It’s a bit cheeky calling this a ‘review’. What’s left to be said about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby?! There’s not much I can add except to say it’s all kinds of fabulous.

I picked up Gatsby after the reading trauma that was Tiger, Tiger. I needed to cleanse my reading palette (so to speak) and Gatsby is an old favourite. I also thought it was timely given that Baz Luhrman’s film of The Great Gatsby is due to be released this year. Like everything Luhrman does, I’m sure it will be lavish. I can’t wait.

I love every bit of The Great Gatsby from the ‘east coast’ versus ‘west coast’ references and the descriptions of the idle, frivolous lives of the characters to the exact moment when everything becomes crystal clear for Tom (which I won’t say anything more about for fear of spoiling the story).

Early in the story, the character of Daisy is described – “…a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.” It sets the tone.

For a compact story, Gatsby has a rather intricate plot. For fear of sounding like an extract from Gatsby school reading notes, I won’t harp on about themes, with the exception of highlighting the theme of pining for a love lost – the all-consuming infatuation, the glorification of a past romance and the joy and fear that reuniting brings. Is the fantasy more enjoyable than the reality? Looking back on my teenage infatuations, I’d say yes.

“No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart.”

You might think Gatsby needs the frivolity of bubbles but I say break out the tall glasses and mix a Long Island Iced Tea. Or a Gin Rickey. Or a Mint Julep.

5/5 Gatsby is everything I love with a large helping of Deco glamour to boot. If perchance you haven’t read it, do it now, well before Luhrman’s version hits the big screen.