F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is, in my opinion, one of the best books ever written. I’ve read it at least half a dozen times and seem to find something new each time I do. I’m also excited about Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming film adaptation, due out next year. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby? Yes, please!
So, when I read a review of The Summer We Read Gatsby, I decided to pick up a copy. The story centers around half sisters Cassie (who also serves as the story’s narrator) and Pecksland (Peck) Moriarty, who reconnect one summer at the cottage they inherit from their eccentric Aunt Lydia.
This run-down little cottage in the Hamptons, known as Fools House, is a source of contention for the two girls, who give new meaning to the term “polar opposites.” Cassie, an introverted writer, wants to sell the house; Peck, a socialite of sorts, would do anything to keep it in the family. After all, Peck protests, the cottage represents the place where the two girls bonded each summer, even reading Gatsby for the first time.
Unfortunately, Danielle Ganek has created a predictable novel that never really picks up steam. Besides attending parties—including an elaborate Gatsby-themed bash—and learning more about themselves and each other (cliché), the book was void of any real intrigue (a plotline regarding a stolen painting, which may or may not be a Jackson Pollock original, never really develops). I was also really hoping for a stronger connection to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece.
So, if you love Gatsby, skip this one and instead try Chris Bohjalian’s The Double Bind. It’s a fascinating tale that will make you feel as if Jay, Daisy, Tom and Jordan were anything but fiction.
