The Great Gatsby

I expected a book about wealth. It’s a book about a man who is certain the past can be repeated, and about how much energy it takes to sustain that certainty.

What stayed with me is how little Gatsby is actually in the novel. Nick keeps describing him from a distance, and the gap between the rumours and the person is where the whole thing lives. The parties are loud, and Gatsby is never really at them.

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

Short book. The last page is the one people quote, but the one that got me was Nick’s line about being “within and without” — simultaneously enchanted and repelled by what he’s watching. That’s a feeling I recognise from a lot of rooms.

Worth reading in one sitting if you can.