The Great Gatsby

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal

Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Classic, 2014

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby’s lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.

After meeting and losing Daisy during the war, Gatsby has made himself fabulously wealthy. Now, he believes that his only way to true happiness is to find his way back into Daisy’s life, and he uses Nick to try to reach her. What happens when the characters’ fantasies are confronted with reality makes for a startling conclusion to this iconic masterpiece.

This special audio edition joins the recent film - as well as many other movie, radio, theater, and even video-game adaptations - as a fitting tribute to the cultural significance of Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic, widely regarded as one of the greatest stories ever told.

©1925 Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright renewed 1953 by Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Combining a deeply loved classic like The Great Gatsby with a well-known Hollywood voice like Jake Gyllenhaal’s could create magic or disaster. Could there be competition between the two? Which side would come out stronger? This production strikes a graceful balance, with both big names blending to complement each other. Gyllenhaal’s reserved tone lends polish to Fitzgerald’s text, accentuating the mood of poetry that pervades the novel. His delivery is simultaneously youthful and experienced, aware of the subtleties of the characters and the plot nuances as he infuses them with life. Gyllenhaal controls his performance with style and careful pacing, seemingly keeping as reverent an eye on the novel as Gatsby himself kept on that elusive green light." (AudioFile magazine)

Gyllenhaal is an incredible narrator

Where does The Great Gatsby rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This has to be one of my top ten favorites - no one can deny that this is one of the greatest American novels ever written.
There's a reason we all have to read it in high school, although lamentably we're mostly too young to understand it very meaningfully at that age.

What did you like best about this story?

Impossible to say - the myriad interpretations offered by various symbols; the forgiving and compassionate way human folly, hypocrisy, and unthinking offhand cruelty are portrayed throughout the book; the equanimity of the narrator; the rich detail of the descriptions of wasteful yet magical opulence; the heartbreaking, love-soaked idealism of Gatsby juxtaposed with the completely amoral and brutal source of the income with which he intended to pursue Daisy; ok so this is already too long and you didn't read it.
My review is really about supposed to be about Jake Gyllenhaal.

What does Jake Gyllenhaal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

In short, his narration allowed me to fall in love with the characters.

Jake Gyllenhaal lends a quality to Nick's telling of the story that provides insight into varied aspects of the book - things I would not have understood quite as richly as a female reader with only a page in front of me.

He brings phrases such as "old sport" to life without the cartoonish and annoying cadence my brain would have imposed on them.

His voice is perfect for this. He's at just the right age to play Nick, whose point of view is so essential, and he perfectly portrays Nick's character as earnest, thoughtful, self-aware, unblinkingly critical, and yet still compassionate.
Gyllenhaal also has a more than impressive vocal range to bring the various other characters vividly to life. His portrayal of female characters is notably nuanced.

I'll be listening to anything and everything else he chooses to read.

Any additional comments?

Jake, please keep reading stuff so I can listen to it!

A masterpiece that never gets old

Where does The Great Gatsby rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best, I own the book but Gyllenhal adds something to the narration that just reading it doesnt have.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Gatsby?

The ending of course, I wont spoil anything for people who havent read it or havent read it in a very long time.

What does Jake Gyllenhaal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His performance slowly changes through out the book portraying the subtle nuances of the characters change from the beginning to the emotional end.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The end made me cry. This book is in no way a happy book, no one is actually happy and every choice each character makes just nudges them closer to the explosive end.

Any additional comments?

If you havent already, wait to watch the movie till you at least read the book. The 2013 version not the crappy old versions.

Great listen!

I loved the reader, Jake Gyllenhaal, and I loved the book itself. They could not have picked a better reader for this masterful work of art!

Jake Gyllenhaal is great!

Love this timeless classic but what I really loved was Gyllenhaal's performance! Well worth the listen!

Still great, especially with Jake narrating

Would you listen to The Great Gatsby again? Why?

Probably in a few years. It's an enduring book, but not one I return to year after year.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Gatsby?

This is hard to narrow down since I've read the book so many times before. The narration made them all memorable...

Which scene was your favorite?

This is a classic and I can't say much of anything that hasn't already been said over and over again!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nothing and everything! Jake Gyllenhaal is a superb narrator who completely "got" Gatsby. Can't think of a narrator who could have been more right for this.

Any additional comments?

Thank you, Audible, for making this classic available at a reasonable cost. Since I've read it several times before, I could not justify paying full price since there are so many other books to listen to that are new to me. As a daily deal, it was a "must buy" and I'm very grateful to have it in my audiobook collection as well as my dwindling "real" book collection -- since I'm only buying and keeping audiobooks and books as I downsize my life...

Absolutely incredible!

Jake Gyllenhaal's narration of this book was likely the most amazing performance I have ever heard. From the amount of different types of voices to the variations between both men and women, it was very easy to tell the difference between characters. Every shift from one character to another was fluid, and it was though each person came to life right in front of me. I'd watched the movie before I read the book, and despite how much I loved the movie, this audio telling of the story was 100 times better. I would love to see more narration from him, and actually, I'm quite looking forward to it. The book in itself is an amazing love story and exactly what I was looking for when I chose it. Fitzgerald is a genius. I only wish there were real life Jay Gatsby's in the world.

A classic that should be read.

Regardless of whether this was a recent movie with Leonard DeCaprio or an audio book narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal, this an an all time classic. The writing is impeccable, with each paragraph and page expertly crafted. Although I loved the Audible version, this is a book that should be read, not listened to or watched on the big screen. It's a rather short book that exemplifies the power of the written word.

Amazing

What made the experience of listening to The Great Gatsby the most enjoyable?

Gyllenhaal does a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life.

What did you like best about this story?

The little twists and turns of the plot, as well as the sub-plots, keep you on the edge of your seat through the entire story.

What does Jake Gyllenhaal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He really does a good job of distinguishing the characters and bringing their inherent traits to the surface with inflections of his voice.

Classic F Scott Fitzgerald

Just typical Scott Fitzgerald, it was a great performance of this maudlin book. If you haven't read it, or haven't read it in a while this is a good refresher.

Enjoyable if slightly uninspired

As a school teacher who teachers Gatsby every year, I feel like Mr. Gyllenhaal misses some of the nuance of the novel, which I lay at the feet of the producers of this audiobook. That's not to say that this isn't a fine production, but for a person who has read Gatsby already, you may find many small moments where the performance is incongruous with the details of the novel. In Chapter 8, for instance, on what is believed to be the hottest day of the summer, I always imagine Nick's narration as languid, and yet here it maintains mostly the same tone as the preceding chapters.

For listeners who are seeking another version of Gatsby, there was a somewhat more nuanced version recorded by Tim Robbins some years ago of which I am quite fond.