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A review by lawbooks600
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Representation: Biracial (half white and half Asian), Black, Asian and Latina characters
Trigger warnings: Death of a father from a fall and a mother, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault and injury, animal cruelty, systemic racism, explosions, racist and sexist slurs, gun violence, murder
Score: Six points out of ten.
I saw this book hiding on the shelves of one of the two libraries I visit when I couldn't find the novels I wanted (that being Throne of Glass and The Love Hypothesis) so after some consideration I picked it up and finally read it. When I finished it, the concept initially sounded promising but unfortunately it underwhelmed me. Perhaps the author's other works are better than this one as I don't want a suboptimal impression of her only because I started off with a dissatisfying reading experience. It starts with the main character Bird Gardner or Bird for short living in a near-future version of America where everything looks typical except for one law: PACT, or Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act. At first glance the act is to promote American patriotism but it is a façade for a legal excuse for anti-Asian (specifically Asian American) hate. Here's where the flaws surface: I couldn't get over the fact that throughout the narrative, there are no quotation marks, which made it harder for me to separate dialogue from the narration. I appreciate the author writing a story with plausible worldbuilding that could exist in this world only in a few years time but the writing of the characters missed the mark, because I couldn't connect or relate to them. I don't understand the decision Margaret Miu (Bird's mother) made to abandon her son to go live somewhere else (it could be something to do with hiding from the authoritarian anti-Asian government. Or another reason.) Bird lives with his father in the opening pages complying and conforming with PACT until a cryptic letter arrives at his house and so he sets out to discover where that came from. He also tried to search for Margaret's books (one of them is a poem with the same name as the work and another is about cats.) At first he couldn't find it but one library was hiding it for 'research purposes' (I think they're preserving them even though there is now an Asian book ban but that begs the question: do they only ban Asian literature or can they ban other diverse works of fiction? Would such a work be prohibited if it was about an Asian but a non-Asian author wrote it? Say there's one about a non-Asian protagonist but an Asian author wrote it. What would happen then? These question remain unanswered much to my confusion. Bird goes to Margaret's house and that's where the backstory begins (there's a lot of it, and unfortunately, it leaves not much room for the plot.) detailing how PACT came to be and only reason for that is that after the economic Crisis, America played the blame game, used Asians as a scapegoat and created PACT as a lawful excuse for hate crimes against them. I enjoyed reading that and the silent protests, but I wished there was more substance to what I read. The conclusion wasn't outstanding either as it was too open, letting me down.
Trigger warnings: Death of a father from a fall and a mother, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault and injury, animal cruelty, systemic racism, explosions, racist and sexist slurs, gun violence, murder
Score: Six points out of ten.
I saw this book hiding on the shelves of one of the two libraries I visit when I couldn't find the novels I wanted (that being Throne of Glass and The Love Hypothesis) so after some consideration I picked it up and finally read it. When I finished it, the concept initially sounded promising but unfortunately it underwhelmed me. Perhaps the author's other works are better than this one as I don't want a suboptimal impression of her only because I started off with a dissatisfying reading experience. It starts with the main character Bird Gardner or Bird for short living in a near-future version of America where everything looks typical except for one law: PACT, or Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act. At first glance the act is to promote American patriotism but it is a façade for a legal excuse for anti-Asian (specifically Asian American) hate. Here's where the flaws surface: I couldn't get over the fact that throughout the narrative, there are no quotation marks, which made it harder for me to separate dialogue from the narration. I appreciate the author writing a story with plausible worldbuilding that could exist in this world only in a few years time but the writing of the characters missed the mark, because I couldn't connect or relate to them. I don't understand the decision Margaret Miu (Bird's mother) made to abandon her son to go live somewhere else (it could be something to do with hiding from the authoritarian anti-Asian government. Or another reason.) Bird lives with his father in the opening pages complying and conforming with PACT until a cryptic letter arrives at his house and so he sets out to discover where that came from. He also tried to search for Margaret's books (one of them is a poem with the same name as the work and another is about cats.) At first he couldn't find it but one library was hiding it for 'research purposes' (I think they're preserving them even though there is now an Asian book ban but that begs the question: do they only ban Asian literature or can they ban other diverse works of fiction? Would such a work be prohibited if it was about an Asian but a non-Asian author wrote it? Say there's one about a non-Asian protagonist but an Asian author wrote it. What would happen then? These question remain unanswered much to my confusion. Bird goes to Margaret's house and that's where the backstory begins (there's a lot of it, and unfortunately, it leaves not much room for the plot.) detailing how PACT came to be and only reason for that is that after the economic Crisis, America played the blame game, used Asians as a scapegoat and created PACT as a lawful excuse for hate crimes against them. I enjoyed reading that and the silent protests, but I wished there was more substance to what I read. The conclusion wasn't outstanding either as it was too open, letting me down.