That moment a book club debate got super personal

I was at my local library in Austin last week and walked past a room where a book club was arguing about "The Great Gatsby." One woman said Gatsby was just a rich stalker, not a hopeless romantic. Another guy shot back that she was missing the whole point about the American Dream. It got me thinking about how we judge characters based on our own life experiences. I've done that too, like hating a character in a novel just because they reminded me of my ex. Has anyone else had a book club debate change how you see a story you thought you knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena58214d ago

Wait, did that guy really just gatekeep someone's take on Gatsby? Lol that's wild.

jessica92114d ago

Keep it simple and just ask them what they think the book's actually about.

phoenixk6414d ago

Seventy percent of my book club debates end with someone comparing a character to their mom, I swear. Last month we were arguing about "The Catcher in the Rye" and I called Holden Caulfield a whiny teenager who needed a real job, then this older woman goes "sounds like someone's projecting their own stuff" and I wanted to crawl under the table. I laughed it off but she was right, I was fired from a deli around that age for complaining too much. Now I can't read that book without seeing my 19 year old self in it, which is humbling in the worst way. Your Gatsby lady might have a point, we all bring our baggage to these fictional people.