The U.S. in the near future. It has become a fascist and nativist country, and after a monster Depression called the Crisis, the people live under a draconian law which seeks to "preserve American culture and traditions." A young boy's mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet, has disappeared. Because of their marriage, her husband has been demoted from a professorship to shelving books in his university library. The boy, Bird, goes in search of his mother and finds her in NYC. Librarians all over the country clandestinely try to reunite families whose children have been ripped from them and sent elsewhere because of "anti-American influences." There is terrible prejudice against all Orientals, because of the positive way China is economically. In her small way, Margaret fights back against the government. Maybe this rebellion is the start of a positive movement. This was a thinking person's novel, some episodes similar to what has gone on recently. ( )

4.5⭐

“Once upon a time, there was a boy. Once upon a time there was a mother. Once upon a time, there was a boy, and his mother loved him very much.”

It has been over ten years since the “Crisis” - a period of economic decline - failing businesses, unemployment, poverty and lawlessness - a period of chaos that was attributed to being the result of the manipulations of an Asian country that was thriving during the same period. In the interest of boosting the economy and preserving American culture, PACT -“The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act”- has been passed allowing for reporting and arrest of those perceived to be “anti –American” and children from families perceived to be guilty of the same have been relocated to state-approved homes and foster families. Books viewed as teaching un-American values have been removed from schools and libraries (destroyed and pulped, recycled into toilet paper as opposed to being burnt!- “Much more civilized, right?”), certain websites have been blocked, web searches are censored and hate crimes are on the rise.

It has been three years since twelve-year-old Noah “Bird” Gardner has seen his mother, well-known poet Chinese-American poet Margaret Miu. Over the last three years Noah and his father Ethan, former faculty in Linguistics and currently employed in the University Library, have kept their head down, avoiding attention and dissociating themselves from Margaret, whose lines from her books of poems “Our The Missing Hearts “ was adopted by anti –PACT activists as their slogan, branding her a “traitor” in the eyes of the authorities. Given the intense Anti-Asian sentiment and discrimination and increasing incidents of violence directed toward East Asians, Bird, who is biracial, is encouraged by his father to hide his Asian roots. When Bird receives a letter with drawings reminiscent of the folktales his mother used to tell him, he embarks on a search for his missing mother- a journey that provides him not only with a greater understanding of his mother and her life as well as insight into the reasons behind his mother’s disappearance but also gives him an honest unfiltered perspective on the reality of the world around him. Needless to say, Bird’s journey as he struggles with his feelings about his mother –his hurt and longing for her gradually evolves into a deeper understanding of his parents’ love for him and a shift in his worldview - is a difficult and emotional one.

Poignant, heartbreaking, disturbing and thought-provoking, Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a beautifully –written, powerful and timely novel that revolves around themes of family, love, sacrifice and racially motivated injustice. I finished reading this book two days ago and it’s taken me this long to gather my thoughts and pen a coherent review. This is not an easy book to read and even more difficult to review. The author paints a dark and dystopian picture of a nation where discrimination, racism and injustice are justified in the name of preservation of economic stability, culture and values. Families have been torn apart, innocent children have been forcibly taken from their homes and those working to change the narrative , build awareness and reunite families with their “missing hearts” are constantly putting their lives on the line - activists who openly protest and those who are covertly networking to trace those who been lost. The larger part of the narrative is shared from Bird’s perspective, though we do get to hear the voices of other characters as well. Unfortunately, unlike many dystopian novels, much about this book feels a bit too real at times. The author draws inspiration from past and current events which she discusses in a brilliantly penned Author’s Note. This story left me with a heavy heart.

“When are you ever done with the story of someone you love? You turn the most precious of your memories over and over, wearing their edges smooth, warming them again with your heat. You touch the curves and hollows of every detail you have, memorizing them, reciting them once more though you already know them in your bones. Who ever thinks, recalling the face of the one they loved who is gone: yes, I looked at you enough, I loved you enough, we had enough time, any of this was enough?” ( )

My heart is torn and my reality of what is happening in our country and in the world was further refined and intensified by reading this book. While we have not yet reached the extent of the hatred and suspicions caused by actions of the governments out of fear (instead of trying to try and find solutions) Ng has made it very possible to see that period approaching.
I can understand her emphasis on the Chinese and other Asians as the targeted enemy, but we have to include the recent exponential growth against African Americans and especially anti-Semitism.
I know I won’t “get away” from disturbing dreams from reading this book, but I hope enough people do read it to bring about the hoped for effects of the action taken by Margaret Miu, in the novel, to bring about the same wake-up call here in the U.S. in real life. ( )

Set in a near future dystopian America, this novel opens with a focus on 12 year old Bird. Three years previously, his mother had left, and although he and his father love each other, his father insists that Bird must forget his mother, who was considered a political subversive. Under the PACT act (Like our own Patriot Act??), the government can remove any child from a home in which the parents are politically suspect ("crisis children"). Bird's father believes that only by totally renouncing Bird's mother will Bird escape removal from his father's custody.

Then one day Bird receives a letter--actually a page of drawings of cats, which he knows is a message from his mother. He feels compelled to run away in search of his mother.

While the first part of the novel was narrated from Bird's pov, most of the second part consists of Bird's mother telling Bird what she has experienced since she left him. As such, it is a lot of "telling," not "showing," and I never felt I was getting into the story. It was rather distancing, as if we were getting the story from some far off third party who might have heard about it, but didn't really experience it. I found it excruciatingly boring. Many of the reviews on Amazon agree with this opinion: "Ng fails to sustain the mother's voice," and point out that it reads like an essay, not a mother talking to her son.

In addition, Ng failed to create a cohesive and "real" future dystopian world. For example, if anything untoward happens, dozens of police are there instantly, yet it seems relatively easy to yarn bomb a bunch of trees and paint a street, and no one notices.

So, overall, very disappointing.

1 1/2 stars ( )

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is the best novel of 2022. Who could imagine she could surpass her previous masterpieces. Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere. I am no a fan of Dystopian Fiction but this novel is so frightening and simply told because it is rooted in our current reality that it eliminated any of my prejudices about that genre. ( )