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In the timeless tradition of The Handmaid's Tale Ng tackles a dystopian future that is woven tightly with reality. The USA has made it through a crisis, but the legislation that resulted has increased suspicion of Asian Americans. She focuses on the families whose children are taken from them in order to "protect" them from sedition indoctrination. I enjoyed Ng in the past but never before have I felt rocked by the quiet emotion this book held.

This month, I snuck in 3 #AuldLangSpine picks from @BarbaraJean : All Systems Red, Legends & Lattes, and Our Missing Hearts.

I think the most unexpected thing that focusing on her list did for me was to help me reincorporate speculative fic back into my reading life in a more conscious way! I‘ve been gravitating more towards memoirs, contemporary fiction, & literary fiction lately. 👇🏻

Long review ahead. Buckle in. 😉

“Later on, we‘ll conspire
As we dream by the fire.”

The piece of writing that transported me over the threshold and into readerly awe is when Sadie & Bird, the young adolescents at this novel‘s center, tend to a fire. They build it, gingerly, failing before they succeed, and take turns blowing on the kindling. 👇🏻

“It can‘t go on, everyone said, but it kept going on.”

I hope our world & country never devolve into the reality described in this book. But if it does I hope for people like the main characters here.

Book 1 of 2024.

A solid pick despite a relative lack of plot or forward propulsion. The engine here is emotion and empathy in a “dystopia” that honestly feels a little too familiar. It‘s about the power of stories keeping our loved ones alive and close to us. It‘s about familial love (both genetic & chosen). ✨🐦📖💙

And we‘re off in 2024 👀🥳💪🏻

TBR for January is the above (bc I will be gifting it for my book club meetup at the end of the month), #AuthorAMonth, hopefully two from my #AuldLangSpine stack and my actual local book club pick. Plus anything else that looks good.

💖✨ 🐦 🐈

Love the mid-process full foils look. 👽✌🏻✨

Brought my next #AuldLaneSpine pick to the salon (but haven‘t started it yet). I might switch to Legends & Lattes. I‘m feeling very indecisive!

I kept giving up on this book and coming back to it between books. It was a really tough finish

I found this novel unsettling--it takes place in a US that is just hair's-breadth adjacent to our own. This is a dictatorship where books are banned, people are punished for questioning authority, and PAOs ("people of Asian origin") are constantly targeted. Worst of all, children of marginalized people are taken suddenly from their parents at the slightest infraction or whiff of disloyalty. These children are the "missing hearts" of the title.

I do love some dystopian fiction, and this was v good. Sweet and lyrical; I really enjoyed the writing. The portrayal of a near future in the US feels timely and prescient, with a frightening risk of it being a reality. I loved the librarians quietly and steadfastly searching, and I fell for sweet Bird and his own search for his mother.

#BookReport
Stellar week of finishes for me! Absolutely devoured the latest Murderbot then finished the work book club pick and my commute read.

#WeeklyForecast
Goal this week is to catch up with ReadingWesteros and then go a little deeper in Hyperion.

The only reason I picked this up is because I have to lead the book club discussion at work this month. I‘m glad I read it but the themes are too close to home in today‘s climate so I found it very sad.

It‘s Feminist Book Club book mail day! 💖📚

Getting some reading done for work while waiting for the Queen concert to open up.

I loved Little Fires Everywhere, so Our Missing Hearts was disappointing. It felt patchy with some parts so interesting and others so boring. I never connected to any of the characters—they always felt like descriptions at an arm‘s length. The dystopian elements and depictions of racism and injustice are important, but also felt like so many other things from 2020 & 2021. It didn‘t feel fresh. I did like the folklore storytelling. An uneven read.

Another excellent novel by Celeste Ng. Heartbreaking and hopeful. Read so well by Lucy Liu.

Fahrenheit 451-esque tale in a near-future dystopia that could easily be the way the world goes. A departure from Ng‘s previous novels set in the recent past and an exciting new narrative direction for a skilled writer I always savor reading.

Incredible! This one sucked me in from the very beginning, Ng has this way of writing that makes you think and question everything know or thought you knew. I couldn‘t put it down #pick #ourmissinghearts #CelesteNg

Up next. Just released in paperback, I decided to pull the hard copy from the bottom of my tbr pile.

#bookhaul number bazillion….but who‘s counting.

I am not sure I have words to describe this book… at the start I thought I was going to hate it… I found it strange and not enjoyable… and then I kept reading… it slowly morphed into the most beautifully heartbreaking story that can and does happen in this world. Everyone should read this book!

Easing into the day with a good book and kitty cuddles! 💗

This beautifully written novel is a terrifying cautionary tale positing where we will find ourselves if we continue on the path to an autocracy. Following a period of financial and societal meltdown, the U.S. government names a common enemy: Asians, and passes draconian laws to control the lives of citizens. Worst is the “re-location” of dissenter‘s children. Poets and librarians are the heroes. In my mind, Bird and his mother will live forever.

