Great by Sara Benincasa 

 Published: April 8th 2014 by HarperTeen

In Sara Benincasa’s contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, a teenage girl becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle, only to be implicated in a tragedy that shakes the summer community.

Everyone loves a good scandal.

Naomi Rye usually dreads spending the summer with her socialite mother in East Hampton. This year is no different. She sticks out like a sore thumb among the teenagers who have been summering (a verb only the very rich use) together for years. But Naomi finds herself captivated by her mysterious next-door neighbor, Jacinta. Jacinta has her own reason for drawing close to Naomi-to meet the beautiful and untouchable Delilah Fairweather. But Jacinta’s carefully constructed world is hiding something huge, a secret that could undo everything. And Naomi must decide how far she is willing to be pulled into this web of lies and deception before she is unable to escape.

Based on a beloved classic and steeped in Sara Benincasa’s darkly comic voice, Great has all the drama, glitz, and romance with a terrific modern (and scandalous) twist to enthrall readers.

 This was a very strange book. I definitely saw the parallels to Gatsby, but I’m not sure of my feelings towards this re-telling. Despite my mixed feelings, I can certainly attest to the originality of this retelling.

It held my interest, but it was simply too much and absolutely outrageous at center points. The updated love story will certainly be a hit with members of the LGBT community. This aspect was very creative, and will bring a new generation of readers into the story.

The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite stories. I appreciate the effort of this novel, but it leaves me with very mixed feelings.

Great is certainly interesting and held my attention, but it is not one of my ‘must read’ selections. Normally I wouldn’t post this short and bland of a review, but I know so many others will fall head-over-heels for the story so I wanted to introduce my readers to this book.

Thank you, Harper Collins for the review copy.