Nick is an emotionally raw and deeply felt prequel to The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that tells the back story of its storyteller, Nick Carraway. I have read Gatsby a few times, but as soon as I finished Nick, I immediately went back and read it again and was amazed at how it enhanced the original story. However, Nick can also be read as a stand alone novel without reading Gatsby, which is a credit to the author who doesn't trade on allusions to it, except for a very brief mention. Carraway in Gatsby is quite an elusive character, often only an observer, of whom we know very little, he is thirty, was in the Great War and came from the Mid West where his father ran a hardware store. In Gatsby, Nick says, "I was within and without, simaltaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." I think this aptly describes him. Michael Farris Smith takes these details and cleverly spins this yarn into a complex portrait of a young man damaged by his experience of war, wounded by love for a young frenchwoman, Ella, and then caught up in a deadly feud between two ex-lovers, Judah and Colette in New Orleans. But, throughout this Nick remains honest to himself, reminded of his father's advice not to judge others who have not had the same oppotunities as him. It will be these experiences that lead Nick to seek to find a different life in New York rather than return to his family in the Mid West and his father's business and it explains his enchantment with Jay Gatsby, even when he is appalled by his lifestyle and ultimately his standing by him when everyone else, in the end, abandons Gatsby. A thoroughly absorbing novel and a wonderfully sympathetic tribute to the original that I would recommend you read again after you have read Nick. As he says at the end of Gatsby, "I see now this has been a story of the West, after all."

It’s been a long while - too long - since I last read Gatsby, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of Nick in any way, and I think it’s important to stress that this is a book that will be as engaging as a standalone novel as it is in its prequel form. Set during the First World War and its immediate aftermath, the book follows the life of Nick Carraway - narrator of The Great Gatsby - as a young man who set out from his comfortable, staid American Midwest home in search of a bigger life. We first join Nick in Paris as he prepares to head back to the front line, after seven days’ leave; seven days he’s spent falling in love with Ella. Seen in flashbacks and emotionally charged recollections the reader is invited to view a fragmented portrait of Nick’s war years. For me, these chapters were profoundly moving; the scenes from the frontline were crammed with a rich abundance of inescapable brutality. Through an intriguing, inventive play with fact, fiction and reminiscence we follow Nick’s time in the trenches, in the forests, in the tunnels … and hand-in-hand with Ella in Paris. The disparity between his two existences strikes a discordant tone; thrusting the reader from the romantic streets of Paris into the bloody, muddy horrors of war, and back again. These chapters are rich in thematic resonance, written in with an aura of haunting melancholy, and a sense of detachment that conveys Nick’s psychological trauma. Unlike the longer chapters in part one of the book - the war chapters - part two is made up of distinctly shorter scenes, but the sense of continuity is not lost. The difference in length is marked, so I feel it must be deliberate. My interpretation is that the author used longer chapters and sometimes lengthy passages to create a sense of trapped suspension for Nick in the book’s first ‘act’. The noticeable change in part two instils a chaotic, fractured mood, and it’s in these chapters where Nick seeks out another new life, this time in New Orleans. Among the hedonistic streets and bars of Frenchtown, Nick seeks to both lose himself and find himself, rubbing shoulders with prostitutes, gangsters and murderers, and finding a degree of kinship with another deeply troubled veteran. In his impulsive decision not to return home, Nick is adrift in a city with so many parallels to his war - fights, fire, trauma, addiction, and death - and at times it seems he won’t have the fortitude to avoid being irrevocably drawn in. Beneath the bawdy, character-led plot, these chapters are a surprisingly thought-provoking and sensitive study of retribution, recovery and forgiveness. This novel charts the harrowing transition from grim realism to idealism, and even if I didn’t know the Gatsby years, the final chapter of this book tantalises with a sense of optimism and new beginnings. The open bay with the enigmatic light on the far shore is the perfect metaphor for the bigger life Nick’s been craving since childhood. So perfect was its positioning that it left me itching to pick up my battered copy of Great Gatsby, if not just to see how my new understanding of Nick influences my next encounter with this literary classic. In writing ‘Nick’ the author has penned a highly original and wonderfully respectful homage to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel; what a perfect way to mark its 125th anniversary. Like its sequel, Nick is bursting with lavishly vivid scenes, complex characters, and astutely observed subtexts, all unforgettably bound by an emotionally magnetic atmosphere. And let’s not overlook that cover … if ever a design was going challenge a reader’s preconceptions of historic fiction novels, then Nick is the new aspiration.

