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The Great Gatsby

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
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Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Finalist, Classic, 2014

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby’s lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.

After meeting and losing Daisy during the war, Gatsby has made himself fabulously wealthy. Now, he believes that his only way to true happiness is to find his way back into Daisy’s life, and he uses Nick to try to reach her. What happens when the characters’ fantasies are confronted with reality makes for a startling conclusion to this iconic masterpiece.

This special audio edition joins the upcoming film - as well as many other movie, radio, theater, and even video-game adaptations - as a fitting tribute to the cultural significance of Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic, widely regarded as one of the greatest stories ever told.

©1925 Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright renewed 1953 by Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Great Gatsby

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Enjoyable & a reminder of a well spoken novel

A classic & beautiful novel, very vivid in description. Make me want to read more classics. The audio was excellent, makes it feel just like the writer would have wanted.

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Well read!

I listened to it in one sitting as I went about housework. Was a really easy listen.

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Audible's The Great Gatsby Review

Performance: The subtle accents he places on characters matches perfectly in a way that doesn't ever feel intrusive to the listener.

Story: Going into it I knew it was based on one of my favourite books so with all bias aside I still thoroughly enjoy this almost 100 year old piece of literature. Relistening to it this time I realise how import the structure of this novel is. You find out key information in a scattered structure, this works in the novels favour by further placing them inside the mind of the protagonist.

Overall: Highly Recommend

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Perfection!

Simple perfection! I loved Jake Gyllenhaal's narration of this text. He brought the story to life in a new way for me. Highly recommend!

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great voice, great book. highly recommend to anyon

great voice, great book. highly recommend to anyon. The pace is the kind of pace that allow you to enjoy!

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Worth your Time & Credits

Although I acknowledge the appeal of choosing a longer audiobook for the sake of value, Jake Gyllenhaal's rendition, along with a fundamentally re-readable narrative and sheer quality, makes this a must have.

The performance is crisp, and really accentuates the almost rhythmic, poetic prose. And for the most part, I find that this auditory version of "The Great Gatsby" is a better medium to experience the novel.

However, in being an audiobook, many may partake in a more passive stance, which will likely be detrimental to the experience. Thus, be active and cognitive in the dissection of what you are told and do not let the label of “classic” entrap you into not questioning the (purposefully) unreliable narration for the following reasons.

Through the narrator’s shrouding of truth, the non-linear storytelling, and the mystery of the titular Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents a puzzle where the curious reader, much like Nick Caraway, needs to actively weave together a kaleidoscope of perspectives from secondary characters, keep track of information and critique the validity of contradictory stories. In doing so, Fitzgerald elevates the reader’s role from observer to analyst.

I would like delve into the consequences of such hypocrisy and its ever relevant critique of the American Jazz Age, but I digress. The intricate “puzzle” of a novel, is a testament to the joy to be found from revisiting the novel, which may have been dull had I not done so through the lively auditory medium.

As for the allegory of a variety of certainly clear symbolic items, I still ruminate upon. Although no critic, I question the purpose of allegory that requires a dissection to have any value, much like Tolkien famously disliked it. Personally, it is yet another meta critique of our absurd tendency to attribute meaning to inanimate objects, our “enchanted objects”, if you will; substantiated by those still wondering.

One of my favourite audiobooks on this site that I continuously revisited, despite despising it when it's reading was mandatory at school.

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Beautiful reading of a classic

Jake Gyllenhaal’s reading of The Great Gatsby creates a credible version of Nick Carraway. Imagery lingers in every word.

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The story is a bit boring...

The story itself isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, found myself tuning out a lot. The production was good though!

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loved it!

really enjoyed this book and Jakes reading was really enjoyable. Would recommend!!
ending is better than the movie for sure!

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Lacklustre performance.

Narration was dull and emotionless - he could have been reading from an encyclopedia.

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  • Matthew Stavros
  • 09-05-2013

Just the right reading style

I was reluctant to listen to a book read by a screen actor, and one I don't particularly love. I thought the creators would be selling the name rather than a gifted reader. I was wrong. Not only did Jake Gyllenhall read the story well, he did so in an almost whispered style that I think captured the book's subtlety in supreme manor. I can highly recommend this audiobook.

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  • Ian C Robertson
  • 16-04-2013

The Very Good Gatsby, Reprised

I apologise if you've read my previous review of the William Hope production, but what follows is essentially the same down to the Performance. Skip to there is you've read the other review.

