Nick

Carraway. Have you ever imagined the life of the narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and what experiences led him to his time in West Egg? In his novel titled, Nick, Michael Farris Smith offers readers one way to think differently about this fictional character. In Smith’s telling, Nick has been traumatized by war and the loss of love. Instead of heading from the trenches of France back home to Minnesota, he changes trains in Chicago and goes to New Orleans where he loses himself in new ways and heals in others. After just a few pages, I gave little thought to Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway, because Smith’s life of Nick before Gatsby offers a compelling story in its own right, and this complex Carraway will appeal to those readers who enjoy richly developed characters whether new, familiar, or imitated. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Nick from amazon.com.