Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo was a pretty good book. It is a retelling of The Great Gatsby, which I believe was always a book on social commentary, though this retelling works in many of the issues we are more aware of today. It features a great deal of representation. I think the reviews on it were mixed in part because some folks were not as familiar with the source material, and some who were did not like how much this one matched the original. Overall, I personally would recommend this book.

This is a retelling of The Great Gatsby. But with sorcery - mostly demonic. And a female narrator, Vietnamese but raised in early 20th century America, who is a sort of love interest for Nick Carraway. And a whole lot of bisexuality and LGBTQ+ themes not prominent in the original. So it's the Great Gatsby, but really, REALLY not. It was amazingly well written.
Full review on YouTube.

This was the retelling of Gatsby nobody asked for. Told from Jordan Baker's perspective, the story does not delve into any new territory. It just adds more sex and all the characters are bisexual. And to that I say, who cares? I'll stick with the original. The author tries to mimic the flowery language of Fitzgerald, and that just doesn't work. Pass on this one.

A beautiful retelling of The Great Gatsby by Nghi Vo. With a heavy and decadent atmosphere, this book is filled with such beautiful and lush writing and is definitely a book I won't forget. I do however wish that it was longer and focused more on Jordan herself and less focused on her observing the other characters. Overall though this was an amazing book and it cements Nghi Vo as one of my auto-buy authors.

to be honest with you, i'm not quite sure what i just read.

yes, this was a gatsby retelling (perhaps too faithful at times?). yes, jordan baker is our narrator - an immigrant from vietnam, a hedonistic queer socialite, a magician who can work enchantment with paper and scissors.

but to my disappointment, the chosen and the beautiful was not more than the sum of its constituent parts.

the story remained stubbornly, frustratingly hazy for me. throughout its entirety, i was overwhelmed with the sense that i was missing some bigger picture or deeper meaning. instead of beguiled, however, i just felt confused and let down. this story is as indolent, meandering, and self-indulgent as its narrator. i wish we'd gotten more descriptions and scenes featuring jordan's paper magic, as well as other non-canon (and non-white) characters such as khai. and i wish there'd been more queerness, period!

i realize now that i was hoping not only for a retelling but a revival, a story that would breathe queer, BIPOC, magic-tinted vitality into the original premise; that didn’t exactly happen, not for me personally, at least.

yet cutting through my disappointment was a deep appreciation for the lyricism and vividness of nghi vo's precise prose - the same evocative writing that ensnared me in the empress of salt and fortune.

the chosen and the beautiful was not for me, but i am excited to read vo's future works!



thank you netgalley and macmillan-tor/forge for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Dark and lyrical are the two words that first come to mind when I think about The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo.  I was intrigued about this being a retelling of The Great Gatsby but from the eyes and perspective of Jordan.  While it isn't 100% necessary to read The Great Gatsby first, doing so will certainly help the reader understand the story a bit better, and bring a fullness to the story that would be otherwise lost.  The author gets points for making Jordan an Asian-American Queer character, which adds some depth to the story, but loses points for the largely unexplored magic elements that really didn't add anything to the story.

While it wasn't a bad book and was wonderfully descriptive, it felt like less of its own story than I was expecting.

The Chosen and the Beautiful is a retelling of The Great Gatsby, with a queer Asian-American character in the leading role. Nghi Vo's writing is beautiful, as always, but there are some moments where the book felt flat to me. Overall, it was a solid full-length novel debut and I can't wait to read more of her books.

Not gonna lie, I had rather high expectations regarding this book. This retelling is almost point for point from the original storyline with some slight key differences. The parties though, are definitely a spectacular sight to explore and feel through. I just wished there were more elements that were explored and explained upon in the book (Jordan's ability, the magic system, maybe even forking off from the original stance and story of the Great Gatsby and blooming into something else, something vastly different.)

Overall, somewhat ravishing and delightful, it still didn't quite quench that thirst and curiosity I had prior before heading into the book.

