I am not a huge fan of the story the Great Gatsby. I find the story incredibly vapid which I understand is part of the point but don’t enjoy. So, I was incredibly excited to see that there was a graphic novel version, not only for myself but for my students.

I feel like this story (with the outrageousness of the time and the fact that the characters are caricatures) naturally lends itself to the graphic novel format. I was excited for the subtleties I’d what’s going on in the background of panels, and I was also pumped for being able to have my students visually track the metaphors.

Unfortunately, none of that happened. This book fell far, far short of my expectations. The font was childish and somewhat difficult to read. Also, for the lavishness of the roaring 20s, this art was incredibly simple in terms of the fact that the colors were muted and there was no background action. Each page had one image and one small piece of the story. I would have liked the author to have multiple panels or maybe play with the space more so that we see the plot moved through background.

The sentences seemed to be all short, simple sentences. Which made this rather boring to read except for the quotes pulled directly from the book. This made much of the dialogue stinted and awkward.

I never felt like I got to know the characters as much as I did in the novel, and Nick’s unreliable narration doesn’t come through as much.

A severe lack of transitions made the already airy, vapid, and mildly confusing story unfollowable. The book moves so fast as to hardly make sense.

Perhaps this will be good for ELL students, but I will not be using it in my classroom.

(I am thankful for the chance to give an honest review of this ARC copy.)