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A review by gaelstorm
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book was very weird, but not quite weird enough/in the right way for me to love it (I usually love weird books!). Directly before reading this book I read The Great Gatsby (TGG), so I have no idea what reading this book would be like for someone unfamiliar with TGG. This book made me like TGG more, and reading TGG made me like this book more. I think I would dislike both books even more without the other. I gave TGG 3 stars so this one gets 3.25 just to show that I liked it a little bit more, haha. I'm still not even sure if TGG deserves the 3 stars but there was something compelling enough about it for me.
It's a hard book to describe. It follows the story of TGG almost exactly, this is not a loose retelling in-terms of plot. The author writes in a very similar style to how TGG was written, so don't expect a super modern sounding retelling! If you hated the writing style of TGG, you will probably not like this either. I think this book is for those who are already fans of TGG, not a story to convince someone to like TGG. (but if you like TGG too much maybe you'd hate this too because of the changes? Not sure)
A big difference is of course it follows Jordan Baker who is from Vietnam (taken to the US by a white woman when she was a child) and there is magic in the world. At first I thought it would be more of a magical realism type deal, or hidden magic that characters were discovering, but sadly I was wrong. It becomes clear that everyone is aware of magic and there are different types of magic done by different people/society/cultures. But it's talked about in a very matter-of-fact way that assumes the reading knows what's going on and it's all no big deal. Nothing is every clearly described or laid out for you. The "world building" is just snippets of facts that you get and piece together yourself. I have no clue how this world works.
Just like TGG, there was something in this book that really intrigued me, but overall I was left a bit disappointed. There was a lot of potential here that did not live up to my expectations. I still give it 3 stars though because I was having a good time reading it (2 stars for me is I was actively not having a good time while reading).
It's a hard book to describe. It follows the story of TGG almost exactly, this is not a loose retelling in-terms of plot. The author writes in a very similar style to how TGG was written, so don't expect a super modern sounding retelling! If you hated the writing style of TGG, you will probably not like this either. I think this book is for those who are already fans of TGG, not a story to convince someone to like TGG. (but if you like TGG too much maybe you'd hate this too because of the changes? Not sure)
A big difference is of course it follows Jordan Baker who is from Vietnam (taken to the US by a white woman when she was a child) and there is magic in the world. At first I thought it would be more of a magical realism type deal, or hidden magic that characters were discovering, but sadly I was wrong. It becomes clear that everyone is aware of magic and there are different types of magic done by different people/society/cultures. But it's talked about in a very matter-of-fact way that assumes the reading knows what's going on and it's all no big deal. Nothing is every clearly described or laid out for you. The "world building" is just snippets of facts that you get and piece together yourself. I have no clue how this world works.
Just like TGG, there was something in this book that really intrigued me, but overall I was left a bit disappointed. There was a lot of potential here that did not live up to my expectations. I still give it 3 stars though because I was having a good time reading it (2 stars for me is I was actively not having a good time while reading).