Book Review : Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

 My Rating:4.5⭐

“Once upon a time, there was a boy. Once upon a time there was a mother. Once upon a time, there was a boy, and his mother loved him very much.”

It has been over ten years since the “Crisis” - a period of economic decline - failing businesses, unemployment, poverty and lawlessness - a period of chaos that was attributed to being the result of the manipulations of an Asian country that was thriving during the same period. In the interest of boosting the economy and preserving American culture, PACT -“The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act”- has been passed allowing for reporting and arrest of those perceived to be “anti –American” and children from families perceived to be guilty of the same have been relocated to state-approved homes and foster families. Books viewed as teaching un-American values have been removed from schools and libraries (destroyed and pulped, recycled into toilet paper as opposed to being burnt!- “Much more civilized, right?”), certain websites have been blocked, web searches are censored and hate crimes are on the rise.

It has been three years since twelve-year-old Noah “Bird” Gardner has seen his mother, well-known poet Chinese-American poet Margaret Miu. Over the last three years Noah and his father Ethan, former faculty in Linguistics and currently employed in the University Library, have kept their head down, avoiding attention and dissociating themselves from Margaret, whose lines from her books of poems “Our The Missing Hearts “ was adopted by anti –PACT activists as their slogan, branding her a “traitor” in the eyes of the authorities. Given the intense Anti-Asian sentiment and discrimination and increasing incidents of violence directed toward East Asians, Bird, who is biracial, is encouraged by his father to hide his Asian roots. When Bird receives a letter with drawings reminiscent of the folktales his mother used to tell him, he embarks on a search for his missing mother- a journey that provides him not only with a greater understanding of his mother and her life as well as insight into the reasons behind his mother’s disappearance but also gives him an honest unfiltered perspective on the reality of the world around him. Needless to say, Bird’s journey as he struggles with his feelings about his mother –his hurt and longing for her gradually evolves into a deeper understanding of his parents’ love for him and a shift in his worldview - is a difficult and emotional one.

Poignant, heartbreaking, disturbing and thought-provoking, Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a beautifully –written, powerful and timely novel that revolves around themes of family, love, sacrifice and racially motivated injustice. I finished reading this book two days ago and it’s taken me this long to gather my thoughts and pen a coherent review. This is not an easy book to read and even more difficult to review. The author paints a dark and dystopian picture of a nation where discrimination, racism and injustice are justified in the name of preservation of economic stability, culture and values. Families have been torn apart, innocent children have been forcibly taken from their homes and those working to change the narrative , build awareness and reunite families with their “missing hearts” are constantly putting their lives on the line - activists who openly protest and those who are covertly networking to trace those who been lost. The larger part of the narrative is shared from Bird’s perspective, though we do get to hear the voices of other characters as well. Unfortunately, unlike many dystopian novels, much about this book feels a bit too real at times. The author draws inspiration from past and current events which she discusses in a brilliantly penned Author’s Note. This story left me with a heavy heart.

“When are you ever done with the story of someone you love? You turn the most precious of your memories over and over, wearing their edges smooth, warming them again with your heat. You touch the curves and hollows of every detail you have, memorizing them, reciting them once more though you already know them in your bones. 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?”