Nick is reaching for his friend Gatsby, who's dead at the beginning of this retrospective novel Myrtle is reaching for Tom Wilson is reaching for Myrtle, and on and on. Gatsby stretches out his arms for Daisy (symbolized by that much-discussed green light at the end of her dock). Every character in "Gatsby" is stretching out his or her arms for someone or something eternally out of reach. Q: You call "Gatsby" the "one great American novel we think we've read but probably haven't." What do you mean?Ī: We usually read "Gatsby" in high school when we're too young to understand the regret and sense of loss that pervades the novel. Here, she talks about how Fitzgerald's masterpiece bombed when it first came out, what readers usually get wrong about the book, and settles the debate: Hemingway or Fitzgerald? She will be at Macalester College on Tuesday for a free event sponsored by Common Good Books. In her book, she examines Fitzgerald's themes, language and biography - and makes a strong case that "The Great Gatsby" is the Great American Novel. The sensible-sounding book critic on NPR's "Fresh Air" has reviewed a lot of books over the years, but only one fully has her heart: "The Great Gatsby," a novel that left her cold the first time she read it but which she now calls "a literary miracle."Ĭorrigan's new book, "So We Read On," takes its title from the lyrical, memorable last line of F. You probably know Maureen Corrigan's voice, if not her face.
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