Love Gatsby? In the mood for a retelling with more LGBTQ+ and Latinx representation? You’re in luck, because Anna- Marie McLemore, winner of the Stonewall Award for books on the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience, has given us “Self-Made Boys,” a “remix” in which Gatsby and Nick are gay and trans, and Nick and Daisy are Latinx! Thank God I wasn’t the only one who thought that Nick was low-key in love with Gatsby when I read the book in high school. I always wanted a story with this “alternate ending.” That being said, this is not the Leonardo DiCaprio “Gatsby” that graced our screens a decade ago. The characters feel less one-dimensional than they did in the original. Daisy’s motivation is especially fleshed out and is no longer the “beautiful fool” we expect her to be. Nick is less of an unreliable narrator and more of a man in love! Tom, however, is still our villain, but somehow gets more villainous in this story!

Self Made Boys offers a slow-burn gay romance that is more nuanced than original. But then again, the original was a societal critique rather than a modern day romance. This retelling is engaging because there are enough changes to the plot that keeps it fresh. Despite reading the book and watching the movie obsessively, I still did not know what to expect from Jay, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Tom. While I did give the book 5 stars, I think Self Made Boys misses out on the criticism of classism and Gatsby’s obsession with the past that made it such a good book to teach in English class. Instead, the book spends more time addressing transphobia, homophobia, and racism, none of which even have a chance to be addressed in the original!

As a person who strives to be a better ally,, it was interesting to imagine how LGBTQ characters may survive in the ‘20s. I learned about lavender marriages (2 seemingly hetero couples that are actually gay men and lesbians marrying for appearance) and side lacers (hetero women used to wear them to flatten their chests to achieve of the androdynous flapper look as did trans men).

Thank you to NetGalley for exposing me to this book and for a eARC in exchange of an honest review.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book. I really enjoyed the characterizations and depth of emotion. I think this would be a great addition to any library collection--especially for those with thriving queer and YA communities.

Anna-Marie McLemore’s latest book is a reimagining of a classic - The Great Gatbsy. Picture Nick, a transgender Latinx boy, making his way to New York for the first time under the wing of his beloved cousin, Daisy. What will happen when he meets a certain someone that makes him feel at home, in a place that doesn’t seem to want him?⁣
⁣
AM’s writing always feels like coming home, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The Great Gatsby has always been my favorite classic, and I love that AM was able to reimagine it into such a beautiful, poignant story., with diversity and joy at the forefront.

i really enjoyed self-made boys, I think making Daisy and Nick Latinx was an amazing addition to the classic story and really brought forth some of the class issues that were already present in The Great Gatsby. This book is also the first time I ever heard of lavender marriages, which is really cool. I enjoyed being able to learn more about some of queer history through this book, as well as getting to know these characters in a whole new way. The trans representation made me so happy, as did the rest of the representation.

Self-Made Boys…one of my most anticipated books of the year and it absolutely lived up to the hype. I’m a huge Gatsby fan and Anna-Marie McLemore gave the story a much needed facelift for the 21st century. The way race, gender, and sexuality are explored is incredible and nuanced—and who doesn’t want to see a trans gay Nick and Gatsby?! This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year and I can’t sing it’s praises enough!

I am a fan of Anna-Marie and I will say that I was no disappointed by this book! It was a little bit of a different feel from their other books as it didn't have their signature magical elements though the color description felt like that aspect of magic they typically give. I really loved the cast of characters and the twist that was at the end! I didn't read the original Great Gatsby and I didn't have interest in it but Anna-Marie made it very interesting and I was really invested in the story! I hope that Anna-Marie does more remixes like this one!

“Gatsby and I may have been nothing to men like Tom Buchanan, but men like that did not know that we were as divine as the heavens. We were boys who had created ourselves.”

Seventeen-year-old Nicolás Caraveo has just moved to New York City in the heart of the 1920s. He’s excited to reconnect with his cousin, Daisy Fabrega, and to establish his career and his life as a man. But Daisy, now going by Daisy Fay, has seemingly erased all signs of her Latina heritage, passes for white, and lives in glitzy East Egg near her wealthy fiancé, Tom. Determined to make this work, Nick befriends his mysterious West Egg neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and discovers he and Gatsby have something huge in common: they’re both transgender boys. He agrees to help Gatsby win back a girl from his past—who just so happens to be Daisy—but as Nick gets to know all the glamorous people in this culture of decadence, he realizes his heart may have other plans.

