BG 1 - September 22nd 2023

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

About the author: Celeste Ng is an American writer and novelist. Her first novel Everything I Never Told You won the Amazon Book of the year award. Her second well known novel is Little Fires Everywhere and was made into a tv miniseries.

About the book: Our Missing Hearts was released in 2022 and is set in a future where, after a severe economic crisis, America has legitimised racism, particularly against those of Asian descent, and stifled free expression. The story is about a 12-year-old boy of Chinese descent named Bird (birth name Noah) who learns more and more about his dissident mother and uses a mysterious letter addressed to him to try find her. Bird lives with his father who got demoted from professor to librarian after the arrest of his wife. He tries to stay under the radar to avoid Noah being taken away from him as was allowed under the new law for those showing ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour. However, Noah’s classmate who had been through a similar situation triggers Noah to go on his quest to find out more about the disappearance of his mother.

About the discussion: eight of us, including three new members, met up at Nazi’s home. We all agreed that despite the fact that the author categorises her book as dystopian, there are many places in our current world where such a situation could develop, as general levels of tolerance start shrinking and democracies are under attack. Our book group review of the book was concluded as neither ‘glorious’ nor ‘bad'. The book was definitely an easy read with a thought-provoking story.

Pamela De Lange-Storck