Our Missing Hearts

Very thought provoking. I hate to think we could do this as a society but I believe we could and already have.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old. Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change. Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact. My Thoughts: There is something hollow and fearful about Our Missing Hearts as we begin the story of what life was like during the times after the “Crisis.” A time after a stringent law is passed (PACT) that focuses on people supposedly “Anti-American,” but who are mostly Asian. People whose ideas don’t jive with those who are more “in line” with American culture. Primarily we learn more about a family with a child named Bird, a mother who writes poetry but who incidentally is Asian, and a father who works in a library. What happens to this family hurts my heart, and I am feeling the angst of what can happen to families and people because of a law. An unjust law, in my opinion. Fearful of what might lie ahead for any of us kept me reading about these characters and how their lives were torn apart. And how dismantled shelves were the reminders of the books that some considered anti-American. My heart went out to what had become of these characters and what might become of any of us. 4.5 stars. ***

I give very, very few books five stars, but this one deserves it. I listened to the audiobook and read portions of this book through a local library. Wowza. This book was prescient, prophetic (in the actual sense of the word—not the popular cultural understating of it), and powerful. The storytelling is compelling and imaginative, and the writing is so beautiful. It is filled with references to other stories, and I really loved the way this book spoke to the power of storytelling. This book was a real gift for the word nerd in me, and I identified so closely with Nathan in his love of etymology. I would say it is a cautionary tale, but even if this is set in a dystopian near future, so much of what happens in Our Missing Hearts is current—seems to have been pulled from the headlines. Was it a little heavy handed at times in showing us a world so prevalent with Asian hate? Perhaps. Was the book absolutely spot on in its critique? Absolutely. And is the book is so important of read. It seems important to note that I checked out the both the library book and audiobook from my library—important because of the role libraries played in the book. This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. Lucy Liu is masterful in her interpretation and (with the exception of apparently not knowing a song that appeared in one scene) doesn’t waste a word, doesn’t waste a moment. I highly recommend the audiobook!! This is a wonderful book—one that will stay with me.

For those of you who read my reviews, and I know you exist cause I got the stats, this series of reviews is a long time coming. We had an aggressively long holiday break this year, so I decided to get to books I had put off reading, and I went on a theme: blockbuster authors and their pandemic novels. I read in a spring between December 23rd and Jan 3rd Elizabeth's Strout's "Lucy by the Sea", Celeste Ng's "Our Missing Hearts" and Gary Shteyngart's "Our Country Friends". The following is a comparative review based on this sprint. I will say when I started reviewing books in 2019, I had one kid and I could never imagine having three or that there would be a pandemic, or that it would become a trope or device, like "Outsider at Boarding School" or "Something Magical on the Cape" but here we are, 2 more kids and a pandemic later. I am starting with the book I liked the least. " Our Missing Hearts". I didn't hate it, but of the three this one was the most disappointing. I love Celeste Ng, and have read her other works, and usually find her to be a lovely reflection of alot of social issues, but she took the pandemic as a catalyst for a somewhat dystopian future. Not like "Fahrenheit 451" terrible, but pretty bad nonetheless, and this one focuses around anti-asian sentiments. Fair enough it's real, even without the dystopia element, but what I disliked most about it was there were editing errors that too me out of the novel, specifically on 103 and 251. I won't reveal them, but uhhh one was so simple. There were also massive plot holes. It's like they rushed to get the novel out. There were also a lot of allusions to other works, specifically "The Library Book" , a piece of non-fiction, which I actually read, and there were some lines that seemed particularly pulled directly from this other one. There is this section where Bird's father is describing the library and he talks about the stacks and skeleton of the building, and It was a line specifically used in this other work. Also when they talk about libraries and smokers... It's not plagiarism, it was clear they were references, it was just weak editing. Not her best.

Great book

I have always enjoyed Celeste Ng's writing so didn't hesitate to get Our Missing Hearts when offered as an ebook on Bookbub. I was not disappointed although this novel has a deeper edge to the drama that was unsettling at times ... to close to the truth of the world and United States we live in with our current politics. The world Ng describes could so easily be ours within a small number of years if we, as Americans of all races, do not work together to turn the tide of authoritarianism. This novel is well written with a cast of characters that ring true to people's hearts today.

I've read many books over the past year and although I would not have chosen to read this one (it was for the book club I'm in) I am glad I read it. I wish I could give it 4.75 stars, but went with 5. Why? Personally I don't enjoy dystopian reads and concerning endings and that is the sole cause of the less than 5 stars. However, there is no doubt that the writing of Ms. Ng is stellar. She created this story and it grabs you immediately. Your are sucked into exploring the time and place. You are sucked into trying to fathom the thought processes and behaviors of the people around Bird and Ethan. The story is obviously fiction, bordering on futuristic fiction and yet; and yet, you can see how a situation as described in this book could easily become a full reality if we are not careful. Indeed, historically there were some of these situations; even today there are places families live with this over their heads. I recommend this book, but don't read expecting a sweet ending.

This book is difficult to explain. It drags on in places, though the writing is beautiful, the descriptions lyrical. But often it's too much of both. The story meanders in so many places. However, the theme is scary, as you feel it could happen, or in some ways, is happening, in our country. Bird's reactions are blunted with all that is crashing around him. Is he holding his emotions close, we don't know? We don't get to see deep inside him. Margaret decides to leave, instead of all three of them making a break for it, escaping the city, hiding under new identities. How could a loving mother and wife do that? Overall, I'm glad I read it, but it got tedious at times, and the ending left me hanging.

A very scary scenario, which happened in the past in the USA towards the Japanese, and which could happen again, because of big bad China. The judgemental and autocratic actions of governments is nothing to laugh off.

The story that shall stay with me. The book i shall recommend to all who think America is great. The imagination which may be too close to reality.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, incredible. Highly recommend.

Cautivadora

A must read as a reminder of the importance of free speech and not being willing to continually turn a blind eye.