I am in the minority again on this one. I loved Little Fires Everywhere. This dystopian novel was thought-provoking and political. I preferred Ng's earlier two novels, which used family drama to explore racism and prejudice. This book's storyline felt too much like the author intended to transfer her political feelings about race issues in the US into her readers' minds instead of constructing fascinating characters and plot. The plot was mostly told through discourse about past events, which left me indifferent. I couldn't connect with the plot since the characters told it sparsely. Despite the horrible tragedies in this dystopian future and many real-world places, I couldn't feel it. I felt disconnected and found the plot boring. Despite Ng's lovely style and exquisite vocabulary, I wouldn't say I liked this as much as her previous two works.

NetGalley and the publisher for this book are thanked for this honest review.

After reading and loving Everything I Never Told You and Little FIres Everywhere, Celeste Ng has become an auto-read author for me.

Our Missing Hearts is a deviation from her previous contemporary novels centering around family drama. OMH is a dystopian novel that takes place in the U.S. in the aftermath of societal chaos and upheaval. The U.S. government’s response to this political and economic unrest is the tyrannical Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act (PACT), laws that allow the government to relocate children whose parents are deemed a threat to American culture.

Ng does a wonderful job weaving timely contemporary events (book banning, police brutality, protesting, undocumented immigrants being separated from their children, anti-Asian hate crimes, etc.) into an eerily plausible dystopian setting. I was immersed in this unsettling world. While slow to get moving, the second half of this book is full of tension and foreboding, which had me frantically turning the pages to see how this story was going to pan out.

One issue I had with OMH is the way in which Ng chose to tell the story, entirely in 3rd person. On one hand, the 3rd person perspective gave the reader a more broad scope, which suited the tone of the story well. On the other hand, the 3rd person perspective hindered me from fully connecting to the characters. This would be my only criticism of the book, that the characters felt very detached. I would have loved to see this story through Bird’s eyes, which I feel would have helped me connect to him as a character.

I’d recommend this book for fans of dystopian stories such as The Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver. This would also make for an excellent book club selection.

This book is very upsetting. It depicts a dystopian country where anyone of Asian descent is the enemy. Anyone who tries to rebel is hunted down. It becomes more disturbing because it is easy to see how something like this could happen.

Very different from Ng's other novels and I had a difficult time getting into the story and relating to the characters.

Excellent read! I enjoyed reading Our Missing Hearts and have purchased it for our library. I appreciate the chance to read a kindle version from Net Galley and the publisher.

This book deals with a really important topic with great characters. However, it feel a little flat for me especially the end, which makes me sad because I was really looking forward to this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

An excellent read; very " of the moment". In the scheme of things very little suspension of disbelief. Gives the reader pause...how would i respond in this situation.

In this dystopian novel set in the not-to-distant future, ethnic differences are considered the "enemy" and many people (particularly those of Asian descent) have disappeared either into the prison system or in hiding. Although this is certainly a cautionary tale about censorship and racism, it's really the story of a boy and his mother and the bonds that hold them together.

I was surprisingly impressed with this book. I don't know why I was surprised since I have read and enjoyed other books by Celeste Ng. This one is particularly touching. The emotions are raw and the story is filled with tension and some surprises. There were moments that brought tears to my eyes, and the message is clear without overpowering the story of mother and child. Just wonderful!!

As a side note -- I loved that librarians are "heroes" in this story, both preserving the literature and culture and helping the oppressed.

I read up to page 132 in Our Missing Hearts and had to stop. It was supposed to be a dystopian book but essentially pulled from history and tried to write it off as original ideas. The characters were not very developed up until the part I read up to which was a few pages before part two. When I heard from a friend the mother was the narrator for that part I was done.

Our Missing Hearts is set in a United States not too far removed from our own, when an "anti-anti-patriotism" act called PACT has been enacted, stirring anti-Asian sentiment and separating parents from their children. Bird, an eleven-year-old whose poet mother left the family, is determined to find her and discover the truth about her leaving - and her work.

Ng is skilled at descriptions and evoking emotions, and these skills shine here. The subject material alone is enough to tug at one's heartstrings, but this is not overdone in a melodramatic way; the grief of parents who have lost their children is powerful but not overplayed to an extent that it feels gratuitous. The main characters themselves are interesting and feel like they have lived full lives, even the child characters, and the way Ng weaves folklore into the story gives it some added depth.

That being said, at least half the novel is summarized - to reveal which part might be considered a spoiler, but I do wonder if there might have been another way for the same information to have been relayed without having to rely on summary so much. Considering the size of the period of time these sections had to cover, it might have been difficult, but it always bothers me a little when so much of a book is devoted to getting the reader up to speed rather than actually showing what happened.

I've read Ng's other work when they came out, and from what I can remember of my impressions of them, this was my favorite. The story itself allows for a lot of poignancy, and the United States shown in the novel feels eerily realistic. This is a must-read for any Ng fan, or for those looking for an impactful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for providing a copy for review.

This had a really slow start, as did Little Fires Everywhere, but it built slowly and wonderfully. I ended up loving it, loving the characters, and loving the story and the historical connection. Definitely five stars.

A sad, yet beautiful story of the bond between mother and son. If you enjoyed Celeste Ng's previous stories, this one will not disappoint.

This book is incredible, and no description really does it justice. In a not-too-distant, just slightly more dystopian than present future, a boy loses his mother and goes looking for her.

Bird lives with his father in a quiet apartment after his mom left them when he was nine. Bird knows not be loud, not to ask questions, or stand out. Bird and his father have lived under the PAC law for most of Bird's life- a law to help "preserve American culture." Bird receives a mysterious letter and he knows that it's from his mother. He decides to set out to find her. On his journey he finds a network of librarians, trying to reunite children who have been taken from their home because of PAC. Our Missing Hearts shows us what society is when we don't fight back for our fellow man.

I wanted to like this because this story needs to be told. With the anti-Asian hate that went around during the Pandemic (and currently), a "what could be" novel is important. But it felt too detached from the characters in a way that made me care about them as much as I should have. I feel like it should have either been Bird's story or his mom's, but not both.

In 2022, with more books being pulled from shelves and banned/censored titles reported to ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom than ever before, this novel has my heart. I love the dystopian genre as a whole and this timely book is set in the seemingly all too real near-future. In this version of "America," anything or anyone from China, including American Chinese families are looked down upon by the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act (PACT). Any fowl play or suspicious activity should be reported to PACT, and sole allegiance should be to PACT alone - even if that means removing sympathetic parents from their children, because they are "unfit" to parent the upcoming generation.

I loved the fire of the main characters had to continue to search for answers and true justice, even in the face of a dangerous world. It made me consider how far I would be willing to venture to find the "truth" and impact the world for good.

I don't know why it took me so long to read this one but when I started, I couldn't put it down. Part dystopian, part journey to discover parents as humans, Our Missing Hearts delivers on all fronts.

Gut wrenching, compelling and uncomfortably close to current events this is a sobering look at a policy taken too far. Wonderful character development, beautifully written. Can be considered in the same class as The Handmaids Tale.

This was rough. I really enjoyed Ng’s Everything I never Told you. I didn’t love the follow up little fires everywhere but this book sounded so great. A dystopian where librarians are helping the protagonists succeed. It just didn’t work for me. Bird was a likable character but the back and forth timeline was hard to get into and I had trouble following the story once he found his mother. It was a slow burn and didn’t really work for me.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Ive read this author and really enjoyed them

Another belter - loved it

Another spectacular work by Ng. An adventure, a rumination, and ultimately a book about the power of words. Just loved this.