This is a great book club kit. The readers guide questions are great to start interesting conversations about the book and I really loved the historical elements that help understanding the book better and on a deeper level.
And the little cocktail menu was such a nice touch, I now want to try them all!

The kit is a beautiful companion to the book and gives introspective guides to cutting paper and details about the book. It’s simply lovely.

Beautiful artwork and interesting questions, this book club kit is sure to make the discussions about this book even more fun!

I think this Book Club Kit can be modified a little bit for classroom use in conjunction with The Great Gatsby. There are a alcoholic cocktails that I feel like would obviously not be appropriate to use in high school. This kit has a reader's guide, a history of Asian Americans in the Jazz Age, cocktails (both non-alcoholic and alcoholic), the history of papercutting, and papercutting templates. I think the histories and templates would be amazing resources to use as supplemental materials in the classroom. All in all, I think this is a great kit.

An informative book club kit, this was very useful for discussions about the book, and provides historical context!

This book is perfect for what I was looking for. I run a bookclub over on my YouTube page and we chose “The Chosen and the Beautiful” as our June pick. This book gave very great discussion points to discuss for a bookclub.

The good
- great questions for discussions
- not overwhelming

The bad
- the formatting was a little weird on my kindle, not sure if that is the case for everyone

I have this in prepartion for a book club session when book is available in the UK on Kindle. It will be a fabulous tool for leading a session with some excellent author led background.
Thanks to Netgalley for access to this resource.

I made the mistake of thinking that the book club kit included the book. Silly me. It's hard to answer the book club questions when I haven't read the book. Never-the-less, the kit had interesting sections on the history of Asians in the United States, especially in the entertainment field, and the history of decorative paper cutting. Oh, they also had recipes for cocktails that were popular in the 1920's. So, although the kit didn't include the book, I enjoyed reading it. The information made me want to read The Chosen and the Beautiful.

Firstly, that cover. Woah. Seriously awesome!

Okay, now moving on to the actual book. A Great Gatsby retelling in the form of an Asian queer coming of age story, The Chosen and the Beautiful is a superbly told story. Nghi Vo is a fantastic writer, and I am really tempted to read her other works as well.

The story stays mostly true to the original work, but there is sufficient uniqueness in the telling, and it does not feel like a cloying tribute or anything, but rather, is powerful enough to stand on its own. It's edgy, fast paced, atmospheric, and sexy. Really enjoyed reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC.

Unfortunately, I downloaded this thinking it was the actual book and not knowing it was just the Book Club Kit. I did take a look through it, though, and it looks to be a very helpful and informative guide.

This was a really fun book club kit for The Chosen and the Beautiful, which I will be re-reading with friends. One of my favorite parts was the section on paper cutting and the example designs. I appreciated learning more about the history of Asian Americans in the Jazz Age and the history of paper cutting. The inclusion of a menu to recreate the drinks was very fun! The discussion questions were well-designed. I would recommend this book club kit. Thank you to Nghi Vo, Macmillan/Tor-Forge, and Netgalley for a free book club kit in exchange for honest feedback.

The Book Maven’s Journal
Reviews For Word Connoisseurs

REVIEWER: J. Hunt
STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE CHOSEN and the BEAUTIFUL—
Book Club Kit by Nghi Vo

Wicked, Witty and Bright!

The Chosen and the Beautiful—Book Club Kit is an elegant and informative Reader’s Guide designed to enhance and compliment Group Discussions on Author Nghi Vo’s reimagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby.

This Read’s Kit is filled with magical surprises, like a midnight soirée on the back lawn at Jay Gatsby’s estate, as well as with intellectual fodder to whet the appetite of the most discerning students of 1920s Asian-American immigration and immersion into American culture.
This enlightening and thought-provoking kit offers probing questions and discussion topics; Author Nghi Vo’ suggested book reading list; further topical research with cited references; and some of heroine, Jordan’s, favorite drink recipes.

For fun, just like a guests might try at a Gatsby event, Paper Cutting Instructions and designs are added to “jazz up” the kit with “wicked, witty and bright” complimentary activities.

Vo concludes The Chosen and the Beautiful teachings kit with instructions and diagrams for creating hands-on paper cutting projects. Included in this section is a short history on the ancient Asian art of paper cutting.

In summery, the combined Reference Materials provided in The Chosen and the Beautiful Book Club Kit are thorough and comprehensive. They offer a wide range of materials for topics to reach most adult reader comprehension levels. Furthermore, to target high achievers and very analytical readers, the Kit offers sections for in-deep studies; as we as discussion questions for philosophical thought and consideration.
The Kit is well designed to provide readers a well-rounded perspective on the key issues of the novel, The Chosen and the Beautiful, .like money, class, ambition, identity, and how echos of the past inescapably reverberate into the future.

The Chosen and the Beautiful—Book Club Kit by Author Nghi Vo is made available from Macmillan-Tor/Forge Tordotcom Publishing, Publication Date is 01 June 2021, as an ePub Reader Copy. The novel can be found referenced under SciFi & Fantasy.

https://www.goodreads.com/joyreadergirl1
(Check-out some of my other favorite Books and their Reviews that I've posted on Goodreads at the above link--over 300+ book reviews with an average of 3.98 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Star Rating Average.)

This provides great depth and insight into the novel itself, and which I'm sure will enhance my reading of the novel itself when I get my copy!

I thought this book group guide was well put together and will help groups have a good conversation about this book, Gatsby, and the issues it raises. I really liked the context on Asian Americans in the Jazz age and the history of papercutting. The discussion questions seemed a little less open ended than I would like, but there were still a bunch to spark a good talk.

This was an educating, fun but too short! read. I honestly liked it so much I kind of wished there was more. I have to confess that my copy of The Chosen and the Beautiful did not arrive yet, but I had to travel today and decide to give this short booklet a go.
Even though I've only read The Great Gatsby this booklet proved to be so insightful. I've learned many new things about Asian life in the United States pre and between the World Wars.
I also believe that it is actually a plus that I've read this prior cause this way I have a better grasp on the drinks and paper cutting etc. described in the book itself.

I wish a booklet such as this came with many more books!

Interesting questions about the book. I like the drink recipes included in it. I do like retellings.

This is exactly what it says: a book club kit. For some reason, I was kind of hoping it would have the book along with it, but it certainly does its job as what it is, a collection of questions aimed to bring interest and discussion to this upcoming book.

Not a lot more to say about it really.

Beautiful book club kit with beautiful explanations and exploration of the book, perfect companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful and great for any book club that wants a more in depth exploration of the novel

I'm so excited to get my hands on The Chosen and the Beautiful, it sounds like everything I love in a novel.

Even though I haven't read the book yet, I adore this book club kit. It's so elegant and creative! It provides historical background, insightful questions that are sure to start some great discussions, and a paper-cutting tutorial. The drink recipes are a nice touch. Honestly, I'm jealous of anyone whose book club is using this kit!

I love these book club kits! The historical information was a great addition to the book. I also loved the inclusion of drink recipes AND a papercutting activity.