The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel
What is the experience of reading The Great Gatsby as a graphic novel so far?
Four chapters in, just shy of the halfway point — finally, a fair bit behind schedule — and I am rather enjoying the experience of reading The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel.
It’s sort of like seeing the movie adaptation of a book. But, in my case, a book that I have not read, as I’ve said, in around five years. Aside from a few names and one specific incident in the story, I pretty much remembered nothing of the original work before I started reading. Part of me wishes I had reread The Great Gatsby before delving into the graphic novel, but alas, I did not.
However, as I am reading, the words and the storyline are foreign yet familiar. Various sentences and illustrations, such as the Doctor Eckleburg sign with the eyes on page 34 or the human molars cuff buttons scene on page 84, ring a bell for me. For every page, something I read or something I see feels like I have already read about it before, which I have, but had forgotten about until that moment.
I have previously mentioned how I am not good at picturing what I am reading. And I brought up in another class for which I just last week read a graphic novel how that is why, though I have not yet read too many, I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate graphic novels. They take care of all the picturing for me. Though admittedly, despite this, I am, like usual when I read graphic novels, finding myself getting caught up in reading the words of the story, so much so that I forget to appreciate the illustrations fully. And then I feel bad and have to remind myself to slow down and do so. Because, while they’re not quite my favorite art style, I am finding the illustrations in this graphic novel to be very lovely and befitting of the Great Gatsby-vibe, and they do just as much storytelling as the words on the pages, too.
And that’s pretty much the gist of my experience reading The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel thus far. It’s honestly making me want to go back and read The Great Gatsby in my own free time, versus my previous experience of being made to read it for high school. I read roughly the first half of the graphic novel in one go, paused to write this little reflection, and now I am ready to jump back into the book and finish reading. And as I keep reading, I will undoubtedly come across more familiar things that remind me I have read the original novel before. But hopefully, my not-so-strong memory will allow me to continue to avoid triggering my mind of revealing spoilers.
