Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Chosen and the Beautiful

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Great Gatsby story, so I’m not sure what drew me to try this novel. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I appreciated the queer representation and that different people of color were in the book.

I was often left hoping for more of Jordan’s story, and was instead getting Daisy’s, which I didn’t care for much but again, what else could I expect in a retelling? I thought Jordan was well written, a complex and intelligent character. I wish we had spent more time with her backstory. I felt she was often too forgiving of Daisy, but I suppose that’s the point- everyone loves Daisy.

Things I liked about the novel include the queer representation, the way they were all interconnected (read: sleeping with) to each other, and the description of the parties & outfits, and the magic.

I wish we could see more of Jordan on the cover. I wish I could have seen her in her outfit choices. I loved reading about them.

Overall, I rated this book a 3.5/5. I wish the relationship with Kai had been more explored, and I wish I had gotten a better description of the magic Jordan and others can reform. It felt like an area that could have been expanded upon. The book was a bit slow, but the vibes were great so it was alright. I listened to this story on audiobook and it kept me engaged.

I felt like the ending took me by surprise. I felt like it undid Jordan’s character arc. I didn’t see it coming it felt confusing as she’d just harped on Daisy for murdering the woman. I’m just confused by it I think…?

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le_mur's review against another edition

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reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

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zoiejanelle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

you actually need to love Gatsby to enjoy this book. as someone who was fascinated and inspired by The Great Gatsby, i really liked how closely this book resembled the original text in terms of pacing, plot, and themes. the dissimilation and destruction of Jordan’s “American Dream” is an interesting parallel to Gatsby’s, and i really loved how the author added a new layer of complexity and authenticity through her perspective as well as her backstory and heritage. Jordan was, like all the characters, a bad person. her struggle to reconcile her tumultuous upbringing, the standards and values of the world around her, and the question to defining and understanding her own identity (as a Vietnamese person and a queer woman) were interesting and unlike anything i’ve read before. i loved seeing the world — Daisy’s flightiness, Nick’s perceptiveness, Tom’s abuse, Gatsby’s ambition — through her eyes and i especially loved that she and Daisy in particular had more agency in their own stories.

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.

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entityj's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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sayer4180's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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voxelbee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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miak2's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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.

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