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Title:
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Our Missing Hearts |
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Authors:
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Ng, Celeste |
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Genre:
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Fiction |
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Pages:
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335 |
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Year:
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2022 |
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Publisher:
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Little, Brown |
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Language:
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English |
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Description:
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In a disturbingly imaginable future USA that vows to uphold 'American culture' through its draconian laws that restrict what can be read or viewed, 12-year-old Bird Gardener and his father know to lie low. Three years earlier, Bird's mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet regarded as a dissident, disappeared, but when Bird receives a mysterious note, he doesn't hesitate to go in search of her.
Both heart-breaking and hopeful, and with its complex themes and lyrical writing, this is a cautionary tale of the importance of words and storytelling, the unbreakable bonds of family and the power of collective small actions.
This title is also offered as part of the Narrative Muse Book Club.
View this title on the Narrative Muse website
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Categories:
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Fiction, Dystopia/Futuristic, Human Rights, Political, America, Narrative Muse Book Club, 2024 Titles |
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By: HAVE 005
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2025-07-07 11:38:58 |
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Most of us enjoyed the story but found it a bit too close to real life events for a comfortable read. Two of our group felt she brought too many threads into the book, and that it could have been a tighter book with some editing. |
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By: HAMIL 068
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2025-07-03 09:53:19 |
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Life imitating art, which created great discussion of how unbreakable bonds of family can hopefully outweigh the instability of society if/when it happens. Ending left us a bit flat as not a lot of hope was interpreted. |
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By: COROM 005
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2025-06-12 09:17:31 |
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Our group enjoyed the book; the themes are particularly relevant with the recent rollbacks of DEI policies in the US. Was interesting to read a dystopian perspective on current cultural issues. A few of us had read other books by Celeste Ng and agreed it wasn't our favorite of hers - although it was good. |
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By: HOKITIK 004
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2025-02-26 21:49:13 |
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Only half the readers finished the book, the others found it hard to fully engage with the story and characters. All agreed the dystopian themes were interesting, relevant, and from this good discussion was generated. The ending was left open, room for a sequel? Ng's choice to remove speech marks was confusing for some. |
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By: ROTO 010
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2025-01-11 20:44:13 |
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Some found this book underwhelming and difficult. It gained interest after 100 pages. The overtones of McCarthyism in the US detailed left it up to the reader to interpret the meaning as relating to present day. What happened in the book could happen in our lifetime! We wondered how people in our world would kick up about it. The racism and displaced families are our concerns. Good yet stressed discussion. |
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By: CHCH 537
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2024-12-12 10:01:50 |
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Absolutely top book, we all loved it. The writing and the wonderful characters -scarily prescient with what's going on in the world at the moment. |
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By: AUCK 458
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2024-11-21 11:46:01 |
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Well-written, engaging and relevant topic. Good storyteller. |
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By: WHANG 003
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2024-09-25 12:09:16 |
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Generally liked and finished. Some thought parts a bit far fetched, others found it a scary look into the future, and compared it with the Trump situation. Two thought the book was excellent. |
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By: WHANG 036
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2024-09-02 12:40:10 |
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Loved the style of writing. The numerous relationships explored were interesting. We all thought it was quite scary - not that far fetched fiction ( in the U.S. and the rise of Trumpism) and far right politics around the globe. We also talked about the removal of children from indigenous peoples due to parents not 'fitting in'! |
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By: AUCK 408
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2024-07-11 11:52:52 |
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We all loved this - superbly written, heart-rending, but above all thought-provoking in its too-close-to-home dystopian themes. |
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By: NELS 040
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2024-06-25 11:53:44 |
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Everyone in the group was pleased to have read this book. |
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By: CHCH 550
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2024-05-28 09:51:24 |
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It was beautifully written,but the slow pace and being dystopian was hard for some to keep at it. |
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By: TAUR 059
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2024-04-06 16:49:05 |
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We all agreed it was a good idea for a book but that it didn’t actually translate into a good book. Most found the book an easy read and felt it wasn’t hard to see how the premise would be possible. All those who had read any of the author's previous books were disappointed. Most felt the characters were poor and therefore they did not really engage with the story. Most did not like the ending, feeling it wasn’t really one. |
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By: HAMIL 074
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2024-03-07 14:49:48 |
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A story that touched on relatable topics, especially our opinions on how a mother should/would act or give up, how out of control some situations can be, and sacrifices made for selfless or selfish reasons? This book caused some deep discussions, with 70% of the group liking it and 30% not liking the story. Interesting and thought provoking. |
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By: NELS 011
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2023-11-02 11:47:05 |
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Highly recommended by everyone, excellent read, almost too close to home. "Utterly compelling and scary". So relevant to our times, very thought provoking. |
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