Our Missing Hearts

emily_calkins shared a tip "It took me a long time to read this because the whole premise is pretty heavy (the government takes children away from “un-American”parents), but I’m glad I stuck with it. Ng writes gorgeous prose. Her attention to small details makes the charters and settings so vivid. I sobbed through the last 75 pages, so know that it’s a devastating as the premise sounds, especially because it’s rooted in American history. But it’s also beautiful, deeply moving, and ultimately hopeful without glossing over tragedy."

emroseee shared a tip "So I was NOT a fan of this book. Not sure if I got a weird copy, but not having quotation marks for the dialogue was a HUGE turn off. You never knew what was a thought, versus what was actually being said to another character. I can understand if it was a poetic vibe, by not having dialogue, but this just wasn't it for me. I finished 2/3 of the book, and finally after 7 days I just stopped reading, I couldn't even force myself to finish it. 🤷🏼‍♀️ 1/31."

diane_morello shared a tip "Celeste Ng writes with a lyrical and gentle voice, which she uses to color characters and situations with high impact and emotion. Our Missing Hearts depicts a world of fear and hatred, ignited by a suspicious government stealing children, race-baiting and eerily familiar book banning. Of Asian descent, Margaret Miu leaves her son and husband to avoid exposing them to the hatred of foreigners. Years later, hiding in an abandoned brownstone in Brooklyn, she concocts a mysterious project to fix the problems. The reader expects violence, but instead Margaret uses her voice (that is, the author’s lyrical style) to testify to families’ despair as they speak about their missing children. So moving."

megan_carls shared a tip "Was able to read an ARC of this (thank you Netgalley!) and I enjoyed it. It's a good story, dealing with some heavy topics. I noticed it skirts around some instances of its central theme in real life, unfortunately. I'm a sucker for societal-issue-seen-through-the-eyes-of-a-child plots. Poignant, poetic, powerful."

iciclestars shared a tip "“Our Missing Hearts” is a #dystopian novel set in an Anti-Asian sort of America. The book, like all of Ng’s books, explore the depth of family relationships and the love that only a parent and child can have, even when separated. The book covers deep topics, like separating children from families (and America’s traumatic history of doing that), hate crimes, racism and prejudice, and identity. The novel has strange pacing that accelerates as you read on (at least for me). On my first session I read 30 pages, on my second session I read 40, on the third I read 50, and on my last session I finished the rest of the 390 pages in my copy of the book. Overall, I’m happy I read this book. Ng’s use of third person unlimited allows for excellent character study and her dystopian novel was able to make me think of real historic events (Japanese internment, McCarthyism, Chinese Exclusion) and modern struggles including COVID-19 and it’s anti-Asian hate that resulted as well as the separation of families at the borders."

leighlou shared a tip "Absolutely excruciating! The clipped sentences, and the breathy narration and dramatic pauses by Lucy Liu were unbearable. I actually finished this book because I had read good reviews and I wanted to like it. Ugh! I read for entertainment and knowledge— learn something, better understanding— this book provides ZERO level of either. In fairness dystopia is not a topic I care a thing about. This book was so slow it was like trying to finish a marathon. All I could do was look at my watch. Have loved other Ng books but these characters were never developed and quite frankly the whole story was profoundly depressing. Save your time and money!"

sally_allen shared a tip "A dystopian story about a future USA that’s become completely nationalistic, anti-Asian, and scary patriotic, in a world in which anything deemed not good for the American is unpatriotic and thus illegal. Love reading Celeste Ng novels."

lisa_eedy shared a tip "Too many to count! I just started reading Colleen Hoover and I really like her books so far. I love Elin Hildebrand and the Eve Dallas series by JDRobb. How about you?"

christina_thomsen shared a tip "This is the perfect book for what is happening in our country right now. A look at where things could go when good people don’t step up and say something and become active."