A review by vivakresh
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

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.