The Cambridge Centennial Edition of the Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Book Overview

The Great Gatsby is often called the great American novel. Emblematic of an entire era, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of illicit desire, grand illusions, and lost dreams is rendered in a lyrical prose that revives a vanished world of glittering parties and vibrant jazz, where money and deceit walk hand in hand. Rich in humor, sharply observant of status and class, the book tells the story of Jay Gatsby's efforts to keep his faith - in money,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1009414593
• ISBN13: 9781009414593
• Release Date: January 2025
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 278 Pages

Customer Reviews

The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald

I received The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald Retold by Sean Connolly. The retold part was not in the description. I thought I was purchasing the original version for my high school age daughter. This version is for little kids. I'm not too happy.

Very Good???

I chose the " very good" one but received a dirty and ugly one, edges bent and worn out with cover teard apart, how can your seller misguide customer like this? I regret not to check the review before plaing the order. VERY BAD EXPERIENCE!

Not what I ordered

I was supposed to get a hardcover in "good" condition. I received a paperback with dried, cracking pages that were falling out.

Not what I ordered.

I purchased a hardcover version that was pictured and received a very beat up paperback version. Very disappointed.

Not what I was expecting

I love this book and wanted my own copy. I purchased the “very good condition” and was disappointed to see notes scribbled all over almost every page in this book. I expected “very good quality” to not have notes written all over the pages. Frustrated

Kinda bummed out.

I was so excited to purchase this classic book, and solely bought this one for the design. This book was sadly not as described and really sad about it.

Never read before

I purchased this book and it has notes in it. I don't like that fact. I never read this classic and wanted to. I was very disappointed

Book not in Good Condition

Ordered a "like new" copy, yet I received one that had been written in. That is not "like new".

Booked badly marked up inside.

I selected a hardback version of this book. Upon opening the book, it’s has handwritten notes on almost every page and things are underlined. It’s going to be difficult to read this book. Not sure if I can return/exchange for a different copy.

Great quality!

The story is incredible but I'm reviewing the physical condition of the book. All of the pages are whole and clean of any writing or highlighting. There's some wear and tear but I believe it to be the kind that happens to any book that is well loved. You can tell that the copy is an older one but I would take it over a new one anyway. Nothing can replace the old book smell and loving feel of a vintage copy.

Good book, someone wrote notes on every single page

Read the book over 5 years ago, wanted a copy to read again later, but was disappointed with the book itself. Ordered a copy in “good” condition and when I received it a previous owner wrote notes and underlined multiple sentences on every page. I wouldn’t consider this in “good” condition,

Amazing

This is one of my all time favorite books of all time.

This is "good" condition!?

I would have gladly paid a little more for a copy without writing and highlighting on every single page and a bent up book if they had just been honest about the condition

The Ok Gatsby

I loved F. Scott Fitzgerald’s style of writing, but the storyline itself was less than intriguing to me. I’m still glad I read it, mostly because it’s such a classic. That being said, I’m not sure it deserves all the hype.

Great Gatsby

I received my book. Not in good shape very used. Notes written all over it. Highlights all over. Hard to focus on the story with all that.

Disappointed

I ordered a “Very Good” copy expecting it to look nice. The cover is bent and there are notes written all in the book.

I love this book but the condition was not as promised.

The book had writing all over it. The writing was comments that do not even pertain to the book. It looks like it was used as someone’s personal journal. There was massive amounts of highlighted content. It is unreadable. Now I need to find a new copy. Big disappointment. Should have never been sold.

The Great Gatsby

Was not expecting the annotations in the book.

One of my favorites

Fitzgerald is one of my favorite authors. I love how he explores humanity in his novels. This book draws you into the shallow world of the 1920's elite--it's beautiful and magical and empty. I don't usually reread books but I certainly will reread this one again and again.

The reason I read

I've read this book several times and could read it 100 more times. I get so wrapped up in the story every time I read it. My absolute favorite book of all time.

A Fascinating Early Draft of The Great Gatsby

As a die hard Fitzgerald fan, Trimalchio has enhanced my love and understanding of The Great Gatsby. I really loved the signifance of the name Trimalchio, once I understood it. (For those of you who haven't read the 2nd century AD play by Titus Petronius in which Trimalchio is orignially referenced, Trimalchio is a slave who throws an extragavent feast that everyone laughs behind his back at.) Knowing the reference gave such new depth to my understanding of Gatsby's character, for who was he really if not an updated Trimalchio? Something else that seemed rather interesting to me were some of the white supremecy illusions that Fitzgerald sprinkled lightly throughout the novel, notably in conversations with Tom and Daisy about the "Master Race". I also noticed a Swastika Holding Company noted in one of Nick's outings to NYC. That alone, the Swastika Holding Company within an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, is worthy of a dissertation. This early draft seems far darker than The Great Gatsby, yet far clearer in character definition. I understood Gatsby and Daisy's characters far more clearly in this draft. This is an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous preview of what would become "The Great Gatsby" and I highly recommend it.

