Welcome old sport!

Welcome to all things Great Gatsby: chances to explore, chances to learn, and chances to win.

What's all this about? Read the intro to Summer of Gatsby here...

Whether you've read TGG in high school and are revisiting it or rediscovering it for the first time, enjoy our discussion. And warning--HEREIN BE SPOILERS!

And check my last post for a chance to WIN free Gatsby-inspired bookmarks.

So pull up a chair, and get a glass of bootleg hooch (we're still mixing some in the bathtub) and we'll get going:

From Carraway Bay Press author Dawn DeAnna Wilson's blog "The Year of Writing Dangerously."


Welcome old sport!

Welcome to all things Great Gatsby: chances to explore, chances to learn, and chances to win.

What's all this about? Read the intro to Summer of Gatsby here...

Whether you've read TGG in high school and are revisiting it or rediscovering it for the first time, enjoy our discussion. And warning--HEREIN BE SPOILERS!

And check my last post for a chance to WIN free Gatsby-inspired bookmarks.

So pull up a chair, and get a glass of bootleg hooch (we're still mixing some in the bathtub) and we'll get going:

Five Reasons Daisy is a B---

Maybe it was because I was so crushing on Robert Redford in the 1974 film version. Maybe it was because I was going through some unrequited love of my own. Maybe it was because adolescent hormones made me so incredibly stupid. Maybe I was PMS-ing (if that's not verb, it should be).

But regardless, I have to be frank. After reading the book and watching the movie, Daisy. Pissed. Me. Off.

Feel free to disagree (hey, I love a literary discussion) but here are the facts IMHO.

1-- Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled.

Rich family. And not just a rich family, but "old money." Not just any rich kid would do. As Tom said to Gatsby later, "You're not like us. You can be rich but you'll never be like us." (I'm paraphrasing.)

Really girl? Personally, I'd rather be shopping at K-Mart with my true love than sipping champagne with Tom (who, btw, is a brute and racist. Not the top qualities for guys in my book.)

2-- She led Gatsby on.

Okay, so he finds you and he's rich and all that is awesome so you are all "yes, yes, yes!!! Let's continue the affair! Dance with me in your uniform! Mother of GOD what beautiful shirts!!! Kiss me!! (and btw, since my husband is having an affair, I guess I will too) ."

But when it comes down to the wire, are you going to leave Tom? Really? Are you?

Don't start something you aren't going to finish. Gatsby isn't just looking for a roll in the hay for auld lang syne ("roll in the hay" --do other people say that? I'm from the South, curious if it is elsewhere. RJ-- do they say that in England? Michael, how does my resident Aussie add in to this?) This leads to......

3-- "But I love you NOW, Gastby. Isn't that enough?"

Um, nope.
Read: I love you now that I have my courage up and I don't care what my family thinks and now you have money and it's more socially acceptable and oh wait, despite that, I'm still going home to Tom.

Daisy: I don't want to go home.
Gatsby: Then don't.

Not that I'm advocating adultery, but I AM advocating not marrying a racist brute because you sort of love him and his family has money.

Daisy says, "OMG, Gastby! I just looooooove those shirts. Can you wear your uniform for me?" (and while you're at it, I scuffed up your car a bit, can you take care of that for me, too?)

4-- You weren't at Gatsby's funeral.

Grrrr. You'd think Tom would let her go if for no other reason just for him to get the chance to dance on Gastby's grave. Okay Tom. You won. We hope you feel good about yourself.

5-- The crappy way you acted when you ran into Nick later.

This wasn't in the 1974 version of the film. Nick basically runs into Tom and Daisy and is like "oh

BONUS: Number 6--

6-- You let him take the fall for you which led to his death.

I don't know why the bleep Gatsby let you drive on the way home, but he just can't say no to you, can he?  Even then he's willing to take the fall for manslaughter for you when you rammed into your hubby's mistress.  This all leads to Gatsby's death. I mean, it was like by pretending it never happened meant it never happened.

Denial ain't a river in Egypt, sister. And after all of that, you STILL did #4 and #5.

[insert string of expletives here]

You and the horse you rode in on, Daisy.

Kind of cool to see them side by side, eh, old Sport!

http://dawn-theyearofwritingdangerously.blogspot.com/

From Carrway Bay Press author Dawn DeAnna Wilson:


Welcome old sport!

Welcome to all things Great Gatsby: chances to explore, chances to learn, and chances to win.

What's all this about? Read the intro to Summer of Gatsby here...

Whether you've read TGG in high school and are revisiting it or rediscovering it for the first time, enjoy our discussion. And warning--HEREIN BE SPOILERS!

So pull up some bootleg hooch, put on your Charleston shoes and we'll get going.

