever in the writing hall of fame, but despite critical praise from his peers the book sold poorly in his life time. After his death however one of his buddies managed to use his political connections to get the book issued to US soldiers in WWII. The book earned its reputation because of its very negative (if sympathetic) portrayal of the rich prior to the depression which people from the depression era could really get behind. Following the war the book ended up becoming basic curriculum in schools during the 50's (with no small help from Fitzgerald's personal friends) and thus the book became forever enshrined in the writing hall of fame more for making rich folks look like douches than for actually being any good.

Kind of like the Gettysburg Battlefield in more than a few ways actually

Clarification: I don't really have anything against Fitzgerald, I just think The Great Gatsby is a book that has been taken far beyond its actual merit. It was enshrined by a small group of men who appreciated it and shoe horned it into American schools demanding everyone else appreciate it as much as they did.

Aaand you just explained the entire US education system in a nutshell.

~Euen

 LordofHats wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Could you provide some historical perspective please?

Yes actually

Fitzgerald was a man who really really wanted to be the next Earnest Hemingway (exaggeration). He wrote The Great Gatsby hoping it would enshrine him forever in the writing hall of fame, but despite critical praise from his peers the book sold poorly in his life time. After his death however one of his buddies managed to use his political connections to get the book issued to US soldiers in WWII. The book earned its reputation because of its very negative (if sympathetic) portrayal of the rich prior to the depression which people from the depression era could really get behind. Following the war the book ended up becoming basic curriculum in schools during the 50's (with no small help from Fitzgerald's personal friends) and thus the book became forever enshrined in the writing hall of fame more for making rich folks look like douches than for actually being any good.

Kind of like the Gettysburg Battlefield in more than a few ways actually

[citation needed]

That doesn't explain why contemporaries liked it, and recent academics and writers still refer to it. I'm not sure wanting to be popular is much of a critique of any artist; any artist worth a damn thinks people should like their work. Some of it I am aware of, but it also seems like some serious spin, such as Wilson only promoting it because they were friends. It also might have been that he genuinely thought it was a book worth sharing.