I liked Gatsby in school, but I really didn't get it until living outside of America for awhile. To me it's the perfect encapsulation of the American experience: striving to escape the past while inevitably being pulled down by it.

This is, of course, the obvious thesis of the book. But it didn't really hit me until I looked at America from the outside, as this Thing existing with its own rules and ecosystem, separate from but still exerting a massive influence on the rest of the world. Before that point, it was a bit like a fish thinking about water.

Later I found out that Fitzgerald wrote most of the novel while in southern France, which makes perfect sense.

So if you ever find yourself as an American abroad – definitely read Gatsby.