As always, Celeste Ng is an incredible writer. This is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you've finished reading.

I was so excited to read this book! I love Everything I Never Told You and enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere as well. After finishing, I had to sit with this one for a bit before writing this review. This book is heavy. And I don't mean a little heavy, I mean very heavy and pretty bleak.

Meet Noah, aka "Bird", a 12 year old boy living in a dystopian time where everything is tightly controlled by those in power who want to preserve their idea of "American culture." If you're viewed as "unpatriotic" or have dissenting ideas, they seize your child to "protect" the future generations from being corrupted and making "bad choices". Racism, prejudice, book banning, freedom of information, motherhood, sacrifice and unconditional love are some of the important themes running throughout this story. Your heart breaks for Sadie, Bird and his father, and then Margaret too when we hear her story in the later sections of the book.

I loved the role of librarians in this novel as helpers passing along information. Heroes risking their own freedom to help broken people gather the information they so desperately seek. Very touching.

I have a feeling this book is going to be on many, many book discussion group lists next year. There is so much to unpack in this one. Be sure to read the author's very thoughtful notes at the end that help us understand the inspiration for some of the events in this book.

Would I recommend it? That is the question I kept asking myself before writing this review. I think I would recommend with the warning that it may leave you feeling sad and perhaps pessimistic about the future. I will remember Bird and Sadie for quite a while.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A lot to unpack in "Our Missing Hearts" by Celeste Ng. At first I thought it was a dystopian novel, but became more unsettled when I realized that with the state of our country it is not much of a stretch to image. I felt her inspiration with the increasing tension and attacks against Asian Americans, and her storyline is a credible leap. The story is told from the viewpoint of Bird, or Noach Gardner, whose mom mysteriously disappears when he is nine years old. Bird/Noah and his dad now live in a small apartment where his father cautiously lives his life as a Harvard librarian. The USA had an event that changed society - "the crisis" which was a huge financial depression, and the blame placed at the feet of China. US politicians created "PACT" - preserving American cultures and traditions, which brought a huge wave of Anti-Asian sentiment, a new era of McCarthy like spying on your neighbor and lack of freedom. Children of parents who are deemed "Unfit" are taken and placed with more "suitable families" or foster homes.
Bird receives a letter from his mother, which is a cartoon of cats - he begins a scavenger hunt to decode her message and hopes to find her. Like any child, he wonders why she left, and if she still loves him.
With the Supreme Court's decision on Roe this past week, and other political happenings, this book just so real to me - it is not a stretch to imagine many of the instances in the book coming true. Some already are! That being said, it just did not jell for me - I'm not sure if it was the style, the character of Bird, or the back and forth way it was written. You do hear Margaret's story, and how she came to find Bird's father and their life together. A very critical part of the book is Margaret's poetry, and a line of her poem "Our Missing Hearts" which is used by protestors that oppose "PACT". The ending did not really work for me. I do think this book would make a great discussion due to the many topics that it covers.

Chilling. This dystopian novel is chilling.

I wish I could say that it's unbelievably chilling, but some of the plot is based upon not-too-long-ago historical events. In today's political climate, it does not stretch the imagination to see history repeat itself and to see the future morph into invasive government control.

Bird must make sense of his world, and finding his mother is key to understanding it. I enjoyed the role that librarians played in this book. They were a steady heartbeat of the underground resistance.

Netgalley and the publisher gave me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Wowww. I'm finding it hard to describe Our Missing Hearts. If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say it's part The Handmaid's Tale, part 1984, part just plain modern day America, and part a wholly original imagining of the near future. It's beautiful, gripping, inspiring, and chilling all in one.

Our Missing Hearts is so brilliant I almost don't know what to say. It is a classic that will stand the time beside 1984 and Handmaid's Tale. The story could easily be the reality of the current moment, and for some - it is.

An economic collapse happens in the U.S. and devastates the country for 2 years - much the same as the pandemic. Eventually the Chinese are blamed and as the country gets back on it's feet a new law is enacted - the PACT. Anyone who is seen as revolutionary in the slightest has their children stolen from them. Most will never find each other again.

Asians and Asian-Americans are targeted for hate and the kidnapping of their children. Neighbors viciously turn on anyone they deem suspicious in anyway. It is heartache for everyone.

