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The Great Mann
Kyra Davis Lurie
Crown Publishing
302 Pages
This novel is an unabashed retelling of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald which takes place in a wealthy Black community in Los Angeles. I was not a fan of The Great Gatsby but understand why it is such a classic in literary circles. Indeed, I preferred this retelling to the original story. The characters in The Great Mann all have their counterparts in The Great Gatsby and the development of them is consistent with The Great Gatsby. Ms. Lurie adds the lens of race to her retelling, with the backdrop of racial covenants (this novel takes place in 1945) which renders it better in my eyes than the original story on which it is based. There are also real characters from that era, Hattie McDaniel and Louise Beaver and others, which is an added bonus.
The big problem that I had with The Great Gatsby was that I really did not like the characters and everyone seemed self absorbed. The addition of race and the covenants on the houses in the community added a dimension to the book, not to mention plot points that created more interest in me as a reader than The Great Gatsby,
Considering that this is Ms. Lurie’s first published novel, it is actually amazing. I am, in general, not a big fan of retellings and often find them lacking. This, however, worked for Ms. Lurie and it will be interesting to see where she goes in her next novel, which I look forward to reading.
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