Feb 23

Feb 23 Our Missing Hearts - Celeste Ng

For the first time in his life, he is unremarkable, and this feels like power.

Celeste Ng has done it again. Our Missing Hearts, which is her third novel, is an incredibly thought-provoking book that was hard to put down. I didn’t think she could top her second book, Little Fires Everywhere but she basically said, hold my beer.

In Our Missing Hearts, the world has changed and not for the better. China has been blamed for the Crisis, a time of economic calamity worse than the Recession of 2008 (and maybe the Depression). Politicians, taking advantage of the situation, use their anti-Asian hate speech to draw up a policy called PACT, which stands for “Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act.” PACT is a Karen’s wet dream: a reason to spy on neighbors, call the police on them and remove children from their homes and their Asian parents.

Bird Gardner, a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his father in a cramped dorm room, hasn’t seen his mother, a Chinese poet who left the family three years prior. He and his father do not speak of her, as she’s considered the enemy by the government. It isn’t until Bird receives a mysterious letter that sends him on a search to find his mother.

I’m not sure if it is meant to be one, but Our Missing Hearts is a warning. What happens in this book can come to fruition (and some things already have) if we are not vigilant. Books being removed from libraries, anti-Asian violence and children being removed from their homes for any reason have been happening in America for decades. But so have underground (and not so underground) networks of people willing to risk their lives to make things better. It is amazing how so many things have changed and yet also stayed the same.

The author has a real talent for writing situations that can go from lighthearted and tender to downright frightening. One particular scene (I promise I won’t spoil it) is when Bird sees a woman he thinks is his mother, which makes them smile at each other. Bird’s smile turns to terror when things go horribly wrong so quickly that it left me almost breathless. That scene was so disturbing because it is an act that could happen (and maybe has happened) in the real world. To have Bird witness it made it even worse.

The quote I chose stuck out to me because there is power in being unremarkable. When you’ve been othered all your life, it can feel exhilarating. It reminded me of how I felt the first time I went to Italy. I was so conditioned to the treatment I get in America that it was a shock to receive the opposite while I was in Italy, so much so that when it was time to return home, I cried in my hotel bathroom.

Our Missing Hearts touches on so many things but what I found incredible was how easily Bird’s mother became the “enemy.” It reminded me of how hatemongers change the narrative to suit their own agenda, like they’ve done with Critical Race Theory (something NONE of them know or understand) and drag shows. Bird’s mother was minding her business, living her life with her family before it all came crashing down.

The books ends on a hopeful note, which is necessary. Hope is why so many of us continue to seek joy in the world, even when it seems like there is none to find.

Content Warnings: gender violence, animal violence, racism

Where to buy: The Lit. Bar Loyalty Bookstores Amazon