Anna-Marie McLemore’s remix of THE GREAT GATSBY is lush and vibrant with sweeping prose that will knock you off your feet. McLemore does a fantastic job reminding readers of the original, yet twisting it and reinventing it in their own way. I absolutely loved how the time period is portrayed; it feels authentic and real, not dusty in the way historical fiction novels can sometimes seem. The characters too are a masterpiece, similar to their predecessors yet utterly unique at the same time. Overall, SELF-MADE BOYS: A GREAT GATSBY REMIX completely captured the feel of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s well-loved novel with the perfect enhancements to make it a new classic of today.

Content Warnings: Racism, colorism, transphobia, queerphobia, sexism, war, PTSD, gun violence, blood

SELF-MADE BOYS: A GREAT GATSBY REMIX is out now from Feiwel and Friends.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

I never really cared for the original Great Gatsby, but I did enjoy this remix!

I enjoyed this one mostly because of the characters outside of Nick, the main character was hopelessly clueless and only about numbers and logic, it irritated me. He's oblivious to everything and doubts himself so much. I enjoyed all the characters trying to make Nick understand how it is in the East and West Egg of New York. I also loved the romance between characters and the lgbtq rep in this one. It's just the main character I gotta dock a star lol

If you enjoy the original, I'd definitely say pick this one up! If you want lgbtq+ rep in a setting with glitz and glamour, pick this one up!

I hated reading The Great Gatsby in high school. There was just something that I did not get. Maybe it was the very obvious distance between me and this 'high society' or even the desire to get into 'high society'. But at the time I had not experience a great love that would have left me so full of yearning. But Self-Made Boys takes everything I didn't get about the original and clicks into place. The fierceness of the 'American Dream', about wanting to become someone we have made, and about that flickering desire for something we can't have.

Two words come to mind when thinking of this novel, tender and romantic. Anna-Marie McLemore takes such care in telling a story that so many recognize. The Latinx lens brings new depths to a familiar tale, breathes fresh life into it, and brings what can be read as undertones in the original to the forefront in this retelling. Self-Made Boys shows us that queer love and people have existed throughout history no matter how quietly. There is so much to say about this amazing book, but I want to leave some mystery for future readers, but you will not regret picking up this retelling.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love everything Anna-Marie McLemore writes. Give to fans of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, or anyone who loves beautiful prose and beautiful boys. This is the Gatsby story we need, historically researched and full of love.

I don't read many of the remixed classics, but I hopped on the chance to read a queer Great Gatsby. When assigned The Great Gatsby in high school, I went on a rant in class about how Nick was clearly gay & the book would be better if more gay.

Well, SELF-MADE BOYS delivers. It's what the Great Gatsby should have always been. Nick is now Nicolás Caraveo, a trans Latino who moves to the big city to reunite with his cousin and finally be himself. Nick realizes being yourself in New York is harder than it seems. Even Daisy, who seems to be living her best life, is hiding who she truly is. Nick falls hard for Jay Gatsby, a man who rose from nothing to host the popular parties in town.

SELF-MADE BOYS brings all the glitz, glam, and gaiety of the 1920s, and tops it off with a delightfully queer & cinematic ending.

Rating: 5/5 cottages filled with flowers

Format: e-book. I’d like to thank the author and FierceReads for sending me an e-arc of this book to review!

To sum up:
This is one of FierceReads' new “remix classics”, specifically one of The Great Gatsby. In this remix, we are still in New York City in the early 1920s, but our protagonist is Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Wisconsin. Nick is in New York to try to make it as a stocks man, living in his cousin Daisy’s cottage in West Egg to send money home to his family. Nick is hurt to find that his cousin, although seeming to be having a grand time in New York and practically engaged to an eligible bachelor (Tom), has remade herself by erasing her Latine heritage and introducing Nick to her friends as the son of a servant in her old household. As Nick tries to adjust to his new life in New York, and make sense of Daisy’s decisions, he meets the infamous Jay Gatsby, whose parties across the water are the talk of the town. Nick decides the best thing for Daisy is to get her away from Tom, and possibly Jay is the better match. The deeper Nick gets into Jay’s world, however, the more he realizes all that lies just beneath the surface, a world where lavender marriages are just as common as the illegal booze they all drink, and Nick thinks he might just belong in this world after all.

