I was supposed to read this in 11th grade (sorry Mrs. Spanberger), and got through only part of it as I didn't consider it to be all that great. I read it for real earlier this year (strictly for the t-shirt), and still think it should be the mediocre Gatsby. (view spoiler)[This dude hangs out with a bunch of douchebags. They all cheat on each other, are hypocritical, selfish, etc... The title character has a ton of fair-weather friends with the exception of the narrator, Nick. There's a love thing that goes bad, Gatsby dies, EVERYBODY (save Nick) reveals that they are indeed, as originally suspected, complete douchebags. (hide spoiler)] 
 Some people like this kind of thing; it's not really my speed. From what I understand it portrays a rather accurate picture of city-life in the 1920s, and the self-centeredness that went along with it during that period of waste where many people spent in the thousands and chattered in the millions.