"What do you want? What do you expect?"

Although Mr Harris or Ms Chia never did place much emphasis on Owl Eyes when we were studying the novel, I couldn't help but let what he says after he meets Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's library (this post's title), jump out at me. It just seemed to encapsulate all the expectations every single character in this riotous roaring twenties story, where everyone was waiting for something to happen and when things did happen, I suppose people just didn't quite know what to do. They didn't know what to do with all their wealth, their time, their feelings, their dreams, their hopes, - all that was convoluted into one big mess which had neither head nor tail. Only Gatsby- the lost, unreadable, obsessive yet admirable Jay Gatsby,  tried his best to make sense of it and keep the green light shining bright in his head.

A lot has been said about the novel of late and everyone fears what Luhrmann's new film might convey or not convey for that matter- several things that I never picked up upon 5 years ago when I first read the book suddenly seem to matter more: Owl Eyes' words, the playfulness between Nick and Daisy (I completely forgot they were cousins), Fitzgerald's description of Myrtle dying, everyone and not just Jordan Baker, was careless.

Come 16 May, I don't quite know what to expect but I'll just watch the film as it is and take it as an extremely razzle-dazzle Baz Age of a film. But re-reading it now, hats off to Fitzgerald for being such a wordsmith. Every single word he wrote was so meticulous, so carefully picked I am tempted to get an audiobook version of the novel just to hear these words because it feels like they were meant to be heard, and not just read.