However, there runs a strand of revolutionary hope.

This is a book for the ages.

Was für ein großartiges Buch, das sich ganz unauffällig und langsam den Weg bahnt.
An der Seite des 12jährigen Bird versuchen wir in der strengen Welt der USA die verschwundene Mutter wiederzufinden., Nicht auffallen ist die Devise, die ihm sein Vater mit auf den Weg gegeben hat. Aber Bird aufgewachsen mit Geschichten und Phantasie kann auf einmal nicht unter dem Radar des PACTs bleiben. Erst verschwindet seine Mutter, dann sein bisheriges Leben. Jahre später kommt ihm auch seine rebellische Freundin Sadie abhanden und er findet eine Notiz seiner Mutter. Bird macht sich auf den Weg.

Ein Buch das sehr nachdenklich zurücklässt.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An Orwellian coming of age novel in which a dystopian society limits freedoms and knowledge.

I love this novel. I hate that it will be banned.

Timely and uncomfortably realistic in its themes of societal upheaval, family separation, racial discrimnation, and the many ways a civilized country can so easily be tipped into prejudice, blaming, and government sanctioned retaliation, Our Missing Hearts offers a story that feels much too possible, much too imminent to not be read as a cautionary tale. Ms.Ng’s prose is lush and poetic, her characters fully formed, and despite the darkness of the story, there is hope - in hero librarians working in secret to preserve and disseminate important information, and in the power of art and literature as protest and agents of change. A powerful book about loss, and the things we will do to protect our children and our deepest held convictions about right and wrong.

Celeste Ng’s third novel is a tour de force. Her talent had deepened and grown and is on full display here. This is a heartbreaking, lyrical and even hopeful novel that we need in these troubling times. much like Atwood in her dystopian masterwork Handmaid’s Tale, Ng imagines a world in the not too distant figure where personal liberties have been stolen, along with many children of “unsuitable” parents. As a librarian, I particularly appreciated the role of libraries and librarians in helping to fight back against repression . Her deep dive Into the troubling anti Asian sentiment that has allowed this, resonates in our world today. Beyond the social and political world of this novel is a deeply poetic and incredibly well written story of the love of a mother for her son.
This is definitely on my Best of 2022 list.

A well written book with a sad warning for the current times. Librarians rock! ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

One of Ng's greatest strengths is her ability to present families in crisis in a way which highlights both the positive and negative aspects of those families. These characters aren't worth reading about because they're suffering; they're worth reading about because Ng presents them as fully-realized characters. This is another "family in crisis" novel, much like the other two, but rather than feeling formulaic, this novel feels very streamlined and refined. This novel has much more of a plot conceit than Ng's other two novels-- they have plots, of course, and very finely-crafted ones, but this novel's stakes feel much higher than in previous novels.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng tells the story of a near dystopian future in the United States from two different perspectives. The first half is told from young Bird's perspective as he deals with life where the United States has put into place PACT to promote patriotism and put a stop to anti-Americans, particularly Asian Americans. There are so many lines pushed and crossed with this that it has spilled out of control. It is during this chaos that Bird's mom, an Asian American, has left, suddenly one night years before with no explanation. Then one day he receives a letter in the mail from his mom that seems to be just a picture of cats. However, Bird from this, Bird remembers a story and starts to follow the obscure clues she has left behind. I got big Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (which I loved) vibes from this part of the book. He's following clues and the journey in itself makes him feel closer to his mother.
The second part of the book is his mother's story. It feels secretive, yet she is giving us her whole story. I found the writing in this part to be beautiful and heart breaking. It is a love story from mother to son.
Two of my favorite parts were related to the power of books and stories. The librarians in this book are the heroes. They are the ones who understand the value of information- how to gather it, keep it and share it, and this becomes so very vital in the book. The other part I really love was the folk story she tells about the cats. The author gives the back story to this in the author's notes, but the way it worked in the story was so beautiful and important and was something I kept thinking about it after the book was done. It was this story that bonded the mom and son together, and helped them find each other in the end.
The thing about this book is that it is chilling because it is so-close-to-home-it-could-happen-tomorrow, but it is also beautiful as the author finds and describes beauty in the small, mundane ordinary life. I highly recommend it. It is one of those books where every idea, every word, every detail matters and is thoughtfully crafted.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a political novel dealing with anti-Asian attitudes and removing children from their families, no doubt a reflection on this country’s recent history as civic disruptions are taking place in the book, people are out of jobs, shortages of everything are occurring, mobs are looting stores, and riots take place in the streets. Coming out in October, Our Missing Hearts refers to a line in a poem by an Asian-American poet, who has gone into hiding because of such unrest in America at an unnamed time in the future other than after “the Crisis.”

