Our Missing Hearts takes a different direction than "Little Fires Everywhere". The writing is very smart and the characters complex. Fans of the previous title may be disappointed in the different genre in which this story is based.

Get on your library’s wait list now! Buy the book! This is hands-down the best book I have read in the last year. From the author of Little Fires Everywhere, Ng creates a not-so-far-away dystopian United States in which economic disaster is followed by hatred for the Chinese/Asian people, book banning/censure, political suppression through policies/legislation, and by removing and threatening to remove children from their families to ensure compliance. The latter is nothing new to the US or the world. Bird is a young boy whose mother is of Chinese descent and his father is white, both are multiple generational Americans. Unwittingly Bird’s mother becomes the “face” of the resistance and must desert her son and husband for their own protection. Bird goes on a quest to find her. The story is evocative of the McCarthy era and predictive of the what many believe (including myself) of what is happening and will continue to happen today (looking at you Desantis, Abbott, etc.). Well researched and imaginatively written with excellent character development. A special nod to the quietly brave librarian heroes in the novel, reflective of many I know personally.

I loved seeing even more of Celeste Ng's range in this book. It's still a story all about family, as her other novels have tended to be, but it's set against the backdrop of a near-future America (that, honestly, felt all too realistic) in which anyone who speaks against or questions the government is in violation of the xenophobic, hypernationalist PACT (Preservation of American Culture and Traditions) law. This is all following a major depression/economic collapse that's just known as the Crisis, and for which many Americans blamed China. So Asians and Asian-Americans are considered suspicious and there is rampant anti-Asian racist violence. The main character, Bird Gardner, is a 12 year old boy who lives with his white father, a former professor who now works in a library, in a college dorm. They had to disavow Bird's mother, Margaret Miu, a Chinese-American poet, who left the family three years ago to protect the family and so that Bird wouldn't be at risk of being "re-homed," a fate that befalls many whose parents are considered radical or really even disruptive in any way. Somehow, one of Margaret's poems became a rallying cry for anti-PACT activists, and she's been in hiding since leaving Bird and his father. She sends Bird a cryptic letter and he decides to go find her, which he does just before she is about to commit a major act of protest. This was really just a great book, if tough to read. It underscores just how quickly we could experience a sudden slide into nativist, xenophobic, neighbor against neighbor patterns. Bird and Margaret are well-drawn characters, but I did wish I'd had a little more from Bird's father's perspective, just to flesh the family out a bit more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for an early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it ended up not working for me. I think I went in with "Little Fires Everywhere" expectations. I knew that it was going to be so much different.

I think this one had a lot of potential, but it didn't go below surface level. I expected a raw novel with beautiful writing and quotable lines. I was given almost young adult writing--repetitive, dramatic, childish. Things escalated so fast. I thought it was going to be a slower novel.

I enjoyed the message the novel was trying to tell. PACT felt like it could actually exist in the real world. I'm sure not much is different in certain parts of the world. It's a sad fact but very real.

Surprisingly, I wanted to know more about Bird's father. Such an interesting character working in a library during a time when content is being monitored. I can't imagine the toll it takes on someone with that much pressure. As soon as Bird went on his adventure, the dad didn't really have a role in the story. That's the point it went downhill for me.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this, it didn't do much for me. Great potential, though.

TW: Racism, police brutality, protesting, death of a loved one, vandalism.

"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?"
This is a dystopian novel set in a near future where books are banned, China and Asian Americans are demonized, and children are taken from home by the government. Like her other books, it was beautifully written and sad, but character driven with a very slow plot. I loved how she incorporated libraries and librarians in the book as safe spaces and brave people - "the brain of a librarian was a capacious place."

This novel took a look at Asian hate and considered a society that became so fixated it failed to see the bigger picture. I am a fan of Celeste Ng, and this was once again a well written novel.

