I posted something on Twitter about helping my son with The Great Gatsby and got what you might call a spam reply from this girl, who said “have u tried http://shmoop.com for The Great Gatsby?”
Evidently Shmoop, which I’d never heard of, has people hanging out on Twitter waiting for someone to mention a book, at which point they send back a “have u tried …” reply.
Lest you think that’s a totally ineffective thing to do, I actually did click over to the Shmoop entry on The Great Gatsby, which starts off like this:
The Great Gatsby is a delightful concoction of MTV Cribs, VH1’s The Fabulous Life Of…, and HBO’s Sopranos. Shake over ice, add a twist of jazz, a spritz of adultery, and the little pink umbrella that completes this long island iced tea and you’ve got yourself a 5 o’clock beverage that, given the 1920’s setting, you wouldn’t be allowed to drink.
So it’s a little bit more hip than Cliffs Notes. I haven’t seen enough of it yet to know if I really like it, but I like it . . .
shmoop sounds like you—this would be a great startup for you
Thanks Mike but I wouldn’t be able to provide the snappy pop culture references. I’ve never watched VH1 or The Sopranos. I’ve seen MTV Cribs a couple times when my son had it on but I was thinking that a more entertaining show would be MTV Cribs: 10 Years After, where they go back after the homeowners have returned to obscurity and try to figure out what the hell happened to all that stuff.
Hi Paul,
Glad that you’re finding Shmoop so helpful for your son’s Gatsby homework. He can give us a whirl for poetry and US history, as well! (We’re adding more subjects soon)
Drop me a line (my name @ shmoop) and I’ll send a Shmoop t-shirt down for your son, as a small thanks for helping us spread the word.
Fire away with comments, rants, raves, & requests on our Feedback or Contact Us pages. We’re just getting started!
Cheers,
Brady & the Shmoop team
I love it—great humor
I read your blog often—great stuff
GL told me about you—I enjoy your enlightened reviews.
Actually I always hated Cliffs notes–but our culture today seems to crave short cuts