Dear Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald,
I know how vain it is to talk about my disappointments to a person who passed eighty years ago, but I would rather be labeled crazy than stay silent. As a fan of your work, I hold it in the highest regard, and it is out of this respect that I feel compelled to share my thoughts.

I have news for you, Mr. Fitzgerald: the 2013 film adaptation of your The Great Gatsby was an absolute abomination! I understand the challenges of adapting a novel into a film, but the liberties taken with your masterpiece were too drastic. If you miraculously rose from your grave, you would fall back in at the sight of what they have done. I hope you rise from the dead to correct the evident wrongs that filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has done. 

Believe it or not, I am most angry about the clumsiness with which the film adapted Nick Carraway’s narration. There is no subtlety at all with constant voice-overs and silent nods and smiles by the poor actor of Carraway, which is -to be fair- all he could do. He is just reading off the book; he does not have gradual character development, and one point at which he and his jadedness shine through is when Gatsby dies. But what about before the denouement? What about his fling with the gorgeous golfer Jordan? What about the gossip the readers and Nick had? Mr. Fitzgerald, clearly, you achieved the subtle art of development, but the film does not.

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