The Great Gatsby

I've been waiting for the day when I could say that I've read The Great Gatsby. I ended up seeing the--most recent--film version of it first, but this weekend while on an island vacation in Malta I took the chance to engulf the book. It only took me a few pool-side hours to finish it, and now that I have, I can honestly say that to me this book was literary perfection. Not a word should be cut from or added to this novel, as it is one of the only books that I have read that is truly complete.

Nick Carraway, Gatsby's modest neighbour, trusted confidante and "old sport," is the model of everything that I want in life. After graduating from Yale University, he becomes a writer and moves to New York. He is trusted by many, and is not as rich as Gatsby, but has enough money to live contently. Carraway is the type of person who simply wants to help others become their best, and l want to be as honest as he is. Although I can also see the charm in being someone as mysterious as Gatsby. I guess the bottom line is that I wish Fitzgerald could have written my life as well.

As pretty much every film critique has said, apparently a good book makes a bad movie. I've also heard a lot of "it's good, but not as good as the book" Baz Luhrmann's rendition of The Great Gatsby proves this statement wrong. I'd have to agree with Gatsby in saying that "of course you can" repeat the past, because this film did not disappoint. I thought that the characters were all perfectly cast, and the soundtrack did nothing but add to the modern twist that Luhrmann put on the novel. Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" is the perfect song for Daisy and Gatsby's relationship, and as it plays upon many occasions throughout the film it puts the audience in touch with the story. Although the whole movie was extremely well produced, it was the flawless costume design and visually enchanting party scenes that kept my attention.

While reading The Great Gatsby I couldn't find a single page that wasn't perfect. You could take apart every sentence of the book and find that each one has its own deep meaning. It is the poetry and lyricism of Fitzgerald's writing that gave the novel its appeal to me. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us." I never fully understood what the green light symbolised, most likely because every time Fitzgerald brought it up I became awestruck by his beautiful use of language.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's ability to set a scene is inspiring. His descriptions are melodious and his command of word choice is unparalleled. This novel has the depth that so many others lack. While describing books I've head people say "it's no Great Gatsby," but now that I've read the novel I can honestly say that I don't think anything compares. This story is a true work of art.  The final words of the novel make up possibly the most well-written and elegant sentence I have ever read. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." I suppose as humans we are constantly trying to move on and continue with our lives. The present becomes the past, and we spend all of our energy fighting to achieve our goals for the future.

The Tiger's Wife: End

I had really high expectations of this novel because of the many reviews I read before starting it, but now that I've finished it, my feelings are mixed.

The content of the novel is unusual, making many moments in it wondrous. The many small scenes that Tea Obreht writes escalate to produce a wise and beautiful creation. I am still amazed by how well Obreht's writing flows. I have noticed that many authors feel the need to rapidly and constantly change their sentence structures, consequently interrupting the flow of my reading. In this case, Obreht's delicately written sentences ran smoothly, which was refreshing.

I can't exactly figure out exactly what I didn't like about the novel. I think it may have been the fact that all of the different stories weren't cleanly connected at the end. Each of the stories are well written, but when put together it is difficult to see that the man who dealt with Gavran Gailé is the same grandfather described in his interactions with Natalia. Some of the reviews I read expressed disappointment in the emotional disconnection between the reader and the characters. I think that this was done intentionally, but I can't argue with the fact that the story would have felt more whole if I could have understood Natalia's grandfather better.

What touched me the most in this novel was the presence of war. It runs in the background of the whole story. The villagers are paranoid, which causes leisure activities to stop because, according to the them, why do anything when there is a war going on? War seeps into the land and the cities that the characters of the story live in. While the tiger lurks the hills of the village, he adds to the fear that the villagers feel, but gives them something to focus on instead. As students learn about war in school, but no one really knows what it's like unless they've seen it. Having lived in a country that was once tainted with battlefields, I have an idea of the horror that it brings; however, all I have seen are the after-effects and leftover battlefields, so I can only attempt to imagine the true terror that civilians feel while war takes place around them. The Tiger's Wife gives readers an idea of the strange behaviour that can go on in the midst of all the sadness, which I, for one, am happy to have understood. 

