I see the comparison; it's not awash with money and privilege like Gatsby, it's a claustrophobic tale of a couple who don't love each other and are stuck in suburbia, with dreams, manipulating each other and not getting what they want.
That sounds dull. But the characters live, the examination of how they live is relentless and ruthless. This book deserves all the praise it has had. What happens is inevitable, predictable even, but still gripping.
As a side benefit, there's a chilling picture of the beginning of my job. Frank works for a bureaucratic monster that sells computers, which is obviously IBM and at the moment he stops caring for the work, he finds himself writing marketing spiel for the technology. He ends up in the beginnings of the advertising/PR industry
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