Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

This book might now be one of my all-time favorites. WOW. I love anything Gatsby, and I’m always intrigued by retellings, whether it’s something inspired by a book or from a different point of view. 

Cantor reimagines The Great Gatsby from the women’s points of view: Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine, Myrtle Wilson’s sister. There’s also a detective thrown into the mix, a new addition since the book focuses on trying to solve Jay Gatsby’s murder. 

It stands alone (I would compare it to Big Little Lies and books along those lines, honestly), but it’s fun to see the little mentions of things that were in Fitzgerald’s original - whether they’re used as-is or seen through a different lens considering the POV of this book. 

There was also a nod to Harold Bloom that made me smile. I can’t recommend this one enough.

I do have one nitpicky remark that I'll hide under a spoiler tag...

After Gatsby is shot, George Wilson takes Daisy hostage, holding a gun to her head. Another woman shoots him, then another woman comes out of hiding. They plant the gun that killed Gatsby in George's hand... but he had been holding a gun a moment before? They also agree that makes it seem like George killed Gatsby and then himself with the same gun, but there's no mention of removing a second bullet from the gun that killed Gatsby (assuming it was fully loaded) and there's no further mention of the gun George had just moments before. It kind of made that cover-up feel a bit unbelieveable to me.