Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is, I suppose, the book in which Celeste Ng becomes a "serious" writer; not that she wasn't serious before, but this title marks a change in the tone of her fiction, to me. Where her other books were about interpersonal issues, this one is about (well, it's about interpersonal stuff, too, of course, but) bigger political ideas.

In the near future (?), there is a Crisis so big it ends up being capitalized in the media. There is unrest, there are food shortages, there is mayhem and curfews and lockdowns. Hmm, sounds familiar. But in this particular Crisis, a particular group ends up taking the blame: the Chinese. The government and the media decide that China is to blame for its economic issues, supply chain problems, unrest. China, with its alleged manipulation of currency and tariffs, has caused these problems in the US, and anyone who is Chinese (or even looks Chinese) is now suspect, much as Japanese Americans were suspected during WWII. After the Crisis, the US passes a law called PACT, which is supposed to crack down on "un-American activity," but in fact separates children from "seditious" households, censors and burns books that espouse unpatriotic views, and makes it so that no reporter or even citizen question or disagree with PACT, to the extent that those who do are forced into hiding, after their children are taken from them and put into foster care, lest they be infected with anti-American rhetoric.

But of course there's more to it than that - there are emotions of all the people separated from loved ones, and you know that's what Celeste Ng does best. If you are a parent, get ready to ugly cry.

This is the kind of book I'll be turning over in my mind for awhile. I think that most anyone can relate to the story, especially after the two years we've had. More strictures and rules, while unwelcome, wouldn't feel that out of place anymore. Censorship is always hovering in the background, and so libraries removing "dangerous" books of poetry is not ideal, but you can see it happening.

I ... didn't love the ending. But then, I don't love endings that lack concreteness, if that doesn't spoil anything. It was a little too paint with all the colors of the wind, to me. And Bird, while a sweet and wonderful child, is essentially a mini-adult, rather than a 12 year old boy. Minor imperfections.

Our Missing Hearts is the riveting story of Bird Gardner and the family past he doesn't know he has, but goes on a quest to find. Ng's prose pulls you in, but the unease and politics of the world Bird lives in make you want to scream out. Could not put this one down.

Really beautiful! I had a hard time at the beginning of the novel, just because it so perfectly captures the suffocating future we might have; one where we tattle on one another in a mistaken hope that it will make us safer and more American. Bird is twelve and lives with his father. They live a quiet life, one designed not to bring attention. Bird's mother disappeared three years ago, after her poetry became a touchstone in the protests against the oppressive laws written to protect "American culture." But is the mysterious drawing Bird receives in the mail a message from her? This was a powerful and touching novel about the power and limitations of art and love.

Elizabeth Strout once said, "You only have one story, and you will tell it over and over."

Celeste Ng has one story, the story of motherhood, and I will read every iteration of this story she cares to write.

I loved the not so distant, extremely plausible dystopian future described in this book where Persons of Asian Origin are targeted as the source of America's GDP decline and targeted in the police state our country becomes.

Told from both son, and mother's perspective, I couldn't get enough. It left me feeling both wary and hopeful.

Celeste Ng has done it again with ‘Our Missing Hearts’ - her ability to write fiction that grinds so close to the bone, that feels eerily familiar and yet completely transports you is an utter gift to readers.

It is all too easy to imagine a world in which the terrible, politically motivated events of the story become a reality in our own lives. Reading it, you can tell that a lot of the events have a basis in reality - something both terrifying and humbling. A reminder of what has gone before, and what we may yet experience.

She writes the characters with such accuracy and detail, it’s hard not to fall in love with them. Her work is poetry - and it’s important poetry, with bite and an urgent message behind it: can we really sit by and watch atrocities performed on others, and only care when it’s happening to us? Or should we risk everything to take a stand and make a difference?

Another powerful piece of literary fiction from the Little Fires Everywhere author that looks at so many topucs we experience in our world today. I enjoyed it (maybe not as much as other reviewers) but I think this will be another huge hit for the author.

I was excited to start this book … and it didn’t take long to realize I was very, very bored. I wasn’t sure where it was headed and realized I didn’t care. I do like this author, I just didn’t care for this book.

