Our group is composed of senior adult women, whose opinions on the book were quite interesting. All agreed that the only redeeming character in the book is Nick and although the lifestyle depicted is empty and unfulfilling, many expressed the thought that Fitzgerald was showing both sides of himself in this novel in the persons of Nick, the Midwestern idealist and Gatsby, the ambitious man willing to stop at nothing to get what he thought he wanted. All of us also agreed that the writing was almost poetic, that one could definitely see that Fitzgerald thought about every single word written. Writers just don't write this way any longer and it seems to be a lost art. Many expressed the opinion that although they didn't care for the characters in the book, they loved, loved, loved the writing.

This is of course a must read on anyone's reading list if only to savor how well written is Fitzgerald's greatest work.