Great

by Sara Benincasa

Overview

In this contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, by comedian Sara Benincasa, a teenage girl becomes entangled in the romance and drama of a Hamptons social circle and is implicated in a scandal that shakes the summer community.

When Naomi Rye arrives in the Hamptons to spend the summer with her socialite mother, she fully expects to be miserable mingling with the sons and daughters of her mother's mega-rich friends. Yet Naomi finds herself unexpectedly drawn to her mysterious and beautiful next-door neighbor, Jacinta, a Hamptons "It" girl who throws wild, lavish parties that are the talk of the town. But Jacinta is hiding something big, and events unfold with tragic consequences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062222695
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/08/2014
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	135,240
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Sara Benincasa is a comedian and author of Real Artists Have Day Jobs (William Morrow 2016) as well as the books DC Trip (Adaptive Books 2015), Great (2014), and Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom (William Morrow 2012), a book based on her critically acclaimed solo show about panic attacks and agoraphobia. She is currently adapting DC Trip as a film with producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine, Nebraska, Election), Van Toffler, and Adaptive Studios. She is currently adapting Agorafabulous! as a TV pilot with executive producers Diablo Cody (Juno, The United States of Tara), and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour. She was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Warren Wilson College and Columbia University Teachers College. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Editorial Reviews

01/27/2014
Adult author and comedian Benincasa (Agorafabulous!) gives The Great Gatsby a biting, genderbent twist in her first book for teens. Standing in for narrator Nick Carraway is Naomi Rye (get it?), a quick-witted 17-year-old who is begrudgingly spending another summer in the Hamptons with her social-climbing, Food Network star mother. Naomi is more comfortable in combat boots than Ferragamo, but she’s quickly drawn into a glamorous world of parties and drama when she’s befriended by neighbor Jacinta Trimalchio, the enigmatic teenage founder of TheWanted.com, the fashion blog every girl wants to be seen on. While Naomi learns to enjoy the newfound attention, it becomes clear that Jacinta needs her to get to up-and-coming model Delilah Fairweather, the novel’s Daisy stand-in. In many ways, this is a very faithful retelling, and any readers who have completed ninth-grade English (or caught the recent Baz Luhrmann film) will have as much fun picking out the parallels and allusions as Benincasa clearly did creating them. And, yes, there’s even a green light on a dock—the charging dock for Jacinta’s laptop. Ages 14–up. Agent: Scott Mendel, Mendel Media Group. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Naomi Rye spends the school year with her dad in Chicago, where she hangs out with her BFF, Skags. She spends every summer with her mom, a Food Network superstar, in East Hampton, where her middle-class lifestyle and values make her an outsider. This summer, however, begins on a different note when she becomes enthralled in the drama that wealthy and mysterious Jacinta Trimalchio brings by moving into the mansion next door. Jacinta throws fabulous parties and is besotted with local debutante Delilah Fairweather, Naomi’s friend from past summers. Naomi unwillingly becomes part of the plan to captivate and woo Delilah, a sinewy, blonde, future model. Teddy Barrington is Delilah’s loutish, possessive boyfriend, but it is his buddy, Jeff Byron, who hooks up with Naomi for a summer of mindless partying, boozing, and drugging, uniting the five teens in an uneasy alliance. Is Jacinta who she says she is? Why does she pursue Delilah so relentlessly? A tragedy involving a local waitress and an emergency crisis at her mom’s company bring Naomi back to reality, along with texts and conversations with the ever-grounded Skags. This debut novel is another retelling of The Great Gatsby set in a contemporary backdrop that should engage teen chick-lit fans, as the author intersperses fashion and pop-culture insider terms to keep them on track. Reviewer: Judith A. Hayn; Ages 15 to 18.

Voya Reviews, April 2014 (Vol. 36, No. 1) - Judith A. Hayn

2014-01-29
Alas, this debut is anything but the titular great, though it could have been pretty good. Naomi feels at home in Chicago, hanging out with her best friend, Skags, and living with her father. So when she spends summers in the Hamptons with her mother, her ratty T-shirts and love of books make her an outsider. But this summer, things are different. She's actually friendly with Delilah Fairweather, senator's daughter and up-and-coming model. She's got her first boyfriend, the dorky yet popular Jeff. Things are good with her mother. And then there's Jacinta Trimalchio, fashion blogger and Naomi's next-door neighbor. She's mysterious and different, and Naomi likes her. But Jacinta has many secrets and one obsession: Delilah Fairweather. And that obsession will lead to scandal, an accident and death. This retelling of The Great Gatsby—especially with the "edgy" twist of a lesbian relationship between Jacinta/Gatsby and Delilah/Daisy—disappoints, as the story's original elements are good enough that riding Fitzgerald's coattails isn't necessary. Naomi's voice and character are engaging, and her relationships with Jeff and her mother provide plenty of fodder for a coming-of-age novel. The Gatsby elements are the weakest, from the character types to the plot. Read this for Naomi and try to forget The Great Gatsby. (Fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews

04/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—A reimagined, gender-bending The Great Gatsby set in modern times. Narrator Naomi Rye lives in Chicago with her dad but spends every summer with her mother, a Food Network star, in East Hampton. Usually, Naomi's summer social life is limited to a few parties that she attends with her mom. This time, the teen arrives to find that a new neighbor, Jacinta Trimalchio, has moved in by herself next door. Jacinta is known among rich Hamptons denizens as an infamous fashion blogger. She hopes to reconnect with Delilah Fairweather through her new friendship with Naomi. The fashionista hosts fabulous parties and eventually ignites a close relationship with Delilah. This is a story of indulgence, with teenagers consuming alcohol and drugs and driving while under the influence. A car accident in the climax scene closely parallels the original. Lies, gossip, and intrigue figure prominently in the plot. No new ground has been forged in this work, so stick with F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA

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