The Book
What can I say? It is one of the best known plots of modern times. It is regarded as a modern American classic, alongside "Grapes of Wrath", Huck Finn's Adventures and Scout's wondering at her father's integrity. But for me, it has always been missing something. I know it's about soulless people for whom, what it looks like is more important than what it is. So of course it is missing something. That's the point! But still, there's something I can't put my finger on that separates this from the true "Greats".
I just read Melinda's review (which I always read with interest). She gets it, but I don't. For me Fitzgerald has so successfully dismissed these glitzy cut-out figures, that I have no empathy for any of them, not even Dan. That leaves me this: awed by the language, but not so hot about the story. And, isn't it all about the story? Anyway, who am I to criticise the book. It can't have been too bad because I listened to two versions of it over a day!
Overall, I think my prejudice is not a good guide. I love the language, but I could easily never read this again. I wouldn't say the same for Wrath, Mockingbird or Finn, and certainly I will read Of Mice and Men again, hopefully many times.

The Performance
I listened to this version of the tale second. I started with the William Hope version, then saw the Jake Gyllenhaal one advertised. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying Hope's performance, because I listened to both from "cover to cover". However, maybe because I was looking for something more, I thought I would listen to this production, too, It had the redeeming feature of being an hour shorter, but I can't work out why that is. Certainly Gyllenhaal didn't read too quickly. To the contrary, I found his easy pace much more endearing that Hope's dramatisation, although I found Hope's characterisation better, overall. Also, I was driven to the hard copy with Gyllenhaal's telling because he punctuated it where he wanted to, not where the text does. On some occasions this changed the meaning of the language. I liked both versions and I can recommend both, but if forced to choose, I would opt for the more accurate reading (ie, Hope's) because I thing the language, including the punctuation, is the best of this book.

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  • Jorge Curiel Lopez
  • 06-07-2013

Nice voice, terrible voice acting.

I was pretty excited when I saw this release. I hadn't read The Great Gatsby before, but I was aware of the soon to be released movie. I am a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor and I was curious about how his first audiobook narration would go.

To be honest, the listening was very dissapointing. From the very beginning I noticed how Gyllenhaal was merely whispering his way through the book. At first I thought this was needed to keep a nostalgic mood for the novel introduction, but the pace, tone and volume kept exactly the same till the end.

I even wondered wether Jake was trying very hard to sound what, sexy? Except that didn't work when he had to switch between different characters. When dialog occured, I had a very hard time distinguishing what character was supposed to be talking, the voice-acting being so plain. Only Tom and Gatsby sounded distinct (if not cued by hearing "oldsport" at the end of every Gatsby's line). Appart from them, even male and female characters were undistinguishable from each other, for they all had the same dull, muted voice of Nick, the narrator.

Also, there's lack of emotion everywhere. Not even lines like "oh my god" (hint: near the end) sound convincing enough to me. When characters are supposed to be really angry, Jake makes them sound like presenting their arguments as-a-matter-of-fact-ly. Several times I found myself mentally repeating the lines with my own expression added to it, in order to try and enjoy the novel a bit more.

Unfortunately, there's something else to add. There are several occasions in which listeners will notice audio editing, (i.e. cut and paste voice clips in the right place), like when the narrator does a mistake during recording and has to do a second take, but resumes from few words behind (presumably after a comma) instead of reading again the whole parragraph. You can tell where's the cut because of the change in Gyllenhaal's breath or the apparent variation in distance to mic (different envelope or openness sound).

As for the story... I didn't like it. But I can't tell to what extent the negative experience was due to the narration performance. It could simply be a different writing style than I was expecting, though. As I stated before, I didn't know the story before.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this audiobook. I sincerely hope Gyllenhaal gets better at narrating if he seeks this path.

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  • Ashley Kim
  • 25-03-2015

한국어 리뷰

한국어로 적습니다. 책도 이미 읽었고 영화도 보았기에 내용은 다 알고 있고, 그다지 좋아하는 스토리는 아닙니다. . 새로운 책을 들을까 하다가 영화 배우들이 참여한 작품들을 좋아해서 제이크 질렌홀의 위대한 개츠비를 골랐습니다. 책으로 읽을 때는 지루해서 한참이 걸렸는데(한국어도 영어도...) 그래서인지 듣는 것이 낫다 싶습니다. 기대 이상으로 발음도 퍼포먼스도 좋아서 귀에 쏙쏙 들어오네요. 익숙한 발음이기도하고, 비교적 길이도 짧아서 좋은 선택인듯합니다:)

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  • Daniela
  • 02-06-2013

Gleaming prose and flawless reading

If you are in for a treat give yourself 4 hours of delightful entertaining.
Gatsby's sad but scintillating story is told by Fitzgerald perfect prose, with Gyllenhaal wonderful reading.
Whether you - like me - read it long ago and want to reread it now, or for the first time approach it, maybe because the movie brought it back under the spotlight, do not miss it.

