Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Our Missing Hearts

I think this may be my favorite book I read all year.
This should be considered an instant classic and to me is on par with 1984 and Animal Farm. Cautionary tales warning us all of the potential consequences if politics and media, and thus culture, continues on a certain trajectory.
It is incredible how many parts of Ng's book became reality while she was writing it. So many moments in this book have clear parallels in reality now, unfortunately. I hope we can turn American culture around and stop accepting the blind hate being paraded as patriotism.

I do have a favorite quote from this book - ""...unity required a common enemy. One box in which to collect all their anger. One strawman to wear the hats of everything they feared." This has been a worry of mine for a long time. Growing up here, it seemed really obvious to me that Americans need an enemy outside of us to focus on in order to come together and see one another as neighbors, or else we turn on each other. That is how our nation was born, so I suppose it makes sense that it is really hard for us to break away from that and learn healthier relationship skills, as a nation.

I feel this should be required reading.
Celeste Ng has solidified herself as my favorite modern day author.

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kshertz's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This dystopian novel is only slightly dystopian at this point. Bird lost his Chinese mother because she was a poet whose poem was picked up to resist taking children away from their family and jailing anyone protesting. He goes on a quest to find her. She is fighting PACT, which feels like all the immigrant hating laws I’ve seen passed as well. I love that librarians again have to come in and try to save the day. This book is our future if we don’t protest and change. I couldn’t put it down. It was sad but necessary. It makes us remember what’s at stake. Read it

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swaanderer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful, heart-wrenching, disturbing, hopeful. And Lucy Liu's audiobook narration was perfect.

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kimveach's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This dystopian novel will have you contemplating many ideas: race, class, patriotism used as a weapon, and the history of children being taken from their parents in the United States. I found the book to be slower than her previous books due to the storyline only focusing on a few people. The writing is stunning. While I normally prefer books that are more about the plot, I did like this character-centered book.

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muffmacguff's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

This book devastated me. It took me a long time to read because I needed to take breaks to cry very frequently. It is a great speculative fiction book that focuses most heavily on the human suffering that sweeping political gestures can cause. I really recommend reading it but only if you’re prepared to cry a lot. I also thought its focus on the transformative power of art and the vitality of libraries was beautiful and inspiring, and it also made me cry.
Celeste Ng, your work is batting a thousand for making me cry.

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lindsayerin's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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sarasreading's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Celeste Ng's beautiful turns of phrase get me every time. The quality of her prose is top notch. This book was a bit stressful to read, as we have been sliding into a similar reality, and so much of it feels possible.

I didn't connect as strongly to the characters in this one, and for a dystopian book, it's very slow and quiet. But I also couldn't put it down.

I think the visuals this book created in my head, cats on postcards, quiet dusty places, warm backyards in summertime with a loving mother, will linger for a good long while.

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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