Margaret Miu, the poet, left behind her husband Ethan Gardner and son Noah called Bird, to protect from having the son removed by the government. Ethan is broken-hearted, and Bird has a very small world in which he can function: he is not allowed too many questions, to stand out too much, or to wander very far. “Our Missing Hearts” has been made the battle cry by those opposed to the current government as they use it in banners and posters.

In this futuristic novel, everyone is governed by laws that preserve the American Culture after having experienced years of economic instability and escalated violence. These laws allow the government to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin. In addition, books are being scrutinized for patriotism, and any books hinting of sedition are removed from libraries.

The plot of the story involves Bird receiving a cryptic drawing in a letter from an unknown source. He explores the drawing, which ignites memories of the many folktales his mother told him before she decided to disappear to protect her family. As a 12-year-old, he decides to follow the postmark from New York City to find his mother and get answers to the forbidden questions. Meanwhile, Margaret is making a stand against the current government that may not yield the results she wants.

Celeste Ng’s previous works include Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, which was made into a mini-series for Hulu. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting June 22, 2022.

I would like to thank Penguin Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Incredible! Emotional family drama with a huge heart and social conscience. A dark but very necessary read!

This was completely different than what I was expecting from a new Celeste Ng novel, but is so well done and full of the heart and depth of emotion in family relationships she always manages to capture so brilliantly in her writing. I think a lot of people will feel uncomfortable with the subject matter as we have lived the past few years weathering crisis after crisis on a political and global scale, but the themes of hope, love, courage, and resistance make it a really meaningful and moving read. In particular, I appreciated the vision that art and libraries played in activism in this dark version of the future. I would recommend to readers who enjoy realistic dystopian fiction with political themes, stories about parent and child relationships, and readers who are looking to process the pandemic and political crises in their fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This was the Celeste Ng we know and love. I appreciated this book so so much. I’ve been following Celeste Ng since reading her previous books and of course - this was nothing short of brilliance we know of. I loved this and it’s probably now my favourite Celeste Ng book. 5 out of 5 brilliant stars!

Incredible! This book was so so so good. It’s sorta dystopian, but in a very believable way. It’s sorta like reading Station Eleven while a few waves into a crazy new pandemic. It’s unnerving and rips your heart out, but feels very
important at this time in history to be reading and pondering. The writing is beautiful and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait for it to come out so I can recommend it to everyone.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was SO close to getting 5 stars for me. I’d say the first 3/4 would get a 5 stars, the last quarter dropped it to a 4. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. It was a little difficult to read because this future world is not one that’s out of the realm of possibility for the US. Basically, no one is allowed to discuss anything un-American or look too far into issues that are considered un-American. Asian Americans of all kinds are widely vilified and reviled. Children of “unpatriotic” parents are taken from their homes to be placed elsewhere. I mean, it rings a little familiar, does it not?

I loved Bird, Margaret, Ethan, and Sadie. I wanted to hear more about Domi and about Sadie. As a librarian, I LOVE LOVE LOVED the plot point of librarians acting as underground messengers - how awesome! The loss of a star came from my disappointment in the ending. I was hoping for more closure, and while the ending was satisfying and interesting, it was a lot of build-up for something that I don’t feel like completely paid off. But I loved the writing and the characters were beautifully done.

I pray to go this book is fiction and not a precursor. The book takes place in a dystopia America where Asian people are targeted for imprisonment. It's brutal subject matter, but Celeste Ng writes about it wonderfully. It is one of those books that makes you appreciate again and again how precious our freedom is and how vulnerable we are to lose it in moments of crisis. a sobering but tremendous book.

I received a free egalley of the book in return for this honest review.