But in the movie; The rich douche got shot by the broad's boyfriend

Still ain't watching it. Fuck the rich guy. I fell asleep reading the book.

XD Don't blame ya! Movie was boring as fuck..

i actually enjoyed the movie -__-

The movie wasnt that spectacular (the 2013 remake). I mean it wasnt horrible either but it wasnt really anything special and it was a bit overhyped. And of course having read the book I already knew how it was going to end, plus it still ticked me off that in the end pretty much no one cared about Gatsby after he's dead and Daisy just "retreats into her money".

It was somewhat interesting, but I've seen other Gatsby movies before and read the book, I probably couldve lived without seeing this one

I thought the movie was great. I read the book in school too. I loved the symbolism that they carried through to the film. The billboard for the optometrist for example. Very cool stuff.

The book itself isn't that terrible as a pedagogic device, but there is a reason it's given to High School freshmen. It's written in a linguistically simple style, the presence of metaphor is rather explicit, and as mentioned in by Skreft; its plot is hardly complex. The other benefit is that it functions as a primary source from a historical period which is often overlooked. In an era of no children left behind, its often the first actual work of big L "Literature" given to students. In that same spirit, its often presented as the end all of American Literature, a crowning achievement of the written word, which it truly and simply isn't. It is just a novel teachers can give to freshmen, several of whom can barely read, to check if they can identify a symbol and speculate over its meaning. While that process is legitimate textual analysis, it's just baby steps into an ocean of possibility.

Having had the misfortune of teaching this book, I personally doubt if its the best example of how to do this. To me it's just bad writing, unidentifiable characters, and symbolism as blatant as crosswalk sign. It's not bad for its level, but it is misrepresented as a Classic. This is only a bad thing if it's the only work of World Literature people are ever exposed to, which unfortunately the case all over the country. After all, we live in an era of instant gratification. People would rather watch a two hour movie then spend six hours reading the book.

Oh. another thing. The Great Gatsby is technically a book written for a female audience. In fact, most of what we call canonical Literature written between 1790 and 1990 was geared toward women. In the 19th century, more men than women stayed illiterate, and even if they could read, men simply didn’t bother. Recreational reading was mostly a female pastime. While things have evened out a little in the 20th century, women still tend to be better read then men. As guys, we simply have to remember that this book simply wasn’t written for us. We probably would have been better served with Sir Walter Scott, or Beowulf, or the Iliad or something like that where there is wholesale slaughter.

I think you forgot to mention books by Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and, H.P. Lovecraft. They got a motherfucking giant squid, murder and Cthulhu in their stories.

It's proof that Hollywood hasn't gotten the memo yet that the 20th century is over.