Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book!

I enjoyed this one and I highly recommend. I binged read this in one day!

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

That’s the first line of the book and one that I will always remember. It is so true and so honest and we tend to forget something as simple as that!

“The Great Gatsby” is a classic and I really cannot understand why I haven’t read it earlier. Well, I’m glad I did now.

The story is being told by Nick Carraway, after everything has passed like water under the bridge. At least for most of the people that used to attend Gatsby’s parties, that’s exactly what happened. Nobody really cares anymore.

After moving to his new house, Nick is reunited with his friend Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is now married to Tom Buchanan, a former athlete and current businessman, and they have decided to stay in the east. Not very far from New York City. Daisy and Tom have a child and they are supposedly leading a happy life. Only that’s not how it is and Nick finds out soon enough. Tom is having a woman in the city. This is not just a rumour Daisy and her friend Jordan Baker told him. Nick has actually the chance to meet this woman, as one day, Tom takes him to town and introduces him to his mistress, a married woman named Myrtle Wilson. They spend the day at Tom’s and Myrtle’s city house, along with some of their friends. Nick is not sure how he feels about all this, but he was never Tom’s friend. He is Daisy’s friend.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Next to his house lives a mysterious person. His name is Jay Gatsby and his house is just a big party every weekend. He never invites people. They just arrive on their own accord. But he invites his neighbor, Nick. Gatsby attempts to befriend Nick. He has a really good reason to do it though. He knows Nick is Daisy’s friend and he wants to ask him to help him meet Daisy. You see, Gatsby and Daisy were sweethearts before he left for the war and before Daisy married Tom. Now that he is finally back, he wants another chance with her. He only hosted those big parties because he knew Daisy lived in the area and he hoped she might actually attend one night. Nick decides to help him and he is the only person that manages to get so close to the Great Jay Gatsby, a man everyone seems to know about, but nobody actually knows.

“No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald attributes the whole 1920 era in just this one small book! The book was first published in 1925, so this was just how everyday was for Fitzgerald, but not for us. We get a glimpse of the city itself, the atmosphere and the people. The narrator, Nick, sees everything from a distance, as he took sometime to describe the events that took place and everything feel emotional sterile. Until the very end, when he really tries to find the right people to say the last goodbye.

The whole experience of the book was made so much better by the audiobook narrator, Tanner Buchanan. This new recording is a pure delight. The different voices he made for the different characters are so unique and identifiable not only of the characters themselves, but of the whole atmosphere! I’m so glad I had a chance to experience this recording!

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing – Audiobooks for the opportunity to listen and review this audiobook. The views expressed are my personal and honest opinion.

When my step-daughter studied The Great Gatsby in her English class a few years back we all sat down to watch the Baz Luhrmann movie with her. At this stage she was thoroughly sick of the text - an unfortunate by-product of having to write essays on a topic over and over again - but I remember her telling us about some of the differences to the book.⁠

When I had the opportunity to listen to a brand new audiobook production narrated by Tanner Buchanan via @netgalley I jumped at the chance and quickly fell in love with its sumptuous embrace.⁠
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I would describe this book as decadent. It has a substantial feel to it, even though it's very short in length. I was surprised that it felt very modern despite being written in 1925 as I've found some classics require a certain level of concentration, but this felt like it dripped over me like honey.⁠
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I usually rail against "flowery", over descriptive text but Fitzgerald uses an economy in his writing that makes every word combination powerful in driving the plot forward and creating just the right feeling for each character and situation they find themselves in. I had to stop myself writing down every sentence that captured my heart as I would have written down most of the book.⁠
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The audio of this version was sublime, and yes I'm at risk of using every superlative in my lexicon to desribe this audiobook! The pacing, the tone and the accents all felt entirely reflective of the era and the characters.⁠
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I picked up so many subtleties in the text that just couldn't be conveyed in the film, and I am so glad I finally read it.⁠
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I would liken it to Boardwalk Empire in its layered portrayal of America in the Roaring Twenties. It covers themes of idealism, social upheaval, and excess and touches on the impacts of war.⁠
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This was a really special experience and I would recommend it to anyone who studied it some years ago (I can understand needing some distance after dissecting it), and anyone who has never read it.

It's been a long while since I read The Great Gatsby, so luckily I forgot most of it. Why luckily? It allowed me to come to this audiobook fairly fresh and experience the story again.

There is nothing new to add to what has already been written about The Great Gatsby, so I'll reserve my review specifically for the audiobook. Aside from chuckling every time I saw the narrator's name (Tanner Buchanan - c'mon, it is coincidentally too good), I thought he did an excellent job. For me, Buchanan's portrayal of Nick Carraway may be what sticks with me the most. He hit the perfect tone of an upper class Midwesterner swimming in the waters of the wealthy East Coasters, of watching the story unfold in a remote way. Yeah, Buchanan's voice may definitely mean Nick to me from now on.

