The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

In the roaring twenties, the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby throws lavish parties at his Long Island mansion, hoping to attract the attention of his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. Narrated by his neighbor Nick Carraway, the story reveals Gatsby's tragic attempt to rewrite his past and win a woman who represents a social status he can never truly attain.

Fitzgerald's novel is the quintessential American story. It is a lyrical, concise, and devastating critique of the American Dream, exploring themes of wealth, class, and the impossibility of repeating the past.