Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Chosen and the Beautiful

Do you love the world of the Great Gatsby but find Nick and insufferable narrator?
Did you wonder quite how Gatsby was throwing these parties?
And what of the roaring 20s beyond the selfishness of Daisy and Tom's world?
Then this book is for you.

Jordan Baker takes the role as narrator, and in this telling she is Vietnamese, queer and able to tell us about the magic in the world. I loved seeing the story from a fresh perspective, and getting some world building beyond parties and affairs. If the Great Gatsby is about the American dream, then the chosen and the beautiful unpacks who you have to be to have access to the opportunity.

The magic of this book for the most part felt like coded "living alternatively" messages, and I could have done with a little more background of certain elements of it -but at no point did I feel it didn't make sense. And I loved that this book didn't make Daisy too sympathetic, but did give me something more to like about Nick.

I'll definitely read this book again, and I think it is one where I'll get something different on a re-read, which is always a delight.

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scifi_rat's review against another edition

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kaspersbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Under the wrack and wreck of what had come before, the sky was new, and I reached for it with a yearning eager hand.”
the picture this story creates is enticing and beautiful. the writing is gorgeous, lyrical and dark.
it provided a retelling of the great gatsby that i have always wanted: queer.
focusing the retelling through the lens of a reimagined queer vietnamese adoptee jordan baker is incredibly intriguing given she does not get much of a voice in the original. though one could also say she does not truly have a voice here either given she is often treated like an exotic piece of art to be admired.
the dynamic between jordan, nick, and gatsby intrigued me the most and it left me wanting more. i never cared for the drama between daisy, gatsby, and tom in the original and the same could be said here. there were times i did dislike just how strictly it followed the original simply because i wanted more of jordan, nick, and gatsby and less of daisy and tom.
i do wish it touched a bit more into jordan’s self discovery of her heritage and the magic that connects her to it. but the book is just as whimsical and fleeting as the characters contained within it.
the book does take a whole new look into gender, race, and class during 1920s america.

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

2.25

I never read the Great Gatsby and based on this, I will never read it. I think the magical realism was cool but I didn't think it was as much magic as I would've wanted. I think the setting was cool as well. But overall, this was kind of boring and I didn't care for any of the characters. I liked the one twist in it because I honestly didn't see it coming but looking back, maybe I should've because it was def hinted at. The characters annoyed me and I think a lot of the ideas were sort of half assed and just thrown in without much expansion. There were interesting moments, but the story moved on from them so quickly/easily that it felt pointless to even have them in there.

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lindsayerin's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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