A review by happi_mess
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

2.0

"I had never seen a moon like that before. I was no Mercury dime New York moon, but a harvest moon brought all the way.... to shine with sweet benevolence down on the chosen and the beautiful."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

In this retelling, we follow Jordan Baker who is an exoticized by her circle of friends. While in the struggle to find her belongingness in the Jazz Age, Jordan is friends with Daisy, whose husband is cheating on her. But things started to change when jay Gatsby enters the scene with his humongous parties.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Rating: ★★

It's very hard for me to give this book just two stars because I remember feeling my heart sort of explode when I started to read this book. I was kind of convinced that I was going to love this despite my unliking of the original material. Unfortunately and ultimately, like the reference, I was not over the moon for this book.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The Review

☆ﾟToo much world building. I made a note about this on how I was scared that this book was only going to be filled with information and that it would not move forward. I was right. There was basically no plot. It was just like The Great Gatsby again. We mostly read about Jordan and her past and going to these wild parties kissing this person and that.

☆ﾟIt was lyrical but it was too slow. There was no denying that this book was written beautifully. It was one of the first things that I have noticed and I was in it for a full-ride. But after 1/3 of going in this pace, I was over it. I was willing to sacrifice the quality of the writing if it meant we'd go faster.

☆ﾟ The magic/magical realism aspect was interesting but did not really lead to anything. It did not contribute anything new to the story. I was excited when I learned that magic was included in this book but it did really have a huge part in it to be the point that it was actually unnecessary. It did not alter the original plot and made drastic changes. There was not even one person in them who was made out of pure magic.

☆ﾟI loved Jordan as a character. Despite the downsides, I think one of the best things that this book has is Jordan. I had been curious about her in the original book and it was nice to be reading about her take on things. Nick's POV bored the nitwits out of me. The Asian Immigrant representation is great and I love how she is unapologetically her.


─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

In sum:

I think this was still a good retelling of the original. However, I think I wanted more from this book and it did not quite reach to its heights. I have loved the concept I just wish that it actually went somewhere. As in the original, we are reading the love story of Daisy and Gatsby from an unreliable narrator. If you did not like Nick's narration, you might want to try Jordan's. It was much more fun.