Our Missing Hearts

This is an engrossing read and as compelling as Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. You will not be disappointed in this complex story of love, suspense and injustice.

My first take was that this novel was another one about a pandemic and the aftermath. Yet it is so much more. Underlying all of it is a mother’s love and the development of the main character Margaret and her son Bird. The political events at first seemed far fetched but the author did draw upon reality. She describes a very authoritarian state in the US making me picture the period of WWII and the Nazis. I loved her references to ancient fables throughout to tell her story. Her son Bird narrates and we see much through an innocent child’s mind. And playing well was the character of Sadie who shares similar experiences as Bird. Domi, the mother’s friend, and Margrets husband Ethan are used to relate the story but their real characters are a bit shallow. Recommend to readers who envision a future world that might be if we don’t engage with the direction of cultural freedom.

I give very, very few books five stars, but this one deserves it. I listened to the audiobook and read portions of this book through a local library. Wowza. This book was prescient, prophetic (in the actual sense of the word—not the popular cultural understating of it), and powerful. The storytelling is compelling and imaginative, and the writing is so beautiful. It is filled with references to other stories, and I really loved the way this book spoke to the power of storytelling. This book was a real gift for the word nerd in me, and I identified so closely with Nathan in his love of etymology. I would say it is a cautionary tale, but even if this is set in a dystopian near future, so much of what happens in Our Missing Hearts is current—seems to have been pulled from the headlines. Was it a little heavy handed at times in showing us a world so prevalent with Asian hate? Perhaps. Was the book absolutely spot on in its critique? Absolutely. And is the book is so important of read. It seems important to note that I checked out the both the library book and audiobook from my library—important because of the role libraries played in the book. This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. Lucy Liu is masterful in her interpretation and (with the exception of apparently not knowing a song that appeared in one scene) doesn’t waste a word, doesn’t waste a moment. I highly recommend the audiobook!! This is a wonderful book—one that will stay with me.

Ng's Our Missing Hearts has a compelling story to tell about a dystopian US future where children can be confiscated from left-leaning parents. The world it pictures is all too plausible given the current US environment. However, I found the writing was not as skillful as expected. Ng falls back on tell, tell, tell too often in retrospective explanations of the Crisis that precipitates the PACT, Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act. PACT is xenophobic legislation targeting dissent and Asian Americans that allows removal of children from their parents as a tool to enforce compliance with the government's world view. Many parts of the novel dragged as the author lectured readers about the evils of PACT and the government. The story line is also very sparse—not much happens. The reveals and twists are not terrible engaging. I found New Yorkers' reaction to a certain political action to be totally unbelievable, but it fit the optimistic need of the narrative. Otherwise, it would have been depressing and turgid. High marks for political correctness, low marks for writing style and story arc.

Noah Gardner previously went by the affectionate nickname of “Bird”, until she left and all traces of his mother were eliminated from his life. To protect themselves Noah and his father must disavow Noah’s mother, the poet Margaret Miu, all of her beliefs, and interactions. Margaret is a PAO, a Person of Asian Origin. She is Chinese and this is about patriotism. China is the enemy. The PACT (Preserving American Culture and Traditions) Act was enacted 10 years ago as a reaction to a declining economy, instability and violence. The Chinese were blamed. Since then protests have been outlawed, books have been removed from schools and libraries, citizens are encouraged to spy on one another. “You’re mom’s a traitor” kids at school yelled at Noah. He knew better than to react. New laws enacted also allowed the government to “relocate” children of dissidents. Noah might be taken away and never see his father again. Noah’s father lost his job as a linguistics sprofessor and now works for minimal wage at the library, shelving books. They lost their house and now share a 2 room dorm on university property. Noah knows nothing of his mothers work. He knows only that he misses her. When he receives a coded letter that, in his heart, he knows is from his mother, he sets out to find her. A story of power, injustice, love, the bond between a mother and her child, and what happens when previously good people look the other way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ All lthe feels for Our Missing Hearts.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old. Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change. Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact. My Thoughts: There is something hollow and fearful about Our Missing Hearts as we begin the story of what life was like during the times after the “Crisis.” A time after a stringent law is passed (PACT) that focuses on people supposedly “Anti-American,” but who are mostly Asian. People whose ideas don’t jive with those who are more “in line” with American culture. Primarily we learn more about a family with a child named Bird, a mother who writes poetry but who incidentally is Asian, and a father who works in a library. What happens to this family hurts my heart, and I am feeling the angst of what can happen to families and people because of a law. An unjust law, in my opinion. Fearful of what might lie ahead for any of us kept me reading about these characters and how their lives were torn apart. And how dismantled shelves were the reminders of the books that some considered anti-American. My heart went out to what had become of these characters and what might become of any of us. 4.5 stars. ***

Celeste Ng’s latest novel is as good and any of the others. It is set in a dystopian future that may not be far ahead of where we are now. It is a time where children can be legally taken away from parents who are not pro-American and anti- China enough; where free speech is legally squashed and where a boy, Bird is without his mother for reasons he doesn’t understand. He goes to find her and learns more than he knew he didn’t know. It’s beautifully written.

I have always enjoyed Celeste Ng's writing so didn't hesitate to get Our Missing Hearts when offered as an ebook on Bookbub. I was not disappointed although this novel has a deeper edge to the drama that was unsettling at times ... to close to the truth of the world and United States we live in with our current politics. The world Ng describes could so easily be ours within a small number of years if we, as Americans of all races, do not work together to turn the tide of authoritarianism. This novel is well written with a cast of characters that ring true to people's hearts today.