Buchanan also does a great job portraying Gatsby. His husky baritone and clipped accent really brought Gatsby to life for me.

Where he - I wouldn't say fail, but he definitely doesn't succeed - struggles is with women's voices. Daisy is fine, as is Jordan, but nearly every other female voice is almost cringeworthy. Most notable is the scene when Nick goes with Tom and Myrtle to their apartment in New York. With multiple women angling for attention in one scene, Buchanan tends to go over-the-top and turns them into caricatures. Honestly, some lines are laughably bad.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this production of The Great Gatsby.

I've read The Great Gatsby many times over, but this new audiobook provides a depth that I hadn't experienced with it before. Tanner Buchanan does a fantastic job giving each character a unique and intriguing voice, particularly for Jay Gatsby himself.

i mean the text is classic, just purely excellent, but i didn't love the narration. tanner buchannan just comes off as too young to be nick, which duh the kid's like 22 or something. not terrible, just mismatched

This book is a classic but after listening to it and experiencing it for the first time, I had a hard time determining why. I found it confusing, the climax was underwhelming, it had good build up then fell apart. The racist comments didn't age well, it didn't make sense how some of the events took place, and at the end I wasn't really sure what had happened ultimately.
The narrator of this new production was fantastic though.

Fun fact: I had never read The Great Gatsby prior to today. I’m not really sure why I put it off because I do love the 1920s era but it always seemed that people were very mixed on how they felt about this book. Having now read it, I get it.

I wouldn’t say I hated this book but I definitely didn’t love it. I just didn’t really…care about anything that was really going on. The biggest things I liked were: 1. The audiobook narrator (his voice was lovely) and 2. Gatsby constantly calling Nick “Old Sport” made me laugh because it made me think of Forty from the You series. So basically what I’m saying is I liked things that really had nothing to do with the actual story. 😂

So listen (old sport) - I’m glad I can say I read this but I won’t be doing it again. 😅

This is an amazing tragedy. Throughout the years, this book has always held a special place in my heart. The sadness of Gatsby, the coldness of Daisy, the terrible way that everything turns out. Nick's storytelling, breaking our hearts after giving us hope. It's a must read (and listen) for sure.

This is the audiobook that is destined to become a staple in any American Literature course. The narration simply takes the characterization and nuances to heights that haven't been reached by this audio's predecessors. When you think of the ideal accompaniment to a classic such as Gatsby, especially for analytical use, this is it.

The new audiobook recording of The Great Gatsby is delightful. The narrator, Tanner Buchanan, does a wonderful job creating unique voices for each character and imbuing a conversational tone to the main character's thoughts.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books of all time and one of my favorite books to teach. It's the story of friendship, of love and loss, of betrayal, and the search for the unattainable American dream. Rich with symbolism and prose that sings with Fitzgerald's poetic lilt, Nick glides though life, unsure of his place in high society while Jay Gatsby attempts to do everything he can to win the love of his former sweetheart, Daisy, now married to the pompous unfaithful Tom.

Though this is one of my faves, I've never heard an audiobook of it, so I was gleeful when I was fortunate enough to receive an ALC of The Great Gatsby narrated by Tanner Buchanan. He does an awesome job! His voice has a sleepy dreamlike quality that I think fits Nick Carraway perfectly. I also love the voice he choice for Gatsby. It sounded so strong and charming, just like I imagine Gatsby to be. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC.

I’m 99% sure that this was taken from my old class files and is actually Steven M’s senior project from 2011. If memory serves, it earned a C because it included all the very basic requirements and absolutely nothing more. However, I could be wrong because I think I fell asleep while listen to Steven’s submission. As I did with this audiobook.

This review is about the audiobook, the story is well-known and has been oft-reviewed over the years, so I will simply stick to the facts of this particular recording.

I don’t get it. Why do publishing houses continue to release new versions of old classics without doing something new or interesting? I’m going to say it again, as I have in many of my reviews in the past …why bother? Why should someone buy this one? If anything, I will direct students to other versions because at least others have infused some life into the characters or attempted storytelling, not just robotically repeated words that were printed on a page.
I requested this book from NetGalley because I always try to keep an audio version of books I teach and that my students might be interested in reading. I was excited at the prospect of perhaps a modern new take on a tried and true classic. However, I would never, ever include this version in my library. It’s hard enough to get students interested in most of the classics, and 5 minutes with this and I can already hear my kids whining, “It’s sooo booooring,” and “Why do we have to read these old books?” And, I couldn’t disagree, this lazy, monotonous narration holds no appeal.
Why go into a career as a voice actor when you don’t know how (or choose not) to modulate your voice, add intonation, or apply any nuance to words?
The description provided for THIS audiobook says, “keep you turning until the very last PAGE” - even the publisher thinks you should avoid this audiobook!
Bottom line - read the book, find another audiobook, or don’t complain when you and/or your students mentally check out.