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brianareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Moderate: Homophobia and Racism
shoohoob's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Xenophobia, Car accident, and Alcohol
le_mur's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Car accident, and Abortion
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia and Kidnapping
atamano's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content
octopus_farmer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racism and Alcohol
Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Car accident, and Abortion
Minor: Vomit and War
zoiejanelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
as many others have stated in their reviews, i didn’t fully enjoy the magical elements. i think this was due to a lack of proper world-building at the outset. after immersing myself in one version of Gatsby so many times, i wasn’t keen on blindly accepting the, at some points, poorly explained magic systems. however, the magic was sooooo cool and i wish these systems and histories would have been fleshed out so i could have bought into them with more enthusiasm.
the writing style, the pacing, the hopeful (yearning) conclusion were all extremely reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s original work, and Vo’s unique perspective on immigration, Vietnamese culture and community, and womanhood make this work really stand out. a very interesting book that certainly won’t be for everyone but definitely holds its own in comparison to other Gatsby retellings.
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism
cozyscones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Car accident, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Classism
voxelbee's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Classism
miak2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
“When you can't fix a thing, the best course of action can be to ruin it all so that no one can see what truly happened."
The Great Gatsby but make it gay.
This is a hard one to rate. Part of my issue is that the original story just doesn't compel me, and The Chosen and the Beautiful remains (to my vague recollection) fairly faithful to it. But it's not Vo's fault that The Great Gatsby as a premise doesn't work for me. Similarly, I just didn't like any of the characters, but they weren't meant to be likeable, so that's hardly a criticism of the book either.
What worked for me:
- Vo's writing is really beautiful. I really felt transported to the 1920s, with all the glitz and glamour and daring. Additionally, her descriptions of the magic were charming.
- I liked the exploration of Jordan as a queer, Asian American in a time that was especially unfriendly towards both identities. Her discomfort when in a Vietnamese social space was conveyed really well and hit home for me quite hard.
-There's a brilliant line about learning how a man reacts to being told no that's going to stick with me until the day I die.
What didn't work for me:
- The magic system as a whole felt largely unnecessary to the plot. Beautifully written, as I said, but I don't think it added much to the story at all. There's a scene at the end that shows how cool this magic could've been if it were more fully explored, but as it was...eh.
- Really the main thing is that this story didn't grip me at all. And, again, part of this is because the original Gatsby story isn't that interesting to me either, but Vo didn't add enough to it to make it compelling. Even during the climax, I was really just reading it to finish the book, not because I couldn't put it down.
Tl;dr there's a lot that I liked about this book, but it ultimately fell flat for me.
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Suicide
abominablesnowaro's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Physical abuse and Antisemitism