A wonderful retelling of The Great Gatsby. As a fan of the classic, I found myself lost in the story, albeit familiar at times, completely new. Her style is lyrical, whimsical, and dream-like which I think really pairs well with the 1920s, jazz era, extravagance. A wonderful comparison to the classic that could be used in English classes.

Nghi Vo did a great job with The Chosen and the Beautiful. It's a magnificent The Great Gatsby retelling. I wish I could read this again like first time.

This Great Gatsby retelling imagines the story from the perspective of a queer, Asian, adopted Jordan Baker with a touch of magic. It has all the iconic glamour you would expect, with a fantastical, feminist, antiracist twist that I completely loved. Nghi Vo invokes the atmospheric prose of F. Scott Fitzgerald while changing the perspective in a way that I found far more compelling than the original. Whether or not you loved Great Gatsby, this book is an engaging and surprising story that will take you on a thrilling adventure.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo is a book marketed as a retelling of the Great Gatsby, but it was truly so much more than that. 

This book was honestly too smart for me, like a fantasy Black Mirror episode brought to life in the pages of a book. The magical elements around the parties and Gatsby did not harmonize with the magic we see the MC develop and explore in secret. The world building was both mesmerizing and confusing and I would have loved to learn more about demoniac and paper magic and the HUGE reveal at the end but it was probably too much to look for in a stand-alone retelling. The author tried to remain true to the original but honestly, I would’ve loved a spin-off or exploration of the fantastic magical world she built without the heavy-handed overlaying of Fitzgeralds storytelling. 

However, the hollowness that the original leaves a reader feeling about the emptiness and sadness and hollowness of the times, the parties, and the wealthy, was also present in Vo’s own unnerving ending. The MC’s own tale ending in a revelation so somber, a future crumbling in her hands and the realization that the only real connection she ever had was to her magic, absolutely had the same feeling as the original did. 

Overall I was intrigued as much as I was confused by the plot and forlorn for the characters fates and I would absolutely read another book about this world or this magic system. 

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

This works best, I think, if folks have recently read The Great Gatsby and can recognize how Vo's novel works as a companion to that piece. Vo's other work also has a whimsy and inventiveness that I found missing here.

A stunningly gorgeous Great Gatsby retelling! I loved the magical realism intertwined with the politics and culture of the 1920s. The writing was so dreamy and vibrant. This version of Jordan Baker makes for a much more nuanced and interesting character study, as Nghi Vo rewrote Jordan to be a Queer, Asian American adoptee and I think changing the details such as that provides a viewpoint that we would never have gotten from F. Scott's Gatsby.

The Chosen and the Beautiful is a beautifully written reimagined version of The Great Gatsby which I really enjoyed. This book is magic and the setting was wonderful. I really loved how the characters were portrayed and how the story was written. There really isn't anything to complain about it. I think it was put together very nicely and I enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it!

A magical, supernatural reimagining of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker. I really enjoyed the underworld, supernatural elements like the demon's blood drink, "demoniac." But I've never been a fan of The Great Gatsby, and, maybe because of that, I felt the story would've been better for not trying to follow the original and just standing on its own. To be fair, that probably also means this book just wasn't for me. I imagine fans of The Great Gatsby will really love this one.

If you’d like to see original the great Gatsby this is a really nicely done retelling overall would recommend this one

A fresh new take on a beloved classic, the Chosen and the Beautiful follows Jordan Baker, a queer Vietnamese immigrant, as she navigates the dazzling society of the 1920's. It is a coming of age story filled with magic, mystery, and exclusive parties. With its rich prose and beautiful imagery, this is the perfect read for fans of the original source material, The Great Gatsby, and new readers alike.

Thank you for the ARC! This book really intrigues me. I haven't finished it yet, but so far I am loving the voice and tone. The style of writing is very similar to the Great Gatsby with its formality and sense of remove. It seems like Nghi Vo is doing a great job both evoking and building upon the classic novel in new and exciting ways. I will be recommending that my book club read it!