Absolutely stunning, absolutely devastating. Every page dug a little deeper into my heart, and I can't stop talking about this one. Celeste Ng has a way of making even the most brutal storylines feel a little magical, even if they do end up breaking your heart.

Bird lives with his father in the dorm. His mother left years ago and he still feels her absence. However, due to her radical views, she has been disavowed by Bird and his father. As the story unfolds we learn more about Bird and his parents along with the terrifying world they find themselves living in.
This might be the best book that I read this year. Celeste Ng manages to make a dystopian society that is so plausible and absolutely horrifying. I could not put this book down because I had to find out what would happen next. I loved the writing, the characters, the plot, and everything else about this book.

At the age of 9, Bird's mother disappears in order to protect her son from being removed from his family by the government "for his own good." Bird's mother, Chinese American poet, Margaret Miu has had her works banned and she is now hunted by the government as a key figure in the resistance movement to the government's PACT legislation. When a poem that she dedicated to her as yet unborn child is picked up and used as a slogan and a rallying cry for dissidents across the country, Margaret is confused. How are they reading these acts of resistance into her poem? Spending time on the streets and always running and hiding has turned Margaret's life around,; now she understands what has been happening across the country in the name of state harmony following the years of crisis in which the country she loves had almost destroyed itself. Asian hate rises and young Bird, who resembles his mother is now told to keep his head down, avoid the police and never mention his mother again. His father tries to explain to Bird what is happening, anyone can point out a neighbor and have that person's child taken away, especially if they are of Asian descent. But Bird wants answers and following a cryptic message left by his mother, he discovers a woman strong enough to fight back against the rules. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, Celeste Ng's tale has current parallels to both to today's politics and those of Nazi Germany. Ng encourages readers to see and understand the "handwriting on the wall" and to work against the "herd" mindset of our current political system.

Bird's Asian mother left the family years ago and he still misses her. His mother Margaret is considered a dissident because of the poetry she has written, now considered anti-patriotic. Bird's father, once a prominent linguist is now relegated to shelving books in the university library where he formerly taught. Some books that are no longer circulate because they are considered unpatriotic. He and Bird are even granted the privilege of living and eating on campus.

Children of those considered dissident may be relocated, a euphemism for taking them from their parents, and one of Bird's classmates, Sadie, has been taken. The two become friends but Sadie disappears at the end of other school year, leaving Bird even more lonely than he has been. Though he is grateful for his father, he wants his mother and when he finds a clue to her whereabouts, follows the leads to find her.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest rewview**

I requested this book as soon as I recognised the author's name. I loved Big Little Lies and was very hopeful for this title too. I wasn't disappointed.

What caught my attention is how close the world in this book is to our own. I dont have to stretch my imagination to see laws coming into force banning anything even slightly "Anti-American" and punishing anyone who spoke out against such rulings. As Celeste was careful to point out in the epilogue, separating children from their parents to try and stamp out opposing views has been happening for many years and anti-Asian sentiments are nothing new.

A beautifully written book, I really warmed to Bird and his family and I loved learning about the world he lives in through his eyes.

I haven't stayed up late on a weeknight in a while because I couldn't put down a book. Our Missing Hearts made me feel uncomfortable in the way that good literature can do, balanced out by how it also made me feel strangely hopeful near the end of the book. It's like Celeste Ng put together a stew of the worst headlines from the past 6 years, seasoned it with historical precedents, and served it piping hot. In the ARC I read (provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion), Ng included a list of books to read, because unfortunately the events in the book are based on real events.

Did not finish. Just could not get into this one. The plot seemed interesting, but I kept putting this down to read different books instead. Hope other readers enjoy it!

Giving three stars to be fair to the author in the event that it simply wasn’t written for me :)

Our Missing Hearts is a dystopian novel that takes place in what feels like a not-so-distant future. In fact, so much of it felt very much like the present. In this future world, anything anti-American is scrutinized, dissected and cut out of society - including people. Children are taken from parents who are deemed a threat to America. Anti-Asian sentiment is rampant. It is all eerily familiar.

