Classics · MelancholicNick Carraway rents a house on Long Island next to the estate of Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties
The Great Gatsby
A bond salesman moves next door to a mysterious millionaire who hosts lavish parties
Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner, Yale graduate and World War I veteran, moves to New York to work in finance and rents a home on Long Island next to Jay Gatsby's estate. He is drawn into the social circle of his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, and into the parties Gatsby gives. Charles Scribner's Sons published it on April 10, 1925. It sold fewer than 20,000 copies by October 1925, and Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing it was forgotten.
More about this book
Who
Nick Carraway, who narrates, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker and the Wilsons.
World
Long Island, near New York City, in the Jazz Age, from spring 1922.
What makes it different
It sold poorly at first. In World War II the Council on Books in Wartime gave copies to soldiers overseas, which renewed interest.
Feel
Glamorous and wistful.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Great GatsbyWikipedia