Our Missing Hearts
by Celeste Ng
Pub Date: October 4, 2022
Penguin Press
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. What a powerful book! The story itself Is devastating, beautiful, terrifying, but ultimately, also hopeful. 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.
Fiction
Literary Fiction
It’s a deeply political book, commenting on topics such as anti-Asian hate, motherhood, family separation, police brutality, socioeconomic inequality, and so much more. It’s terrifying to read because while it is a work of fiction, the state of the nation in this book feels all too real.
If you’ve read All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, you’ll also love this book.
5 stars

This book is a heart breaker, a glorious homage to love at all costs, and a young boy's quest to find out the truth, it broke my cold old bitter heart at times but it also melted it into a gooey mess.

This is a dystopian novel but it feels like it set is only a heartbeat away from just now. I love a novel which is a story through the eyes of a child, in this one our story is told mostly by Bird Gardner, he lives with his father now because his mother, Margaret, has gone. She was beloved by both Bird and his dad Ethan. She didn't want to go, but for their safety she no longer lives with them. Bird pines for her, he remembers so many things of their life when his mum was there, the songs she sang to him, the crafts they made, the garden they worked on together. Now Bird and Ethan live in a university dorm, it is bleak and it is hard. Ethan now calls Bird Noah and the live a quiet almost secretive existence. So the mystery is, why did Margaret leave? Where is she now?

Bird goes to school, he learns about PACT - the law that is to Protect American Culture, a law that was bought in after the country went through terrible trials, where hunger was rife and there was rioting in the streets, nobody was safe. The government bought in this law to calm things down. To protect people, but is that all it did? Did it stifle creativity and bring suspicion and racism into a new wave?

This book is like a great big flashing warning of things that seem just so close to us. Bird and his families story seemed like it could happen so easily. It is a musing on things that could come to pass tomorrow, this makes it so uncomfortable, but so powerful that I eked out reading it until I just had to finish it is a great big race to find out the truth about Margaret.

This is a book about family, love, the quest for truth and of a little boy who wants answers and who is brave and courageous even though he doesn't know it. These characters will stay with you long after you've finished it, they jump off the page and are fully real in your mind. I adored every word and I'm recommending it to anyone who will listen to me.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. It is my favourite read so far this year, and there have been some wonderful books

In a not-so-distant dystopian future, the government has created PACT to protect patriotism in the United States. Following The Crisis (an economic depression during which China became the villain to blame), PACT means racism and acts of brutality against any and all PAOs (or People of Asian descent). It's been three years since Bird's mother has disappeared, and when a mysterious drawing reaches him in the mail, he immediately knows it's from her. But will he be able to find out what it means and find his mother in the process?

This was an absolute gut-punch to read. Focused around the increased crime and attacks against Asian Americans in the wake of Covid19, Ng imagines what life would look like if our government itself supported, spurned, and rewarded such hate. Ng also doesn't neglect to mention the struggle of other minority groups, or the classist issues many Americans face as well. Hate based patriotism is cyclical in this country and everything Ng addresses is an imperative, warning echo of what could be our near future. This was definitely an emotional read, and I wish we could have had more Sadie chapters, as well as chapters from Bird's father's perspective. Overall this is an important and valuable read that will encourage a lot of serious and important discussions about the state of American culture.

This book was ok for me. I really enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere so I was eager to read Our Missing Hearts. However, I felt it was less plot driven and more about the setting and characters than her last book (but still really well-written nevertheless). I enjoy dystopian fiction and felt that the author really nailed what a right-wing America could look like in the future based on the current social and political situation (and past history). I just wish the book had been propelled along with more action.

