I remember having read the book in college too.
There is a lot of symbolism in it. Has to do with the American dream.
Gets good toward the end.
Although I haven't seen the movie, only trailers, seems the movie is better than the book.
Summary
Nick Carraway, having graduated from Yale and fought in World War I, has returned home to begin a career. He is restless and has decided to move to New York to learn the bond business.
The novel opens early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island, where Nick has rented a house. Next to his place is Gatsby's mansion. Tom and Daisy Buchanan live in East Egg.
Daisy is Nick's cousin and Tom had been in the same senior society at Yale. They invite Nick to dinner at their mansion where he meets a young woman golfer named Jordan Baker, whom Daisy wants Nick to be interested in. During dinner the phone rings, and when Tom and Daisy leave the room, Jordan informs Nick that the caller is Tom's woman from New York. Myrtle Wilson, Tom's woman, lives in a section of Long Island known as the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle's husband, George Wilson, has a garage. Painted on a large billboard nearby is a fading advertisment for an optician with the eyes of a Doctor looking over them with a pair of glasses. One day Tom takes Nick to meet the Wilsons.
The party breaks up when Myrtle starts using Daisy's name, and Tom breaks her nose with a blow of his open hand. Several weeks later Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's elaborate parties. Nick watches Gatsby and notices that he does not drink or join in the revelry of the party. At a luncheon with Nick in New York, Gatsby tells Nick that he graduated from Oxford. During lunch Gatsby introduces Nick to his business associate, Meyer Wolfsheim, who fixed the World Series in 1919. At tea that afternoon Nick finds out that Gatsby wants Nick to arrange a date between him and Daisy.
Gatsby had loved Daisy five years ago, but he had been sent overseas by the Army. Daisy had given up waiting for him and had married Tom. After the War, Gatsby decided to win Daisy back and his first step was to buy a house in West Egg. His house is across the bay from Daisy's house, and he can see a green light at the end of Daisy's dock. Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in five years, and he tries to impress her with his mansion and his wealth. Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Nick and Jordan get together at Daisy's house, where they meet Daisy's baby girl.
They decide to go to the city, and Tom asks to drive Gatsby's car, a yellow Rolls Royce. On the way to the city Tom stops at Wilson's garage to fill up the tank, and Wilson says his wife has been having an affair, though he doesn't know with who. Tom feels Myrtle watching them from the window. The party goes to a hotel suite, where the truth about Gatsby and Daisy is revealed. Daisy will not go away with Gatsby and the five year dream is over. Gatsby and Daisy go home together in Gatsby's car, followed by the rest of the party in Tom's car. On the way home they pass Wilson's garage, Myrtle is running out to the street and the yellow Rolls Royce hits and kills her, not stopping. Gatsby tells Daisy, who was driving, he'll take the blame.
Tom tells Wilson that Gatsby was the driver, Wilson shoots Gatsby and then kills himself. Not many people attend Gatsby's funeral except Nick, a few servants, and Mr. Gatz, Gatsby's father. In a bittersweet ending, Mr. Gatz reveals to Nick the true nature of his son. Nick decides to move back West, breaking things off with Jordan Baker whom he'd been in a relationship with. After Tom reveals that he told Wilson that the yellow car was Gatsby's, Nick loses respect for the Buchanans and shakes Tom's hand one last time before going on his own way.
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(kidding) 
