Great

by Sara Benincasa

In this contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, seventeen-year-old Naomi Rye becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle and a tragedy that shakes the summer community.

• ISBN10: 0062222694
• ISBN13: 9780062222695
• Publish Date: 8 April 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

It's been over a decade since I read and disliked The Great Gatsby, but I couldn't help but be intrigued by this modern day F/F retelling. Great begins with Naomi heading to the Hamptons to spend the summer with her TV Chef mother. Naomi doesn't exactly fit in there, so she's not thrilled about another boring Summer, but this year it's different. Fashion blogger, Jacinta, is renting the house next door, throws lavish parties, and takes the beach town by storm. But there's something not right about her.

Great was a pretty good, quick read. I was a bit disappointed that Naomi is 100% straight, and it's only Jacinta and Delilah who are queer. But I got so caught up in the drama of their friendship and relationships with each other and the other teens who summer nearby. Naomi befriends both girls, but Jacinta and Delilah spend most of their time alone together. Delilah's boyfriend finds this suspicious and is out to ruin Jacinta. Naomi knows Jacinta isn't all that she seems, but she genuinely likes her and doesn't think she deserves the torment. Things just get out of control very quickly.

I don't really have a lot to say about Great that won't spoil anything. Although I'm sure you can all guess some of the shocks if you know the original. Like I said, it's been awhile since I've read it, but I did enjoy this retelling a whole lot more. Gatsby came across as creepy to me, while Jacinta feels more sad. I wanted her to get the girl and live happily ever after! In fact, I was much more invested in her than I was in Naomi, even though this is all from her perspective. I'm just a sucker for spoiled rich people drama.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Great is a modern retelling of The Great Gatsby, one of my favourite classic novels. What I love most about The Great Gatsby is what I lovingly refer to as “Rich People Drama”. I adore the glitz and the glam, and how it disguises the dark underbelly of the city. Sara Benincasa captures this feeling perfectly, and Great sucked me in straight away.


Naomi, the main character, goes to stay with her rich and famous mother in the Hamptons, and the story begins there. She goes on to meet Jacinta, her mother’s glamourous neighbour, and becomes immediately enticed by her and her extravagant parties and outgoing personality. But soon, she starts to realise that not everything is as it seems, as Jacinta starts to use her to meet Naomi’s kind-of-friend, Delilah. So, as you can see, Naomi is our Nick, Jacinta is obviously Gatsby himself, and Delilah plays the part of Daisy. We also have a Tom Buchanan, but he’s not really important in the beginning, and I don’t like him, so I will ignore his existence.

I really enjoyed Naomi’s narration of the story. From the moment she meets Jacinta, everything changes drastically, and she gets pulled into a darker world. But, whilst enjoyable, I didn’t think Naomi was very easy to relate to. I just didn’t care enough about her to give a crap. She was also very slow to catch onto Jacinta’s lies, which was slightly frustrating for a fan of the original novel. Maybe non-fans won’t be so peeved off and impatient?

I did love how Naomi was so captivated by Jacinta, because I was too, in a way. I wanted to find out what Jacinta’s deal was, where she came from, who she really was. Jacinta was my favourite character of the bunch. She was complex, and obsessive, which are both traits that often show up on my list of favourite characters. Weird, I know. I also very much enjoyed reading about her backstory and about how she came to be Jacinta.

As you may have noticed, both the Gatsby and the Daisy of this novel are girls. So, yes, Great has a same-sex relationship going on between them, and it was fantastic. I felt a lot more sympathy towards Jacinta and Delilah than I did towards Gatsby and Daisy in the original novel, and I found myself shipping the two of them together. I didn’t like how they shut out Naomi, of course, but that’s what they were always going to do. All Jacinta wanted was to impress Delilah, and I thought it was kind of cute. And also very obsessive and weird, but still.

The ending was very exciting when the big reveal came around, although I’m a little disappointed that it didn’t go completely the way I was expecting. I’m torn between liking it, and wishing it was different. I think that the ending of Great definitely had a bigger impact than the original, but at the same time it feels almost as though what happened was thrown in for shock factor. It felt slightly less natural to me. And I’ll leave it at that, because I don’t want to spoil you all.

I would definitely recommend Great to fans of The Great Gatsby, since it’s a pretty good adaptation and I’m pleased with it. Also, if you’re into Rich People Drama like I am, definitely give this one a go. With a setting like the Hamptons, the characters riding in helicopters, giant mansions, and dirty schemes, it’s too good to pass up.