Sparkling!

This story of a man who grew into a legend who grew into a tragedy has always intrigued me. Probably because the idea of inventing yourself within manhood was something that I related to deeply, as a trans man. This reimagining not only enriched the story of Jay Gatsby but also the romantic subtext I always saw on the page.

I think it’s a wonderful thing to be able to imagine yourself in stories, to read between the pages and provide your own reading of the text. But there’s something particularly magical to seeing yourself reflected back on the page, to relate deeply to the characters because you recognize their story in your own.

I cannot recommend this book enough and I thank the author for giving me the chance to look at this story and see hope and reinvention instead of tragedy.

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To your good health!

It’s about the longing.
Avi once again hit it out of the park with their performance. Absolutely fantastic read!
McLemore, thank you for writing this. It’s about the /longing/. You sewed it into each word and phrase, and the twist near the end gripped my heart with the weight of a thousand pearls.
This book was so good, I may actually read the original Gatsby lol.

An effort was made i guess

This book wasn’t good but I can tell the author really tried. So points for effort I guess.

Great Remix

The spirt of the original Great Gatsby is definitely there but the character development is deeper. I’m definitely recommending this book to everyone I think would appreciate it!

Historical Realism meets Contemporary Consciousness

Just finished reading The Great Gatsby with my juniors again, and wish we had spent time reading this, or Passing (just watched the movie). More and more, Gatsby the book has become not just challenging to teach because of the language, but because diverse high school students do not want the window into the white, straight elite world. I hated Gatsby when I read it in high school and again in college, and I think on some level it was because I didn’t see any part of myself reflected there. As a teacher, I can appreciate Fitzgerald’s “beautiful, simple, intricately patterned” language and plot, but McLemore rivals those things skillfully here. Pitched this book to students before I started listening to it, continued to update students on small changes once I did, and as I finish, two trans students are reading by choice. Taking tremendous pride in the fact that students are learning classics AND remixes from me. That they won’t have to go through as much of their life as I did wondering what was wrong with me that I didn’t like/get Gatsby.