I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. This is a poetic story of a boy named Bird growing up with his father in a post-crisis, anti-Asian, not-too-distant-future after his mother, a poet, has had to leave the family. I liked the prose, the characters, the plot, and the concept. I thought it was a little slow at times.

"Our Missing Hearts' blurs the lines between reality and fiction: it is set in what appears to be modern day time, but in a society that has only slightly escalated and legislated current anti-Asian sentiment. The PACT act has provided legal grounds to remove children from their Asian parents, if they are suspected of not fully embracing "American values." Bird is a young boy whose mother became one of the principal faces of advocacy against PACT. As such, she has disappeared and Bird is left to be raised by his father. Through a series of clues and messages, he begins to suspect she is trying to communicate with him. He sets out on a journey to find her and begins to peel back the layers of her work. I found Ng's world to be incredibly believable; she spends a lot of time explaining its rules and customs. This very much feels like a departure from her previous work in that the plot feels fairly thin. Instead of the gripping dialogue we all loved in "Little Fires Everywhere," we are treated to long, flowery inner monologue. This considerably slowed down the reading for me. I ended up skimming quite a bit. I imagine that fans of literary fiction will enjoy this new writing style, but readers like myself might find themselves wanting something a bit more gripping.

Another great book by Celeste Ng, this one will be a reading group favourite. It deals with many difficult topics such as book censorship, removal of children from their parents for their own "benefit" and racism. It was thought provoking and also an important reminder of the importance to fight against book bans (which seem to be on the rise nowadays).

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a timely novel! It seemed to push the limits of the genres I like, feeling futuristic and in the past at the same time. Excellent writing, excellent characters.

Another fabulous novel from Celeste Ng! Her work always strikes that unique balance of page-turning and lyrical, and this third book is no different. We follow 12 year old Bird through a dystopian world that feels uncomfortably possible today, searching for answers about his missing mother and his place in this shameful society. This novel is likely to be a huge hit with book clubs, as there's much to discuss here.

Celeste Ng captures our hearts yet again in Our Missing Hearts. Ng's writing is lyrical as you lose yourself in her language and words. It seems almost musical at times. We follow the life of Bird Gardner as he navigates life without his mother in a future world where everyone might be an informant and words or actions against the government have life changing actions. Where is his mother and why did she leave them? Why did his father lose his job as a professor who now shelves books in the library? All librarians and library lovers will enjoy the sanctuary she describes as libraries, the librarians as saviors or subversives, and how they help connect the missing hearts of children taken from their parents. Our Missing Hearts will resonate with teens, parents, and all people as we can learn how to live, how to use art as life, and find ourselves amidst tragic circumstances.

Incredible dystopian novel that echoes our history of questioning the loyalty of so-called “outsiders” in the name of “protecting” America. This MUST make all the book club lists and could be studied in high school as well, alongside Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. What would you do to protect your child? Stay quiet about the horrors you’ve witnessed? Or disappear from their life entirely if it meant they were safe? Every librarian needs to read this one, for Ng’s tribute to the commitment of librarians to freedom of information.

I was troubled by the reading of this, as I think one is expected to be. I couldn't stop thinking about it though sometimes I hesitated to pick it back up and continue. The dystopian future seems all to plausable. I loved the strength and power of storytelling as the antidote to state control of its citizens. The superheroes of the fight are librarians and public libraries. As one on the frontline in a library, I appreciate the accuracy of her depictions of the work of librarians and loved seeing the quiet power of librarians fighting for a fair society.

As always, Celeste Ng is an incredible writer. This is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you've finished reading.

I was so excited to read this book! I love Everything I Never Told You and enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere as well. After finishing, I had to sit with this one for a bit before writing this review. This book is heavy. And I don't mean a little heavy, I mean very heavy and pretty bleak.

Meet Noah, aka "Bird", a 12 year old boy living in a dystopian time where everything is tightly controlled by those in power who want to preserve their idea of "American culture." If you're viewed as "unpatriotic" or have dissenting ideas, they seize your child to "protect" the future generations from being corrupted and making "bad choices". Racism, prejudice, book banning, freedom of information, motherhood, sacrifice and unconditional love are some of the important themes running throughout this story. Your heart breaks for Sadie, Bird and his father, and then Margaret too when we hear her story in the later sections of the book.

I loved the role of librarians in this novel as helpers passing along information. Heroes risking their own freedom to help broken people gather the information they so desperately seek. Very touching.

I have a feeling this book is going to be on many, many book discussion group lists next year. There is so much to unpack in this one. Be sure to read the author's very thoughtful notes at the end that help us understand the inspiration for some of the events in this book.

