Lauren
The Great Mann is essentially The Great Gatsby, but told from the perspective of people of color. As someone who loved Gatsby in high school, I really enjoyed this take on it. It wasn’t modernized much (1940s instead of 20s) so perhaps it could be argued that it’s redundant, but the issues surrounding race added a layer of depth to the story.
I believe this is also Laurie’s debut novel. I look forward to seeing what else she writes. The writing style itself was simple, but in a way that made the story feel accessible and let the characters be the focus. Each character felt like their own person, and while he is flawed, I did like Charlie’s perspective.
The story beats are all the more or less the same as Gatsby, so readers who didn’t like the classic probably won’t enjoy this one. That being said, you do not need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy the book.
If you’re more interested in trigger warnings, my review ends here. Trigger warnings are listed below:
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It is worth noting that this book does deal with topics such as classism, racism, mentions of violence, mentions of war, mentions of the KKK, and infidelity.
The Great Mann is essentially The Great Gatsby, but told from the perspective of people of color. As someone who loved Gatsby in high school, I really enjoyed this take on it. It wasn’t modernized much (1940s instead of 20s) so perhaps it could be argued that it’s redundant, but the issues surrounding race added a layer of depth to the story.
I believe this is also Laurie’s debut novel. I look forward to seeing what else she writes. The writing style itself was simple, but in a way that made the story feel accessible and let the characters be the focus. Each character felt like their own person, and while he is flawed, I did like Charlie’s perspective.
The story beats are all the more or less the same as Gatsby, so readers who didn’t like the classic probably won’t enjoy this one. That being said, you do not need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy the book.
If you’re more interested in trigger warnings, my review ends here. Trigger warnings are listed below:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It is worth noting that this book does deal with topics such as classism, racism, mentions of violence, mentions of war, mentions of the KKK, and infidelity.