Beautiful Little Fools takes us on a journey to discover more about the women of the classic story The Great Gatsby. We take a departure from the glitz and glamour and start off with Daisy at home in Louisville when she first meets a poor Jay Gatsby in the army. When they are torn apart by the war, Jay promises to find her when he is out and has built enough wealth to be worthy of her. We see how she is forced to marry Tom and the truth of their unhappy relationship and how the ultimately cross paths with Jay again. The story alternates between Daisy, her best friend Jordan who has a very modern storyline and is facing a life living the life dictated to her rather than being able to be true to herself and Catherine who is Myrtle’s sister. This new reimagining holds true to the original in all the important places but expands upon the world and gives us so much more drama.
In this version of the story, we are trying to figure out just who killed George and Jay and all three of these women have motive. Interspersed throughout are chapters from a detective’s point of view and we see him try to unravel the stories and half-truths he receives from the women and Nick Carraway. If you liked the detective in Anxious People, you will like the investigation and decisions made here.
These women are all quite different and provide us with wholly different perspectives of what it was like to live as a woman in the 1920’s. We see what it is like to live in a gilded cage, what it is like to be a “modern” woman and the truth of how men still quite literally held the power about the destiny of the women in their lives. I generally don’t do trigger warnings but there are some hard to read scenes of domestic abuse.
I thought this was a really great re-telling that will be perfect for fans of retellings like Anna K. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ This one is out in January, put it on your TBR!️
Thank you to Harper Perennial for a copy. All opinions above are my own.
How do you feel about The Great Gatsby? Love or meh?
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