Twelve-year-old Bird is missing his mother, who disappeared three years ago. He has been told to forget her, to never mention her. Her poetry is being used in demonstrations around the country to protest against the fear mongering and re-placement of children. Try as he might, though, Bird cannot forget her. And after finding a few clues, he sets out to find her.

This novel is heartbreaking and perhaps could even be seen as a warning, of how much farther things can go. However, I also saw the resistance of people standing up for what they know is right. I especially loved the network of librarians, quietly passing information along in the way they always have, but in this instance, it was an act of protest.

Beautifully written book about a dystopic future filled with control and hate -- a Handmaid's Tale for the Asian American community. While I loved and care for the characters, I honestly found it too hard to read -- I don't feel it represents a very likely future for the country and it didn't offer any real hope or proposal for how to make things better. I love Celeste Ng's writing but this seemed gratuitously depressing for me.

Celeste Ng's latest is a compelling and brutal telling of a too-real dystopia. The country has been through a difficult and chaotic time of economic crisis and social unrest, which resolves in a government-mandated ordinance called PACT designed to protect American culture. The government prevents social unrest by, among other things, limiting exposure to certain books, and children are separated from parents deemed unfit. The novel deals with topics of anti-Asian violence and families being separated. It is beautifully written but difficult to read.
I love the heartfelt connection between Bird and his parents and the heroic role taken on by librarians and poets. It's a thought-provoking book that will stay with you long after the last page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. This books is to be published October 2022.

Is this the past, present or future? In an America tired of economic crisis after economic crisis, and given our history of blaming ethnic groups for lost jobs, inflation, or whatever trouble is being endured, Ng shows us a country that has let things go too far. What’s terrifying is that this feels all too real, as if the book is a warning for us all.

The country we are told to hate is China. They are the cause of all of our problems. Margaret Miu, a poet and American citizen, is in hiding for fear of being arrested for vague reasons. Her husband and son have lost nearly everything, including her, to eke out a poor existence in Boston. No one wants to be Chinese or give any indication that they are anti-American by speaking out against the brutal policies, as the threat of having your child taken away is ever present. Parents who are sympathizers are unfit to teach their children in these pro-American traditions. Everyone is at risk of that knock on your door. You could say something or not say enough to show your Americanism. Neighbors turn on neighbors. Everyone is being monitored. Margaret sends a cryptic message to her son Bird which starts the page-turning events.

This book hit upon every nerve in my being. As a librarian, I can’t bear to see a world where books are banned and ideas are shunned. As a mom, the concept of my child being taken away because of a neighbor not liking some small thing is terrifying. As a granddaughter of immigrants, I am tense thinking of how my grandparents had to assimilate into a society that hated them, but know that as time passed and their accent softened, they were able to blend because their faces looked like their neighbors. As an American, what could be worse than being monitored and followed and suppressed at every turn because of government policy? As a scholar, I know this reality is not far away and could easily happen if the next election turns bad.

This book is so gripping that I started telling everyone about it within the first chapters. This will be a best seller. This will be done in book clubs. This will be talked about. Thank you Celeste Ng. You’ve done it again.

5*

This book is a quiet, slow burn. It is very well written (no surprise with this author) and makes a lot of points about where society may be headed (and in many ways is already here).

I'm not sure if it's because I'm Canadian or not, but this one didn't really resonate with me. I've just never understood the "rah rah American" mindset so I can't get to a point where a law like PACT could be past. I'm certainly not suggesting Canada is a utopia, but our patriotism just doesn't take the same form.

I'm not a big dystopian reader, so I think this book just wasn't for me.

Fiction? Dystopian? Hard to say. Not all books need to be light and fluffy, and this book is not that at all. Ng weaves a chilling story that sometimes is hard to distinguish what is true and what is fiction. You’ll be thinking about this book long after you’ve finished reading it.