Beautiful & fascinating -- A must-read for "Gatsby" lovers

"The Great Gatsby" is my favorite book. This early version is absoultutely fascinating to me. I've read much about the history of the manuscript and the changes made to it, and with "Trimalchio" we get to read for ourselves one version. I was thrilled to have this unusual opportunity; I felt privileged. (Only one complaint in this review is in my last paragraph.) Aside from the sheer thrill of witnessing at least part of the transition and revision, the book itself is a wonder--to one end--to be viewed along with "The Great Gatsby." Things I've been bothered by in "Gatsby" are different in this book, and it's interesting to read that they had indeed been altered - most notably, the mid-section in "Gatsby" when Nick tells the reader in a near omnicient narration Gatsby's true story; this happens entirely differently in "Trimalchio" and in my opinion does not break the narrative flow the way it does in the final "Great Gatsby." Some unanswered questions, some debated items become clearer after reading this. Is Gatsby a good guy or a bad guy? Is Nick? Who is Jordan Baker really? Is Nick the agent of the action or an observant/removed narrator? "Trimalchio" presents the answers to some of these questions differently than does "The Great Gatsby," or in a more straightforward and clear fashion. In a sense, this could be a truer-to-Fitzgerald's-soul account, as many of the changes were suggested to him from the outside. Many of the characters underwent changes from this version to "The Great Gatsby," though some changes more major than others. I'm trying, in this review, not to write what would be a book's worth of my opinion about which is a superior book. Gatsby is such a part of me I could write forever. I will mention that typos and other necessary changes were made from this to the final, as well. And although some things I've questioned and have bothered me simply because I do love the book so much are different in this early version, I don't know how I'd feel if this were the *only* version of the book, as what we have here is an early version of a book I'd always thought brilliant. The language is beautiful; the characters amazing, sad, complex. I'm infinitely impressed by this book, whichever level of "completion." I've got one complaint about this edition of "Trimalchio": at the back of the book, there is a list of changes made - galley version, holograph, 1st edition, etc. They are laid out in such a way that they are hard to follow and hard to study. I nearly know "The Great Gatsby" by heart. While reading "Trimalchio" I noticed tiny, tiny differences. But, after I finished, I wanted to truly study the changes at each stage of Fitzgerald's writing, and the lay-out and lack of explanation made it oppressively uninviting. It's too bad, too, because I am ceaselessly (as FSF might say) interested in this - this book, the revision process, its history, everything Gatsby.

A Must-Read for Gatsby/Fitzgerald Fans

I first encountered "The Great Gatsby" in 11th grade and its sheer lyric beauty has transfixed me to the point of at least 4 readings per year ever since. Therefore, "Trimalchio" was a joy for me to read and I believe it will bring the same amount of happiness to fellow Fitzgerald fans. The book is a brief read at only 146 pages of actual text,( as opposed to "Gatsby's" 189 in the most recent Scribner paperback edition) but the opportunity to read the rough draft of a genuis like Fitzgerald is an invigorating experience- reading passages from "Trimalchio" and then looking at their equivalent passages in "Gatsby" allows you to enter the mind of Fitzgerald through his revisionary decisions and enchances your appreciation of the sheer amount of work which Fitzgerald devoted to crafting his masterpiece. That being said, do not expect incredible differences between the two texts: the most notable changes are minor details and the chronilogical order of events and revelations. Reading "Trimalchio" is ultimately like watching deleted scenes from a movie on a DVD- they are of comparatively minor significance, but they enhance one's appreciation of the work as a whole. If you loved "The Great Gatsby," take the time to read "Trimalchio."

Jazz Age Beauty

In the Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald created a wonder. He described a world and a fiend we can all relate to, that of frustrated and not fully requitted love, and he described it with all the beauty that anybody using the English language could muster. His message was the we are all fighting against the tide of time, which beats us back ever more forcefully with the progressing years, and yet we all feel that our youth, our elixir, our perfect moment and strength of Orient is within our grasp. Gatsby was a man who had lost once, and yet felt the compulsion to fight again, for the ultimate prize that would revoke his past defeat. A simple and bewilderingly focused passion that in the end destroyed the man as only it could. That was Gatsby's only goal, but in stripping his life down to such basics, and in essence, seeking to negate the past, Gatsby found he was fighting against the viscious tide of time. Read this book for the narrative, if you like. Read it for the beautiful Jazz Age description if you like also. But read it most of all for the moments in it whose beauty surpasses all contemporarys'. Find the green light.