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There are currently 22 member reviews
for Our Missing Hearts
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Rule B. (Portland, OR)
Past, Present and Future
After having vividly remembered reading Celeste Ng's previous novels, I was eager for her third, Our Missing Hearts. If possible, I would have preferred to not put the book down before it was finished ! The story line was mesmerizing as it switched between present and past, reminding me of the dystopian qualities of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven. Our Missing Hearts' tell-tale resonance brought to mind the ideas: Poetry is a life force; folktales preserve the past's wisdoms; society unlearns lessons & then must go to extremes to stop repeating the past's dysfunctions; art as protest; and written and spoken words matter because of their potential power for both good and evil. I was touched by the example of the efficacy of libraries in the communities' resilience and librarians as a vital source of protection for literature's and children's survival. Our memories can be the engines to drive change; our creative genomes can endure. Ng's voice is both an essential warning and paean to the protection of all our freedoms lest they disappear.
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Peggy S. (Somerville, NJ)
Food for Thought
Unsettling was the first word I thought of when I started this book. The premise is not as farfetched as I initially thought and as I read more, what seemed impossible, wasn't.
The author holds up a mirror to our present world with all its division, anger and paranoia. Unfortunately the family at the heart of the story, as well as the entire Chinese community, suffers a great deal.
Bird and his father are forced to live apart from Bird's mother, who is Chinese American, to keep them all safe from the new law of the land - PACT, Preserving American Culture and Traditions. Anyone of Chinese birth or ancestry is considered a danger to PACT. Loyalty is demanded and those who do not agree are disloyal and an enemy. Chinese children are removed from their homes, books are banned and freedom of speech is only acceptable if you agree with PACT. But who is to say what is patriotic and what is not?
As disturbing as the premise is, it is still a story of a family, of love, of faith in humanity and the fallibility of people trying to do the best that they can.
Our Missing Hearts could have had an ending that was tidy but it didn't. Life is messy but there is always hope.
This book will stay with me for a very long time.
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Janet M. (Aiken, SC)
Listen and Think About It
This was a book that I could not put down. Political, maybe, but very thought-provoking especially for today's world.
The evils and ramifications of censorship and political control told in a illuminating way.
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Marybeth T. (Bellingham, WA)
Wow!!!
I went into this with a little trepidation. I read the synopsis and wasn't quite sure it was for me. I loved her first two book so I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. I will be thinking about this book for along time. The first part was a little slow but the second and third part flew. It's chilling and I'm afraid maybe prophetic. It feels too me that this could be where we are headed. I'm so glad I read it and another win for Celeste Ng.
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Laurie L. (Warwick, RI)
Another masterpiece from Celeste Ng!
Our Missing Hearts is another example of the prolific mind of Celeste Ng, who has masterfully created an enthralling and engrossing story of the extraordinary bond between mother and child. This book contains everything that I cherish in a well written novel : suspense, excellent character development, deep thought provoking messages and beautiful prose .
I was particularly moved by the determination of Bird to reconnect with his mother whose profound love for him forced her to make decisions that no parent should ever have to make. Our Missing Hearts would be an excellent choice for a book club. The masterfully written sub plots broaden our understanding of "real life" situations encountered by many Americans in our current (and past) cultural climate. I can't wait to discuss this book with my own book group!
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Shirley L. (Norco, LA)
Absolutely Beautiful
I do not enjoy reading dystopian novels. They make me angry and anxious. But Celeste Ng wrote this and I would read a phone book if she wrote it. Although the setting and plot both were very dark and upsetting, the characters were so well drawn and loving I found this novel to be uplifting, hopeful and inspiring. I cared about and felt like I knew all of the people going through such difficult events. The theme of mother/son love was powerful. One of the best novels I've read all year.
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Lorri
Wonderful and heartbreaking
Our Missing Hearts is a story that should be classified as dystopian but is so close to a reality that to call it dystopian would diminish its impact. Ng has done something wonderful and heartbreaking with her third novel. She takes a mirror to our society, one that presents reality with just enough distortion to both reflect it and warp it into something unsettling but no less true.
This book is about motherhood, and racial divides, about what words mean and what kind of power they have, about what difference one person can make and at what personal cost. In this world there are no heroes, there are just poets and librarians and protesters and children trying to make whatever part of this warped society that touches them a little better.
Ng describing a meeting between the protagonist and someone she is trying to make amends to as “a small tug at a complicated knot that would take generations to unpick”. Our Missing Hearts feels like Ng’s tug at that selfsame knot and it makes you feel, at least a little, that the knots that bind us can be loosened, word by word, pick by pick.
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