What I enjoyed:
What’s not to like?! The writing is lyrical, layered, and beautiful. The characters are fascinating and complex in interesting ways, and best of all QUEER, the setting is just as lush as I remember from the original but with gay speakeasies! I could go on. I didn’t love the original Great Gatsby, but this book is definitely a new favorite. I loved how Nick develops and navigates through this world (with much more agency than in the original I must say), and the discussions of race, power, queerness, and love throughout! It’s a must-read imo.

Overall, I thought this was a great remix. It is definitely one I will re-read and recommend!

this was a beautifully written (and true to the language) as well as technically skilled retelling, but overall the number of changes and the redemption of all the characters made this feel untrue to the spirit of the original - and left it feeling sort of shallow without the themes that make gatsby a classic.

*3.5 stars*

The atmosphere was ambient, and the vibes were amazing; Self-Made Boys definitely blew my expectations and will forever be a comfort of mine's.

The characters were all lovable - side characters and main - and the plot was interesting to follow. I will definitely check out the author's later books!

I totally enjoyed this retelling of The Great Gatsby! At first I wasn't sure how the story would play out with the characters being so young (Nick is 17, Daisy 18, Gatsby 19) but it all worked out really well. Like Anna-Marie McLemore's other novels, this one is vibrant and brimming with charm, romance, and magic. Not actual magic, but the unique magic of finding others like you, of building community, of seeing the world through a different perspective, of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. This retelling is wonderfully queer and diverse, and full of gentle acceptance and love. There is some racism and homophobia, as well as colorism, and much of the story revolves around the obstacles Nick faces due to skin color that Daisy has avoided by working to become white-passing. I really appreciate how this classic story is reimagined through the lens of a young, transgender, Latine man, in particular the way Nick views the American Dream. So many of his Wall Street coworkers believe in this dream but Nick knows it's only a dream offered to those in power (white, cis, straight men). Yet Nick and his friends find their way and create their own narrative about capturing dreams. Reading this felt like a gift, like the best kind of fix-it fic, like shining a light on all those stories that existed along with the classics but where never told.

For a trans retelling, this was amazing! I felt so many feels between Nick and Jay, and I was so happy to read it!

A refreshing spin on a story that has never managed to catch my attention prior to this. Self-Made Boys will be an excellent Latine, Queer, and Trans-inclusive addition to any high school classroom library.

I'll put it simply: SELF-MADE BOYS is the best retelling I've ever read. Not only does the book retain the key plot points and themes of the original, it also achieves a rare feat of improving upon a modern classic, where even more complexity and layers are added to the themes and characters.

To be honest, just the premise itself seems to good to be true - a canon Nick & Gatsby where both are trans and gay in a book made gayer and more diverse! - yet the novel still exceeds my expectations. The themes and characters are tackled with aplomb; what I think I know about Fitzgerald's original, McLemore plumbs the depths even further, adding even more nuance and characterization to their main cast in a way that amazingly connects to their own version. There were several times I had to pause upon stumbling upon such an instance, awed at how they shed a completely new light or perspective on a character and/or their actions. It's a marvel, really.

My favorite thing about this book, however, is the themes and how they're explored. There are the original themes further scrutinized through Nicólas' non-white and non-cis lens, in addition to new ones examined like race, gender, queerness. It's a lot, yet McLemore somehow succeeds in their balancing act, exploring all the themes inidividually while also bringing intersectionality into play. This also makes the characters more layered, with the most prominent example perhaps being Daisy who's deliciously complex, at once infuriating yet understandable.

I only wish there were more scenes of Nicólas and Gatsby after they get together, even just them lounging in the pool and talking or something; currently the focus is turned immediately to Daisy afterwards and it feels a little abrupt. The explanation for Gatsby's endless pursuit of Daisy personally feels a little forced as well, reading mildly like a cop-out. I just don't understand why he's in such a hurry for a lavender marriage, though maybe that's also due in part to Daisy's situation.

In sum, however, this is not merely a great retelling of a well-known classic but also a smartly plotted, layered and complex book that stands on its own, examining the American dream through the POVs of those not traditionally seen or heard in mainstream society.

Okay so, first of all, I have to admit I did enjoy this. It was such fun to twist everything about The Great Gatsby into something only barely, tenuously connected to the original, but with all the same characters, and while Making It (More) Gay™! So, it was a very enjoyable story, but that quite tenuous connection to all the source material stuff everyone in American high school is guaranteed to have hammered into their psyche is confusing, it almost leaves you wondering why the connection was kept at all. The outright abandonment of the original themes is less "Remix", and more complete renovation.