Although I didn't love the whole novel, it is something that I will likely never forget. I''ll be keeping an eye out for Téa Obreht's next release, and hoping that it is something as rich as her first. Great writing is the kind that leaves you breathless, and that happened to me multiple times while reading The Tiger's Wife. 

The Tiger's Wife: Chapter 7

Téa Obreht is truly a storyteller. The novel is touching and enticing, but I still don't think that I've gotten to the heart of it yet. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the tangents that Obreht is taking her novel on, but I think that she could have improved the choppier integration of the tales into the main plot. My favorite of the tapestry of stories remains the grandfather's recounts of the Deathless Man. I really enjoyed piecing together the strange story of the grandfather's encounters with Gavran Gailé, and his stories of Death's curse on him. Gailé is such an intriguing, teasing character. Although he is cheerful whenever he meets the doctor, he longs for the love that he lost, and surrounds himself with death in hopes to someday die himself.

I love the way that Téa Obreht writes!  It isn't often that characters are created without an author showing any evidence of judgement or sentiment, so this novel is refreshing to read. Obreht's descriptions of each situation are authentic. She has a way of bringing words to life and making everything sound beautiful. Even a tiger, one of the most vicious animals, is brought to life with narrative about its "big, hot, red heart" and "muscles like springs." I wish I could come up with descriptions that compared to Obreht's, but all I know is that the richness of her narrative is compelling.

In an interview Obreht actually said that she wrote the parts that interested her first, and then tried to develop the ones she felt less emotionally connected to. Surprisingly enough, I hadn't noticed it before, but after I found this interview I couldn't help but feel that this lack of investment in certain pages of the novel. I can That said, I still stand by what I said in my last post, and see The Tiger's Wife as a gripping novel. I'm actually surprised about how many negative reviews its gotten, but it is interesting to see how many different opinions one piece of work can create.

The Tiger's Wife: Chapter 3

Usually it takes me a while to get into a book, to really get hooked and unable to put it down. Yet occasionally a book can immediately grab my interest and keep me dangling mercilessly. Téa Obreht, the gifted author of The Tiger's Wife, had me from her first word. The mystery surrounding the main character Natalia's grandfather's death immediately pulled me in, and the stories of The Deathless Man did nothing but tighten the novel's grip on my attention. I'm not sure if these stories are meant to be real real, or a folk tales, but Obreht writes in such a matter-of-fact way that I can't help but believe what she says. Many of the grandfather's stories intertwine with the plot, which you would think would be confusing, but the author writes with such talent that it causes no distraction.

I've already found a quote that left me dazed for a while: "Is your heart a sponge or a fist?" I don't know if I would want my heart to be either of the two. I mean, would you rather have a soft, malleable sponge or a stubborn fist? The richness and complexity of the novel is already so clear, and so amazing for someone who is only 27. It's no wonder she's already won a few prizes; she has talent beyond her years.

Many strings have been woven together in this novel, and Obreht has already spun the perfect web in only the first couple chapters. The fact that she has produced such a wise piece of literature so early in her career is inspiring. I'm reading this book on Kindle, so I have no idea what page I'm on, but I actually prefer it this way. I'm not going to be counting the days or pages with this novel, but instead am going to relax and enjoy a work that some are calling the "most thrilling" literary discovery in years.

In-Between Books!

Since I've just started a new book, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and post about a different topic (isn't that what writing is all about?) Let's talk about building yourself as a writer. I can't even count the amount of times I've heard people say that there are no rules to writing, but I think that it is important for every author to hear a few tips, and I've found the perfect list. 

After I saw this picture on tumblr I went looking for more, and found a website full of them (http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/humor/writegood.cfm)  Maybe it's my love for writing talking, but I think they're hilarious! My favorite is "don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before." Now, are these jokes corny, or actually really good? Let me know what you guys think in the comments below! Even though it's only meant to be funny, reading this list has shown me that there are, in fact, rules when it comes to writing, but that they are made to be broken.