Book Review: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Publisher: Penguin Press
Publication Date: October 4, 2022
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn’t know what happened to her—only that her books have been banned—and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him. 

Then one day, Bird receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and soon he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of heroic librarians, and finally to New York City, where he will finally learn the truth about what happened to his mother, and what the future holds for them both.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s about the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and the power of art to create change.

In Our Missing Hearts, the United States government has convinced the public that all of America’s problems are China’s fault. Asian Americans of all descent are routinely harassed and assaulted, just like Muslims (or anyone who looked Muslim) were harassed and assaulted after 9/11. The government has passed a law called PACT (Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act). Anyone found in violation of that act, which is basically doing or saying anything that could be construed as anti-government, can have their children removed from their home permanently. Asians are especially under scrutiny for violations.

Bird, a twelve-year-old boy with an Asian mother and a white father, hasn’t seen his mother in years. Bird isn’t sure why and his dad says they just need to forget all about her. But Bird is on a quest to find her and find out why she left.

I know that I’m in the minority here but I was a little disappointed with Our Missing Hearts. I loved Ng’s previous two books and I was hoping to love this one too. I found the pacing to be too slow for a dystopian novel. I also wanted the ending to pack more of a punch. I did appreciate the social commentary – sometimes it seems like we’re not too far from enacting PACT in real life.

This was my book club’s pick for May and we all pretty much felt the same way about it. But from looking at the reviews online, we are the only ones in the world who didn’t love it. You should probably read it and make up your own mind.

Other books I’ve reviewed by Celeste Ng:

Everything I Never Told You
Little Fires Everywhere