Our Missing Hearts

A Novel

by Celeste Ng

English language

Published July 10, 2022 by Penguin Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-0-593-49254-3

View on OpenLibrary

(22 reviews)

6 editions

Archivist Liz reviewed Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Review of 'Our Missing Hearts'

4 stars

I got really excited when I read the premise: a network of radical librarians helping to resist a regime that is based on anti-Asian hate, but that's really only a small part of the story. It's really primarily about the relationships between a son and his mother (and also somewhat about authorship and the life of a work of art). The fact that it's a realistic dystopia says a lot of the current state of the US. In general I liked it a lot, but it had a slow build to a relatively short and abrupt ending. I feel like the last third of the book could have been extended. Still, it's beautifully written, and I highly recommend it.

lokroma reviewed Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Review of 'Our Missing Hearts' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Ng's novel reads like a children's book only it's not. It is meant for adults, but feels naive and implausible. The events are dystopian, but the novel is cloying. I felt none of the horror and fear that I felt when I read, say, Fahrenheit 451 or The Road. And I needed to feel the horror. Book bans and the oppression of innocent people by their government are hideous violations of democracy and are never to be taken lightly.

Ng's surface scratching doesn't do these issues justice. The story of a mother who leaves her 9 year old son to the care of his father because she has written a poem that inspires widespread protests is implausible. I would love it if a poem made people around the country take to the streets, but that has never happened here and I doubt it ever will.

Very disappointing from a Chinese …

loppear reviewed Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

wholly frustrated by half

2 stars

Near-future realist dystopia pushes family decisions up against absolutes... and these characters fail to live up to the awkward narrative tangle Ng puts them in. Changes on many levels could have made this an important book, but it ends up not mattering.