I'm kind of disappointed in my fifteen-year-old self for not having been able to recognize how exquisitely written this book is. Fitzgerald was an artist; he set out to write something beautiful and he absolutely did. I don't remember appreciating the tragic love story or the poetic writing, and i was so into those things at the time that i think i must've actually skimmed the book the first time through. That's the only explanation for how little of an impression it made on me when i first encountered it over a decade ago. 
 I saw the movie with my mother and we both loved it. Now that i've re-read the book i realize that the film could've used a little more soot; it was so vivid and lively and quick, even at the moments that should've been darker; slower. The ending of the book comes into sharp focus; things become suddenly less whispy and more raw. I think perhaps someone slightly more jaded than Toby Maguire ought to have played Nick Callaway in order to give the film that missing depth of feeling, but that is my only criticism. There's absolutely no way to convey how achingly pretty each turn of phrase of the story is on film, but i think Baz Luhrman did as good a job as anybody ever will. 
 I don't think that The Great Gatsby is The Greatest Story Ever, but it's certainly a good one, and it's told in the greatest way. It's a completely American story, which makes me feel both proud and ashamed, but mostly glad that my country has a story that sounds so very profound. Long live the green light; i think each generation reaches for it with even more desperation than the last.