The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is 1925 novel by F Scott Fitzgerald

The book was recommended to me by my fellow blogger and friend Maverick and since recently a motion picture was released based on the same, so I was also eager to read it before watching the film.

The book is reminiscent of a classic with its elaborate and almost poetic rendition of nature and surroundings and is considered quite popular for creating and depicting the period before the constitution of the American Dream.

Its the story of an extremely rich guy Jay Gatsby, narrated in the words of his neighbor , Nick Carraway. Nick was a bond salesman who was trying to make his own on the East side of America and Gatsby was his next door neighbor who used to throw lavish parties, full with sea of people every day, which used to run till wee hours of next day. Nick too got invited to one of these parties , where he finds that most of the guests don't know Gatsby and have only heard unconfirmed rumors about his claim to fame and inheritance. 

Nick initially thought that Gatsby was friendly to him due to their common war background but later gets to know that his proximity was more due to the fact that Gatsby once had a small fling with Nick's cousin Daisy in past , who was now married with a kid to Tom Buchanan ; And Gatsby was still in love with her and Nick could be instrumental in getting them together.

So the book covers how their relation and past unfolds leading to intense drama and murder.

To be honest it cannot be termed as a great read but at the same time it had some uniqueness which makes one glued to reading it.

I liked the flow of the story despite the fact that the story has not much to offer. But as I said it had a classic sense of drama which narrates a simple period story at its own comfortable pace. 

The fact that its been told from the perspective of Nick Carraway instead of Gatsby gives an added punch to the book.

I will rate it as a light read and one that should be enjoyed by ardent readers.

Next up will try to see the motion picture to give visual to the imaginations that the book has created.

The Black Dahlia

I completed reading The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy.

Its a fictional take on the 1947's still unsolved brutal murder of a young lady in Los Angles. The lady was christened as Black Dahlia because of her customary black outfit seen in her file photos.

The story revolves around two detectives Lee Blanchard and Dwight Bleichert, who start as boxing rivals, then becomes best friends when they start working as partners and then get overly obsessed with the Black Dahlia case which eventually leads to destroying both their personal and police life.

Although an engrossing book that makes you read it till the end, every time you pick it up, but somehow it falls short of creating the suspense and passion that one expects with a crime mystery.

No doubt the book is full of twists and new disclosures every now and then but somehow it fails to stir any awe or shock within me.

The description of the dead body and how the murder was conducted is quite brutal and violent and the flow of the story too is well paced.

Not a highly recommended book but you can give it a try if you feel like reading crime novels.