Difficult story on parenthood discrimination and relocating their children. This is an America that blames China for the crisis to the extreme. Bleeds to black families. Anyone can say something and your children are taken to a new family. Book is slow, so there are some lags, yet I kept loosing track of time. It‘s a mother-son questioning PACT: Preserving American Culture and Traditions. “We promise to protect American values”. Certain Americans

I dnf at 70%. I was bored and couldn‘t stay focused on the story.

This is one that I am truly glad I persisted with! I really struggled with the start of it and it took me ages to warm to it. But I ended up loving it! Celeste Ng is a wonderful author. This book is a cross between Handmaid‘s Tale and 1984 and is very relevant to what is happening in the world today. Very cleverly written

Wow. Unforgettable. I read these books snd they‘re sort of dystopian and then it‘s just like Fox News and the crazy nationalist xenophobia stuff. Her best book by far. Also a nice ode to poets!

I gave the audiobook another shot and I still couldn't finish it. Checked out the physical book from the library. I am determined to finish.

I‘ve seen a lot of negative reviews for this, and I‘ll grant that it doesn‘t have the same depth of insightful characterization as Ng‘s previous novels. But I really liked what she was doing here. It‘s not quite dystopian and its “Crisis” is not Covid, but the semi-post-apocalyptic vibe felt all too familiar in light of the past few years. It‘s quiet and understated in many ways, which makes the moments of vulnerability and violence more powerful.

I'm listening to this on audiobook read by Lucy Liu. And while the story is really intriguing, I am struggling to finish it. I'm not sure why but something about the cadence in her performance is a bit off putting. I have taken a break and will come back to it later.

In a dystopian and racist surveillance state, a young boy runs away from home to find his mother, a poet and revolutionary. Beautiful writing, as always, but the future had never seemed quite so close as what‘s already happening.

It wasn't terrible but it didn't rock my world either.

Had the audiobook for this incredible novel. So cannot say enough about this heartbreak of a story.

Started this today sitting out in the garden. 100 pages in and can‘t put it down. Have loved Celeste Ng‘s first 2 novels and this one may just become my favourite yet. Fans of the Handmaid‘s Tale will draw parallels here for sure.

A heavy one, but maybe the best I‘ve read this year.

Its version of America is too close to reality to really be labeled dystopian, and that gives the novel as much punch as the story of its characters. On the page, and in the world, there are swarms of those who rationalize atrocities due to fear or ignore them due to the false comfort of “it‘s not my family,” rendering the novel a rebuke as well as a warning.

Ng takes the zeitgeist now and gives it a little push to give us an authoritarian America that‘s a nightmare of fascist racism, control (through separating children from families, book banning) and fear. Bird‘s Chinese mother (a banned poet) went underground to protect the family. One day he finds a message and runs away to find her. Art and poetry as a means of political revolution; heartbreak and hope. Antifa librarians rule🌟❣️

Author‘s note: “There is a long history, in the US and elsewhere, of removing children as a means of political control.” Economic downturn leads to scapegoating China, violence against Asian Americans, the Preserving American Culture & Tradition Act. Books ripped from shelves, children ripped from parents, patriotic reeducation. Bird searches out his poet-activist mother. Powerful topic, but pacing feels off, flashback center section drags. 2022

I really enjoyed this one. A tough subject, as racism, discrimination and authorities abusing their populace should be. Not subtle but the time for subtlety has probably passed if we‘re not going down this path.

🤬 this is how we lose democracy. Loving this book.

On both a sentence and a story level, this was an incredible book. The way the Crisis led into PACT society felt chillingly possible, and I liked that the story was more about recognizing an unjust world than burning it all down. (Not that I didn't want it burned down, it's just a more typical plot arc!) Really makes you think. #dystopianfiction #literaryfiction

I‘ll read anything Ng writes because she is a master of words.

Starting our #LitsyBookClub book that we will discuss on Sunday, March 26. If you‘ve read it or want to read, it feel feel free to join us. Check out the information on the post of @litsybookclub

Repost for @litsybookclub:

New month, new book. Please join us in reading this month‘s selection.

Original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2558875

‘If you acted unpatriotic, there would be consequences. If you didn't, then what were you worried about? And if you saw or heard of something unpatriotic, it was your duty to let the authorities know.‘

Pick 3.5 ⭐️

New month, new book. Please join us in reading this month‘s selection.

Celeste Ng knocks it out of the park with this dystopian novel that hits a little too close to home. Ng beautifully and eloquently tackles difficult topics including racism, oppression, censorship, and the government separating children from parents as a means of control. This book resonates so profoundly with current injustices in our country that I wasn‘t sure if I was reading dystopian fiction or the evening news.👇