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A review by lk222
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
4.0
I absolutely love the decadence of Jay Gatsby’s desperation. From Fitzgerald’s original to Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation and now to Nghi Vo’s heady debut novel, I just wish I could attend the party. Vo saturates the story of The Great Gatsby with a deeper, infernal, surrealist quality that blends perfectly with the intoxication of Gatsby’s revelers. The well-known cast of characters sips demon’s blood cocktails; self-made widows keep imps on delicate Tiffany leads; ghosts of careless women haunt the halls; and an event closes Dr. T. J. Eckleburg’s billboard eyes and gives him lips to speak.
This sensually sophisticated retelling is told through the voice of Jordan Baker, Daisy Buchanan’s closest confidant. Still an audacious socialite and professional golfer, Jordan is now of Vietnamese descent brought to New York by her adoptive missionary mother. Jordan maintains a serene exterior as the high society world she inhabits begins to exclude her, from a lack of a formal debut to miscegenation laws and the looming Manchester Act, based on real laws that banned Asian immigration to the US in the 1920s. But Jordan doesn’t let any of this spoil her fun—at least for now. We follow her into queer speakeasies, into the closet with girls, into bed with Nick Carraway (who is also falling into bed with Gatsby), and into revelatory flashbacks to her past with Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby. Se also has “Vietnamese paper-cutting magic,” which leads to shocking escapades.
This retelling might not be for Fitzgerald purists, but they’re doing themselves a disservice. For anyone in search of a surrealist circus of hedonism, affected nonchalance, NY speakeasies, and a hint of hellfire, all led by a queer Asian protagonist: you have finally found your book! Vo captured each character’s affectations with such precision and enriched their development by delving into their backgrounds, psyches, and supernatural leanings (or lack thereof). It was the gosh darn bee’s knees.
This sensually sophisticated retelling is told through the voice of Jordan Baker, Daisy Buchanan’s closest confidant. Still an audacious socialite and professional golfer, Jordan is now of Vietnamese descent brought to New York by her adoptive missionary mother. Jordan maintains a serene exterior as the high society world she inhabits begins to exclude her, from a lack of a formal debut to miscegenation laws and the looming Manchester Act, based on real laws that banned Asian immigration to the US in the 1920s. But Jordan doesn’t let any of this spoil her fun—at least for now. We follow her into queer speakeasies, into the closet with girls, into bed with Nick Carraway (who is also falling into bed with Gatsby), and into revelatory flashbacks to her past with Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby. Se also has “Vietnamese paper-cutting magic,” which leads to shocking escapades.
This retelling might not be for Fitzgerald purists, but they’re doing themselves a disservice. For anyone in search of a surrealist circus of hedonism, affected nonchalance, NY speakeasies, and a hint of hellfire, all led by a queer Asian protagonist: you have finally found your book! Vo captured each character’s affectations with such precision and enriched their development by delving into their backgrounds, psyches, and supernatural leanings (or lack thereof). It was the gosh darn bee’s knees.