From Carraway Bay Press author Dawn Deanna Wilson:

Welcome old sport!

Welcome to all things Great Gatsby: chances to explore, chances to learn, and chances to win.

What's all this about? Read the intro to Summer of Gatsby here...

Whether you've read TGG in high school and are revisiting it or rediscovering it for the first time, enjoy our discussion. And warning--HEREIN BE SPOILERS!

So pull up some bootleg hooch, put on your Charleston shoes and we'll get going.

Why I am obsessed with this book and you should be too

So many merely look at this book on the surface level: unrequited love, excess, materialism, booze, lust, ambition, booze, adultery, and did we mention booze?

What Gatsby epitomizes so clearly is not so much the excess of the Jazz Age (though F.Scott does a great job of that as well) but the timelessness of human nature--the desire to want more, not just for greed's sake, but for the sake of love. It also centers around that most American of traits--reinventing oneself. Jay Gatsby seems to be almost a biblical warning to those who would gain the world but lose their souls. For me, what is entirely heartbreaking, is it shows the deep, insatiable love/lust he has for Daisy. While Gatsby's business ventures cannot be justified as ethical, we all wonder what our Daisy, or "green light" is? Is there something you want so bad that you would sacrifice everything for it--but in the process lose yourself? And is this something worth having?

While I do think Daisy truly loved Gatsby, I think perhaps what she loved more was the IDEA of being in love with him. When it came time to make that commitment, dump Tom (who by the way, what the bleep were you thinking on that one, girl,) she goes back to what is familiar.

This underscores something I have said my whole life irt relationships, particularly less-than-ideal ones, when given a chance between change and familiarity, human beings tend to gravitate toward the familiar, even if that familiar isn't what is best. I think it may be geared in our DNA, I don't know.

But hey, don't take my word for how bleepin' awesome this book is, check this out,
Five Reasons The Great Gatsby is the Great American Novel.

The movie is out. Gatsby guys and gals, make your voice heard:

Coming next: Gatsby cartoons.

From Carraway Bay Press Author Dawn Deanna Wilson

I realize I have absolutely NO credibility since I have YET to see the remake (but it's on my schedule for this week. I promise.I could go on about how I've been out of the country and at a writing retreat, but let's face it, that's no excuse where my beautiful Gatsby is concerned.)

So for this SUMMER,  this blog is dedicated to all things Gatsby! I'll have links to cool Gatsby stuff, Gatsby cartoons (by me and other authors), video clips! poems! reviews! A chance to win original artwork! bootleg hooch in my bathtub! A chance to rig the next world series! Not all of these are true!

But some are fun, and some are silly, and some are just--dear God, how awesome can this book be. I'm hoping my writing buddy RJ will let me post his poem about the Great Gastby here (hint, hint,) and I'm even thinking of doing a book of poems inspired by TGG (calling all my poetry homies.)

First, an introduction to the GREAT THREAD FOR THE GREAT GATSBY on Goodreads. Join our thread. Have a bit of bootleg hooch (prohibition be damned! ) While there are few folks on this group who have commented, but the ones who are on there really know their stuff about TGG and have some wonderful comments. We welcome everyone.
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/829853-dear-god-why-am-i-obsessed-with-this-book#comment_74069752

And btw, you'll notice on this blog I take things a bit tongue in cheek. I welcome all comments on this blog (or at the thread, where I hope y'all will join us) but please, play nice with others.
BTW, I also welcome any high school students who are doing research/ papers/ reading TGG--and no, we are not going to provide cliff notes, but I have a master's in English, and TGG literary elements were the focus of my comps paper, so any opinion I have will be an educated opinion (at least, that's what the piece of paper says :)

And --more coming--- leave a comment and you'll be placed in a drawing to win:
--a free copy of one of my books
--original, hand-drawn bookmarks inspired by TGG
--small unframed piece of art inspired by TGG.
-- copious amounts of alcohol (just kidding.)
--copy of TGG.

More to come, old sport, including:

-- The brilliant literary devices of F. Scott Fitzgerald and what you can learn from them.
--Daisy and a the South--what you might like to know from a Southerner's perspective
--My Asheville "connection" with Zelda Fitzgerald
--They're tearing down the Gatsby house? Noooooooooo
--Top quotes from The Great Gatsby characters
--F.Scott and me at the Water Park
-- Leo vs. Robert--- the low down on the leading men.
--Why Daisy is a witch with a capital B.
-- Religious implications of the Great Gatsby
--Little known facts about about the 1920s
--Links galore
--My poem dedicated to Jay Gatsby
-- My secret, intimate connection with F. Scott Fitzgerald  (warning--may be slightly embellished)

Looking forward to a summer that is the bee's knees.
D