susanneb01 's review for:

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

4.0

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After the first few pages Ng‘s new novel appeared like a dystopian tale. Told mostly from the perspective of Bird, a sweet boy on the cusp of being a teenager, the story reveals his happy early years with both parents, a nationwide cataclysmic event called the Crisis and the subsequent new law called PACT, designed to reestablish “order” but, as we find out peu à peu, severely restricts human rights. The novel is set in the US and centers on the government removal of children from parents of Asian heritage - an easy scapegoat for the mess the country is in. As I said earlier, at first dystopian, but then you remember the pictures of refugees at the Mexican border who were separated from their children, think of the recent discovery of graves from Native American children who were taken from their parents to be “westernized”. Broadening the view from children to many other minorities that have experienced major harassment or even worse, this fictional account isn’t too far fetched after all. As with her previous novels, the writing is good, creating vivid imagery in the reader’s mind. Perhaps not for the escape reader, but otherwise a very recommendable quick read! Oh, and librarians are portrayed very favorably.