"The Great Gatsby" {by F.Scott Fitzgerald} Book Club Ideas

JULY BOOK CLUB:

"The Great Gatsby"

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

ABOUT FITZGERALD, DID YOU KNOW...

Many of the events from Fitzgerald’s early life appear in The Great Gatsby. Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated at an Ivy League school (in Nick’s case, Yale), who moves to New York after the war. Also similar to Fitzgerald is Jay Gatsby, a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a military camp in the South.

Having become a celebrity, Fitzgerald fell into a wild, reckless life-style of parties and decadence, while desperately trying to please Zelda by writing to earn money. Similarly, Gatsby amasses a great deal of wealth at a relatively young age, and devotes himself to acquiring possessions and throwing parties that he believes will enable him to win Daisy’s love.

Flapper Girls!

Jillian was not only the Moderator for this book, she was also our bar tender! The mocktails were delicious!

Anyone who wanted to play along came dressed up in their 1920's attire to help set the mood to discuss this swinging book!

Robin and Kellie just playing it cool at the bar.

Jenny, Kitch and Bethany taking a smoke break before our discussion.
 ;)

Prizes for the winner of our Gatsby bingo game and quiz!

Flaper girl Kellie and Chanel with their winning prizes 

 Just for fun...

HISTORY OF THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIES

The first Gatsby movie was first adapted in 1926 (one year after the book was published) as a silent film. The film is a famous example of a lost film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives. (Sad!)  


Even thought the film has been lost, the original trailer still exists. You NEED to watch these "sample scene" from the film, it's amazing!! LOL!

In 1949, a new file staring Alan Ladd was released to "replace" the 1926 lost film. But, currently the most famous Jay Gatsby is from the 1974 film starring the great Robert Redford which I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed!

Then in 2000 we saw the release of a TV movie with Mira Sorvino, Toby Stephens and Paul Rudd.

This year’s version (in theaters December 2012) has Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire and is directed by none other than Baz Luhrmann who, in my opinion, always manages to bring magic and amazing imagery to any film he touches.
(Baz also directed the 1996 Romeo& Juliet, Moulin Rouge and Australia with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.)

The actors who have played Jay Gatsby

Alan Ladd, Robert Redford and Toby Stephens & Leonardo DiCaprio

WHICH JAY GATSBY DO YOU PREFER??
{I'm curious so please leave a comment below!}


(Watch the new 2012 Great Gatsby movie trailer below)

Like Nick in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and exciting, and, like Gatsby, he had always idolized the very rich. Now he found himself in an era in which unrestrained materialism set the tone of society, particularly in the large cities of the East. Even so, like Nick, Fitzgerald saw through the glitter of the Jazz Age to the moral emptiness and hypocrisy beneath, and part of him longed for this absent moral center.

 In many ways, The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald’s attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised.

All in all, we had a VERY indepth and interesting discussion about this book for hours which really helped me understand the characters better and the overall purpose of the book.

Read our full review HERE!