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  • AReviewer
  • 28-10-2017

This book is a classic for a reason

It is poetry disguised as prose. Every word has a place and every combination of words packs within it a beauty, a profound sadness, an alluring decadence that almost fills you with envy for the writer‘s prowess in wielding his pen. Jake Gyllenhaal's narration couldn't have been more perfect.

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  • Charlotte Linde Nielsen
  • 05-05-2020

Boring

Had to read it because it was part of my curriculum - I found it boring

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  • Diego
  • 08-04-2020

Excelente soporte de audible

Me encantó la narración de este hombre. Una joya y un gran libro, ahora sí podré ver la película y comparar jaja

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  • Kentazar
  • 28-03-2016

This is crap

I can't understand why people love this book. Other than the opening line nothing was thought provoking, or even interesting. Nothing happened.

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  • Hadas
  • 02-08-2023

Absolutely beautiful and heartbraking

This is defiantly a classic for a good reason. While the storyline is pretty basic, the writing is wonderly beautiful and poetic.

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  • Anthony
  • 02-06-2013

Much better investment than the movie!

This is a beautifully written and narrated examination of superficiality and materialism and in America in the interwar years. It highlights the desire for money and things, drawing attention to the emptiness that can accompany the unconstrained search for more and more. The powerful symbols of Gatsby's house and the eyes of Dr T J Eckleberg, reveal the dominance of commercialism and the hollowness of the continuous search for wealth and recognition. When things go wrong it all collapses in a heap and there's barely a relationship that survives Gatsby's violent end.

Great story, beautifully written, well narrated, and probably more deeply evocative than the multi-million dollar movie. Maybe money can't buy it all, after all?!

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  • caroline
  • 07-07-2014

Best novel of the twentieth century

Where does The Great Gatsby rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Probably the best, the prose sparkles and the plot is spare and perfectly framed

Who was your favorite character and why?

The narrator, he is at once reflective and sensitive, aware of his own faults but capable of emotion and loyalty

What does Jake Gyllenhaal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

One gets a clearer delineation of the characters by listening to their different voices, tonalities and inflections as read by him

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Voted by me one of the best if not the best novel of the twentieth century. The music of the prose suggests the jazz era

Any additional comments?

I have now read this book twice, seen the first movie once and most enjoyed of all experiences the audible version. Fabulous.

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  • Matt Harwood
  • 23-12-2013

Great classic story, but dreary narration

Where does The Great Gatsby rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Sadly, it seems my take on the narration for this book, is somewhat different to the opinions of others...
I like Jake Gyllenhaal's acting, but his vocals in this story, didn't capture me at all. In fact, his monotone voice with lack of excitement, left me missing various important parts of the story as my mind wandered for something less dreary.
Great story, but I'm glad I had a re-wind button to re-listen to the bits I drifted off to...

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  • Miss Hunt
  • 18-02-2015

Beautifully read, great story

I really enjoyed this book, and loved the narration. The tone felt perfect for the story.

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  • A. J. Roche
  • 10-05-2013

Wonderful Adaptation

Jake Gyllenhaal really brings this wonderful story to life. I've listened to a few audiobooks of this story, and they've always failed to engage me. This one, however, really succeeds, with Gyllenhaal breathing a charm and old-world sensibility into Fitzgerald's words. His Gatsby voice sounds very much like DiCaprio's, which lends itself well to the tie-in with the 2013 movie.

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  • Jay Lewis
  • 10-08-2018

Gyllenhaal is a great reader of this timeless classic

This is just a wonderful way to spend a few hours. Gyllenhaal makes the story come alive with his on point characterisation of Nick and the tragic story of Jay Gatsby.

One to listen to immediately, Old Sport.

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  • James
  • 23-07-2018

Terrible combination of two things seem appealing

A very short listen but not enjoyable, read poorly and flatly, often with incorrect grammar

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  • B. J. Taylor
  • 01-06-2015

Quite a bit of fuss over nothing!

It's written well but it's a little slow for my tastes! Also who'd have thought jake gyllenhal would have such a monotone narration???

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  • amie
  • 18-03-2021

overrated

hugely overrated book. All about over privileged selfish people. hard to like any of them, or connect with any of them.

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  • 420 Blaze it
  • 17-07-2018

This book washed over me

I haven’t a clue what I have just been hearing. Great voice but the rest is.... well I might relisten to this someday in future as I heard it was good.

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