2013 reread #3
I read this book for the first time in junior high, for fun, at summer camp (I know, I'm strange.) Then, when reading it again in high school, it inspired one of my favorite paper topics in my entire academic career. Now, I'm sort of just waiting for Gatsby to die (and if that spoiled things for you - start reading more!) as I read through the book. All of Fitzgerald's commentary on the opulence of the 1920's that was so interesting and insightful at my second read almost just felt like obvious fodder now. What, obscenely wealthy people can be extremely vapid? No? Can you hear my sarcasm?
I'm happy I reread this book though despite its ability to amaze me like it had previously done. This story takes place over just a few months and is really very tragic for so many characters - not just the ones that die - and I find it interesting how much sadness Fitzgerald was able to inlay between crazy parties and lush trips into New York City. You really don't feel like anyone but our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in reality and yet all the other characters are looked upon as "normal."
Ironic side note: Nick's last name, Carraway, like carried away, yet he's the only one who stays grounded.
This story is really very complex if you look at it analytically, which is how I like to look at literature. A million different paper topics could come form this book and because of that, with each read I see something new in the text. A book that changes with each read is truly a great work of art.
I'm curious to see how they shape each character in the movie version coming out soon. A lot of big names playing characters that don't always make good choices (alright, they characters are totally morally questionable.) While there's no real villain in the story, nobody is really good. It would be interesting to have a movie where none of the characters are totally likeable, where there's no actual hero. We'll just have to wait and see.
This follow-up memoir to The Invisible Wall chronicles the author's life as he moves from England to America with his family. It focuses on the idealized version of America many immigrants had post-World War I and how devastatingly quickly that dream was dashed during The Great Depression.
I like a memoir to have something of the unusual about it and The Dream was severely lacking in this department. Bernstein lives a life full of struggles common (unfortunately) to immigrant families in the 20's and 30's. Money is tight, jobs are impossible to find, dad is an alcoholic...it all read pretty predictably when you compare this one story to history. I even felt like events were foreshadowed in a style more akin to fiction - the set-up was all too perfect at times - that I never expected to see in a memoir.
Bernstein also relates stories in an overly-detailed manner. I felt like I was reading a diary at times of his day-to-day life. It was actually pretty boring.
To sum up the story, Bernstein, amidst all the trials of immigrating to the US post WWI finds love and lives an overall happy life. His siblings all struggle in different ways, but overcome too. The only sad character in the end is Bernstein's Mom, who suffers beyond the scope of The Great Depression, wanting only happiness and comfort for her children and dying before everything smooths out.
I would not recommend this book. I think you can find a more readable account of life during this time period if that's what you're looking for. I would suggest picking up The Invisible Wall though. It's an interesting story with enough unique elements to really make it an engaging memoir.