Would I recommend it? That is the question I kept asking myself before writing this review. I think I would recommend with the warning that it may leave you feeling sad and perhaps pessimistic about the future. I will remember Bird and Sadie for quite a while.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A lot to unpack in "Our Missing Hearts" by Celeste Ng. At first I thought it was a dystopian novel, but became more unsettled when I realized that with the state of our country it is not much of a stretch to image. I felt her inspiration with the increasing tension and attacks against Asian Americans, and her storyline is a credible leap. The story is told from the viewpoint of Bird, or Noach Gardner, whose mom mysteriously disappears when he is nine years old. Bird/Noah and his dad now live in a small apartment where his father cautiously lives his life as a Harvard librarian. The USA had an event that changed society - "the crisis" which was a huge financial depression, and the blame placed at the feet of China. US politicians created "PACT" - preserving American cultures and traditions, which brought a huge wave of Anti-Asian sentiment, a new era of McCarthy like spying on your neighbor and lack of freedom. Children of parents who are deemed "Unfit" are taken and placed with more "suitable families" or foster homes.
Bird receives a letter from his mother, which is a cartoon of cats - he begins a scavenger hunt to decode her message and hopes to find her. Like any child, he wonders why she left, and if she still loves him.
With the Supreme Court's decision on Roe this past week, and other political happenings, this book just so real to me - it is not a stretch to imagine many of the instances in the book coming true. Some already are! That being said, it just did not jell for me - I'm not sure if it was the style, the character of Bird, or the back and forth way it was written. You do hear Margaret's story, and how she came to find Bird's father and their life together. A very critical part of the book is Margaret's poetry, and a line of her poem "Our Missing Hearts" which is used by protestors that oppose "PACT". The ending did not really work for me. I do think this book would make a great discussion due to the many topics that it covers.

Chilling. This dystopian novel is chilling.

I wish I could say that it's unbelievably chilling, but some of the plot is based upon not-too-long-ago historical events. In today's political climate, it does not stretch the imagination to see history repeat itself and to see the future morph into invasive government control.

Bird must make sense of his world, and finding his mother is key to understanding it. I enjoyed the role that librarians played in this book. They were a steady heartbeat of the underground resistance.

Netgalley and the publisher gave me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Wowww. I'm finding it hard to describe Our Missing Hearts. If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say it's part The Handmaid's Tale, part 1984, part just plain modern day America, and part a wholly original imagining of the near future. It's beautiful, gripping, inspiring, and chilling all in one.

Our Missing Hearts is so brilliant I almost don't know what to say. It is a classic that will stand the time beside 1984 and Handmaid's Tale. The story could easily be the reality of the current moment, and for some - it is.

An economic collapse happens in the U.S. and devastates the country for 2 years - much the same as the pandemic. Eventually the Chinese are blamed and as the country gets back on it's feet a new law is enacted - the PACT. Anyone who is seen as revolutionary in the slightest has their children stolen from them. Most will never find each other again.

Asians and Asian-Americans are targeted for hate and the kidnapping of their children. Neighbors viciously turn on anyone they deem suspicious in anyway. It is heartache for everyone.

However, there runs a strand of revolutionary hope.

This is a book for the ages.

Was für ein großartiges Buch, das sich ganz unauffällig und langsam den Weg bahnt.
An der Seite des 12jährigen Bird versuchen wir in der strengen Welt der USA die verschwundene Mutter wiederzufinden., Nicht auffallen ist die Devise, die ihm sein Vater mit auf den Weg gegeben hat. Aber Bird aufgewachsen mit Geschichten und Phantasie kann auf einmal nicht unter dem Radar des PACTs bleiben. Erst verschwindet seine Mutter, dann sein bisheriges Leben. Jahre später kommt ihm auch seine rebellische Freundin Sadie abhanden und er findet eine Notiz seiner Mutter. Bird macht sich auf den Weg.

Ein Buch das sehr nachdenklich zurücklässt.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An Orwellian coming of age novel in which a dystopian society limits freedoms and knowledge.

I love this novel. I hate that it will be banned.

Timely and uncomfortably realistic in its themes of societal upheaval, family separation, racial discrimnation, and the many ways a civilized country can so easily be tipped into prejudice, blaming, and government sanctioned retaliation, Our Missing Hearts offers a story that feels much too possible, much too imminent to not be read as a cautionary tale. Ms.Ng’s prose is lush and poetic, her characters fully formed, and despite the darkness of the story, there is hope - in hero librarians working in secret to preserve and disseminate important information, and in the power of art and literature as protest and agents of change. A powerful book about loss, and the things we will do to protect our children and our deepest held convictions about right and wrong.

Celeste Ng’s third novel is a tour de force. Her talent had deepened and grown and is on full display here. This is a heartbreaking, lyrical and even hopeful novel that we need in these troubling times. much like Atwood in her dystopian masterwork Handmaid’s Tale, Ng imagines a world in the not too distant figure where personal liberties have been stolen, along with many children of “unsuitable” parents. As a librarian, I particularly appreciated the role of libraries and librarians in helping to fight back against repression . Her deep dive Into the troubling anti Asian sentiment that has allowed this, resonates in our world today. Beyond the social and political world of this novel is a deeply poetic and incredibly well written story of the love of a mother for her son.
This is definitely on my Best of 2022 list.

A well written book with a sad warning for the current times. Librarians rock! ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

One of Ng's greatest strengths is her ability to present families in crisis in a way which highlights both the positive and negative aspects of those families. These characters aren't worth reading about because they're suffering; they're worth reading about because Ng presents them as fully-realized characters. This is another "family in crisis" novel, much like the other two, but rather than feeling formulaic, this novel feels very streamlined and refined. This novel has much more of a plot conceit than Ng's other two novels-- they have plots, of course, and very finely-crafted ones, but this novel's stakes feel much higher than in previous novels.