I don't remember a lot about The Great Gatsby from when I read it in high school 20-odd years ago — mainly an overall jazz age feel with lots of symbolism about eyes and green lights. I don't remember particularly loving it or hating it, though I do remember rolling my eyes about the obsession over Jay Gatsby and Daisy [insert last name here].
With her debut novel, Vo reimagines the Fitzgerald classic with an Asian female fantasy twist: the narrator here isn't Daisy's Midwestern cousin Nick Carraway, it's Vietnamese adoptee and socialite Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy's with a talent for paper-based magic. And Gatsby himself is alluring as always, but this time his appeal is explained by the fact that he sold his soul and his magical parties serve as a portal for other souls to be claimed by demons.
It's an excellent update to the story, and I enjoyed reading it, even if I can't remember the source material too well.
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