The Great Gatsby vs Old Man and the Sea: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fiction
The Great Gatsby
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.”
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Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and…
Old Man and the Sea
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Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway's magnificent fable is the tale of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. This story of heroic endeavour won Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature. It…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Old Man and the Sea is the quickest read — about 1 hours vs 7 for The Great Gatsby.
- The Great Gatsby has the widest readership — 6120259 ratings behind its score.
- The Great Gatsby runs the darker storyline; Old Man and the Sea stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| The Great Gatsby | Old Man and the Sea | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (6120259) | 3.8 (1369037) |
| Hardcover | 4.5 (2) | 3.7 (1997) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | 5.0 (2) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (806) | 4.5 (1179) |
| LiveLib | 4.0 (5) | — |
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Reception
| The Great Gatsby | Old Man and the Sea | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 6120259 | 1369037 |
| Editions | 1179 | 307 |
| Citations | 24 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 2127185 | 749046 |
| Reading it now | 85180 | 25712 |
| Written reviews | 138625 | 55398 |
| Wikipedia attention | 94574 | 40709 |
| Pages | 431 | 87 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The Great Gatsby or Old Man and the Sea?
The Great Gatsby has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Great Gatsby 3.9/5, Old Man and the Sea 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: The Great Gatsby or Old Man and the Sea?
Old Man and the Sea is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Old Man and the Sea (87 pages, ≈ 1 h 37 m); The Great Gatsby (431 pages, ≈ 7 h 59 m).
Which is harder to read: The Great Gatsby or Old Man and the Sea?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The Great Gatsby: Moderate; Old Man and the Sea: Moderate.
Have both books been made into films?
The Great Gatsby: 5 film adaptations; Old Man and the Sea: 4 film adaptations.