In a near future in America, an economic crisis and the resulting breakdown in society has led to a repressive government where so-called patriotism is uppermost. Particular hostility is felt towards anyone who appears to be of Chinese origin, as China has been seen to flourish at America’s expense, and random acts of violence are common. Children of anyone suspected of protesting against the regime are now being removed and sent to new families where they are unlikely to ever be found. Twelve year old Noah (Bird) does not understand why his Chinese-American mother left the family, and why his linguistics professor father was demoted to a book shelver in the university library. He begins to notice signs of subversion around him, and to see that the protest slogan is a phrase from one of his mother’s poems, “Our Missing Hearts.” When he discovers clues to where she is, he determines to find her and to discover the truth. This is a powerful novel which also seems frighteningly plausible, especially considering the anti-Chinese feeling that was displayed after the Coronavirus pandemic broke out. A thoughtful exploration of how quickly democracy can be eroded in extreme circumstances and how people can find ways to protest this, often at huge personal cost, is made particularly effective by illustrating it through the eyes of a child. There are all sorts of resonances to modern life- book censorship, cancellation culture, racism, toxic patriotism to name a few. There is also a strong emotional pull from the portrayal of parent/child bonds and the power of that love and loss. A wonderful, devastating but ultimately hopeful book.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. This is a poetic story of a boy named Bird growing up with his father in a post-crisis, anti-Asian, not-too-distant-future after his mother, a poet, has had to leave the family. I liked the prose, the characters, the plot, and the concept. I thought it was a little slow at times.

"Our Missing Hearts' blurs the lines between reality and fiction: it is set in what appears to be modern day time, but in a society that has only slightly escalated and legislated current anti-Asian sentiment. The PACT act has provided legal grounds to remove children from their Asian parents, if they are suspected of not fully embracing "American values." Bird is a young boy whose mother became one of the principal faces of advocacy against PACT. As such, she has disappeared and Bird is left to be raised by his father. Through a series of clues and messages, he begins to suspect she is trying to communicate with him. He sets out on a journey to find her and begins to peel back the layers of her work. I found Ng's world to be incredibly believable; she spends a lot of time explaining its rules and customs. This very much feels like a departure from her previous work in that the plot feels fairly thin. Instead of the gripping dialogue we all loved in "Little Fires Everywhere," we are treated to long, flowery inner monologue. This considerably slowed down the reading for me. I ended up skimming quite a bit. I imagine that fans of literary fiction will enjoy this new writing style, but readers like myself might find themselves wanting something a bit more gripping.

Another great book by Celeste Ng, this one will be a reading group favourite. It deals with many difficult topics such as book censorship, removal of children from their parents for their own "benefit" and racism. It was thought provoking and also an important reminder of the importance to fight against book bans (which seem to be on the rise nowadays).

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a timely novel! It seemed to push the limits of the genres I like, feeling futuristic and in the past at the same time. Excellent writing, excellent characters.

Another fabulous novel from Celeste Ng! Her work always strikes that unique balance of page-turning and lyrical, and this third book is no different. We follow 12 year old Bird through a dystopian world that feels uncomfortably possible today, searching for answers about his missing mother and his place in this shameful society. This novel is likely to be a huge hit with book clubs, as there's much to discuss here.

Celeste Ng captures our hearts yet again in Our Missing Hearts. Ng's writing is lyrical as you lose yourself in her language and words. It seems almost musical at times. We follow the life of Bird Gardner as he navigates life without his mother in a future world where everyone might be an informant and words or actions against the government have life changing actions. Where is his mother and why did she leave them? Why did his father lose his job as a professor who now shelves books in the library? All librarians and library lovers will enjoy the sanctuary she describes as libraries, the librarians as saviors or subversives, and how they help connect the missing hearts of children taken from their parents. Our Missing Hearts will resonate with teens, parents, and all people as we can learn how to live, how to use art as life, and find ourselves amidst tragic circumstances.

Incredible dystopian novel that echoes our history of questioning the loyalty of so-called “outsiders” in the name of “protecting” America. This MUST make all the book club lists and could be studied in high school as well, alongside Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. What would you do to protect your child? Stay quiet about the horrors you’ve witnessed? Or disappear from their life entirely if it meant they were safe? Every librarian needs to read this one, for Ng’s tribute to the commitment of librarians to freedom of information.

I was troubled by the reading of this, as I think one is expected to be. I couldn't stop thinking about it though sometimes I hesitated to pick it back up and continue. The dystopian future seems all to plausable. I loved the strength and power of storytelling as the antidote to state control of its citizens. The superheroes of the fight are librarians and public libraries. As one on the frontline in a library, I appreciate the accuracy of her depictions of the work of librarians and loved seeing the quiet power of librarians fighting for a fair society.