It's no secret that I love great literature, but I also believe we bypass most of it in school. I'm not sure why, but it's always seemed to me that "good books" and "school books" are in mutually exclusive categories (more on that in the foreword to A Room With a View, a genuinely phenomenal "school book.")
But having recently annotated The Great Gatsby for Vocabbett Classics, I'm here to announce that it is the worst school book ever.
A bold claim, and hardly one to drive sales to my burgeoning "Vocabbett Classics" initiative, but I cannot tell a lie. And this book is the most overvalued piece of literature ever to grace the desk of countless pupils.
It would be one thing if The Great Gatsby weren't constantly hailed as "the great American novel" and revered with religious-like fervor in English departments nationwide...but it is.
If pressed to find some redeeming qualities, I would say it's short, it inspired a good meme with Leonardo DiCaprio, and...that's about it. I didn't like it in high school, and I don't like it now.
Aside from the meme, the movie was equally awful, plus it lacked the redeeming value of being short.
With that being said, if you feel the need to round out your education, you can buy the annotated edition of The Great Gatsby here. Don't worry, I was a complete professional in the actual published book. As always, I put definitions at the bottom of each page, pointed out symbolism, and explained the historical context.
The only place I let my mask slip was the epilogue, which is rather scathing, but this book deserves it.
P.S. I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if this is a book you enjoyed!
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