The words haven’t been invented to fully articulate the way this book made me feel. The thing that struck me the most was the depiction and representation of the rawness and desperation of World War One. As a Gatsby die-hard, I was extremely apprehensive about this book and worried that it wouldn’t feel an authentic prequel; I was completely wrong. The characterisation of Nick was flawless and captivating. In The Great Gatsby, Nick is the character that I feel the most indifference towards - a good narrator but a bit bland in personality. ‘Nick’ has enabled me to appreciate his experiences and view him in a different light. Even though we know that Gatsby is set in a post-war world, I think that many of us never appreciate what that actually means. Fitzgerald built an entire world around such devastation and loss. A hauntingly beautiful read that enhances one of the greats. This will be a book that I will go back to throughout my life and still feel as affected and mesmerised as if it is the very first time. A masterpiece.

Without a doubt, because of my love of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I wanted to read Nick (an imagining of the narrator's life before he moved to the world of Tom & Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby in Long Island), but because of that same love, I was wary; would I be able to enjoy it? Would I hate it? Would it ruin The Great Gatsby for me? Please read on for my full review, but in a nutshell: I loved it. "A heavy morning fog draped across Paris and there was the corner café. The wicker chairs and the flowers on each table and the small man with the small eyes who sang while he worked. The chairs next to the window where Nick sat each morning and drank espresso and watched the hours of his leave tick away and on the days when the sun filtered through the trees and fell upon the cathedral across the street it seemed to him that there could be no killing." From the opening lines above to the closing sentence, Michael Farris Smith's prose is simple, but elegant. Over and over again, as we are taken from the streets of Paris to the depths of World War I trenches to brothels in New Orleans, he is able to create dense vivid images. Nick reads as a contemporary novel, yet is very firmly historical fiction, starting around 100 years ago at the end of World War I. Novelists, I feel, have a great responsibility in depicting, as accurately as possible, events of the past in order to be true to those involved and for us, as readers, to learn. While reading I felt completely immersed in Nick's world, not only in the physical events and places, but also in how he, and those around him, felt restricted and limited by their circumstances. I found Nick to be a highly relatable character, born into a life-mapped-out that he was never sure he wanted. It is not until he has travelled to the other side of the world that he realises there is an "eternal loneliness that resides in us all" which allows him to feel "that he wasn't alone." Once in a blue moon there is a sequel or prequel that does the original justice. Nick by Michael Farris Smith is definitely one of those. A real gem to be read and treasured.

A long-awaited follow up to The Great Gatsby... from Nick's point of view?! I'm in. When I first read the original, Nick was a character that I grew to love/hate (I studied it for 3 years, so I'm pretty sure I know it better than any other book that I've read lol), so I was so excited to learn more about the character. First off: Smith gets Nick's voice so right. This feels like a true prequel to The Great Gatsby and he's truly honoured Fitzgerald's legacy in doing so. His descriptions of Nick's experiences in the trenches during the First World War are horrific, evocative and believable. You'll instantly be transported to 20th century France in this book. Equally, when Nick returns to the US, his descriptions are just as vivid. Smith's use of flashbacks is an incredibly clever way of adding depth to a character we already know so little about. He brings Nick to life, from apathetic narrator to a realistic man, torn by the horrors of what he has seen. Smith doesn't focus too heavily on The Great Gatsby in this novel either. It is truly a unique tribute to the Classic original, peppered with Easter eggs that add to the experience of reading even more. If you're a fan of Gatsby, you have to read this book. Also - shoutout to the cover designer for the reference to the Doctor T.J. Eckleburg billboard in the original. My symbolism-loving heart appreciated that! Thanks to NetGalley and No Exit Press for an ARC of this wonderful book!