This well written novel really allows those native to America to better understand the differences in Indian and American culture. We get a good explanation of where the young man gets his name, i.e. his namesake. We also see the struggles between the parents wanting to maintain a connection to their native customs and their children wanting to break away and be 'american'. My book club thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think we gave it a 4.5 out of 5 and we are tough graders.

Mostly I think it is sad. I think Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly portrayed the "lost generation". This is perhaps his best known work. Daisy and Tom are completely unsympathetic characters. Gatsby is at best a semi-sympathetic character. We can't help but feel that while he did not deserve the evil served on him, he was headed disappointment. He had made his deal with the devil, Wolfsheim and will certainly have to pay in the end. He insisted on having the past rewritten and thus he could not be satisfied. Only the narrator Nick, shows any hope of redemption. He rejects the 'wickedness' of the fast moneyed set on the east and is heading back to the real values that can be relied upon, back home to the mid west.