The Connell Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Whoever is studying The Great Gatsby should own this guide. This is the most helpful and detailed guide book I have come across and yet it is still small and only takes a couple of hours to read back to back! I love the random facts, the word ‘time’ appears 87 times in the novel is not something that we necessarily need to know but it is entertaining! And the chapters each cover the different topics that exam questions might be on.

If you're studying The Great Gatsby for A levels, this is a must. Accessible, original essays on key themes and characters.

love it

Has helped generate some interesting ideas

Very good value

Good

I read The Great Gatsby in college many decades ago and saw the film quite recently. This Connell Guide was riveting - so full of insights that helped expand my understanding of why this novel is deservedly so highly regarded. Just the detail of the 'Getz' name that morphed into Gatsby was typical of the depth of insight that this guide gives. It left me in awe of the skill and art of F Scott Fitzgerald and determined me to read the book again, probably with this guide at my side. My next step will be the guide to Macbeth and I hope that they will eventually do a guide to Henry V - it covers unnecessary foreign wars and their domestic harm and I'd love to see them cover it with the same competence as they have done with The Great Gatsby

I cannot say enough good things about the Connell Guides. They are a splendid resource for the scholar and lay reader alike into the works they cover and this one is no exception. The little sidebars, background historical notes, etc are all useful, educational and insightful. I will look back at Fitzgerald's text with a new appreciation and will read it again as if anew.

Packed full of info that even the reader of the Great Gatsby would die to know. It goes into great detail about the story & characters (not like spark notes BUT MUCH BETTER if you need to write a composition