The Great Gatsby Graphic Novel Response

Reading the graphic novel version of Gatsby seems to be a combination of what I’m used to versus something totally new, I know that might seem a bit obvious. I haven’t read manga, a similar medium to graphic novels in Japan that is read right to left, since early high school, so I’m a little out of practice with balancing out reading text and connecting it with the visuals. The visuals, of course, replace the parts of the original novel that were dedicated to describing a scene. Not all of it is gone, like the descriptions of West and East Egg in the beginning, but graphic novels/manga don’t usually describe a scene in words because, well, its there for readers to see. From what I’ve seen, its only done if the scene is important or if there is a lot going on at once, like fight scene or multiple events in the same frame.

It’s also strange viewing the story in this format. I’m used to seeing the characters as their portrayals in the most recent movie adaptation, so seeing them drawn out instead takes some adjustment. It takes a little bit of mental effort to understand what the text says while at the same time following the actions of the graphics. So far, the narrative aspects of Gatsby are still here in this new form, the pace is just different as you follow along with your eyes.