Our Missing Hearts

This is an engrossing read and as compelling as Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. You will not be disappointed in this complex story of love, suspense and injustice.

My first take was that this novel was another one about a pandemic and the aftermath. Yet it is so much more. Underlying all of it is a mother’s love and the development of the main character Margaret and her son Bird. The political events at first seemed far fetched but the author did draw upon reality. She describes a very authoritarian state in the US making me picture the period of WWII and the Nazis. I loved her references to ancient fables throughout to tell her story. Her son Bird narrates and we see much through an innocent child’s mind. And playing well was the character of Sadie who shares similar experiences as Bird. Domi, the mother’s friend, and Margrets husband Ethan are used to relate the story but their real characters are a bit shallow. Recommend to readers who envision a future world that might be if we don’t engage with the direction of cultural freedom.

I give very, very few books five stars, but this one deserves it. I listened to the audiobook and read portions of this book through a local library. Wowza. This book was prescient, prophetic (in the actual sense of the word—not the popular cultural understating of it), and powerful. The storytelling is compelling and imaginative, and the writing is so beautiful. It is filled with references to other stories, and I really loved the way this book spoke to the power of storytelling. This book was a real gift for the word nerd in me, and I identified so closely with Nathan in his love of etymology. I would say it is a cautionary tale, but even if this is set in a dystopian near future, so much of what happens in Our Missing Hearts is current—seems to have been pulled from the headlines. Was it a little heavy handed at times in showing us a world so prevalent with Asian hate? Perhaps. Was the book absolutely spot on in its critique? Absolutely. And is the book is so important of read. It seems important to note that I checked out the both the library book and audiobook from my library—important because of the role libraries played in the book. This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. Lucy Liu is masterful in her interpretation and (with the exception of apparently not knowing a song that appeared in one scene) doesn’t waste a word, doesn’t waste a moment. I highly recommend the audiobook!! This is a wonderful book—one that will stay with me.

The story of this book is great and very meaningful, but it wasn't for me. The author likes to add a lot of flashbacks with tiny details that don't move the story along and aren't necessary to understand the character. As I'm reading, I want to know the story, I'm on the edge of my seat, but the majority of the book is just a delay with a bunch of filler that doesn't move the story along. I'm not saying its bad, I know people who love this in the books they read, and it is beautifully written, its just not for me. My breaking point was when there is a flashback, that takes up the majority of a full page, where Bird is watching his fathers footprints in the snow. I stopped and googled the detailed summary of this story. I was almost half way through the book and the summary up until this part was condensed into 2-3 paragraphs that perfectly contained everything I had learned up to this point in the story. I decided to just finish the last 4 paragraphs of the summary and not read the rest of the book. If you are like me and like to be enthralled in your books, feeling like you are a part of the story and eagerly reading more and more without being bored, this book may not be for you. I'm not saying its bad, just that its not the style of book I like to read.

This is a great book. The story is compelling from the start. Set in a neat future dystopia, which is different from her past work- loved!

This book is 3 years old, but in those 3 years we've moved nearer to Bird and Margaret's world. This is a beautifully written book about families, fear, prejudice, hope.

A very scary scenario, which happened in the past in the USA towards the Japanese, and which could happen again, because of big bad China. The judgemental and autocratic actions of governments is nothing to laugh off.

The story that shall stay with me. The book i shall recommend to all who think America is great. The imagination which may be too close to reality.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, incredible. Highly recommend.

Cautivadora