Reviews

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

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chelsearm's review

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

vivakresh's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I was very disappointed in this book. It seemed like an exciting premise—reimagining The Great Gatsby from the pov of Jordan, and making her as queer and adopted from Vietnam. The “magic” added to the story seemed superfluous and poorly executed—demons and fire just out of nowhere—and the plot wasn’t actually dependent on it, so it wasn’t satisfying. The queering of the characters worked, as well as speculating about Nick and Gatsby’s racial backgrounds, but almost in a school-assignment kind of way, like the author wanted to let you know how smart she was for thinking of that, while this reading. of the book has been discussed forever. I also thought that the perspective of an Asian woman in that time period was fascinating— the way the author brought in the Manchester Act and how the Asian community dealt with being targeted at that time — but again it felt like a different story tacked on, not really part of the main story. There’s even a point where the narrator mentions that none of her circle even mentioned the Manchester Act or cared about it. So overall, interesting concept but poorly executed.

lammy_howl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thehawk72's review against another edition

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3.0

I was about to give this a four star rating until the very last chapter and then the last chapter sucked ass for no reason. Also why include a magical element if you aren’t even going to utilize it in any meaningful way. Beautifully written in spite of its downfalls.

spacebras's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Great Gatsby is about the death of the American Dream...but what if the American Dream was never meant for you in the first place?

An entertaining look into one of the more mysterious characters of The Great Gatsby. Originally written to be only the aloof modern flapper we, unlike Fitzgerald, know that there is more under the surface of Jordan Baker. Who, in this retelling, is from Vietnam and queer- also magic? Nghi Vo does an incredible job of capturing the dreamy and drunk quality I love about Gatsby, while challenging us with false representations and deeper motives.

At times, The Chosen and the Beautiful really felt like I was reading self-insert fanfiction, which it technically is fanfiction if you take it down to its bases AND isn't a bad thing! Jordan is in parts of the story where she isn't originally so we get a more whole picture as the audience (totally fair), and she starts a romantic relationship with Nick (some people argue there is text to support this in the original writing but I never saw it). Vo takes great pains to expand the relationships we only see tidbits of in the original text, and I think it's really done well.

I can take or leave the magic system- I honestly didn't know it was real and not solely a metaphor until like the book was almost over. Calling it a "fantasy" novel is a stretch, it's more magical realism imho.