The Summary

Bird Gardner, 12, and his devoted father, a former linguist who now works as a book shelf in a university library, lead tranquil lives. When he was nine years old, his mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, disappeared. He is angry because she cared more about her art than about him even though he has no idea what happened to her and only knows that her books have been banned.

Then one day, Bird gets a strange letter in the mail with only a puzzling drawing, and he soon finds himself drawn into a search for her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she instilled in him as a child, through the ranks of a secret society of brave librarians, and ultimately to New York City, where he will discover the truth about what really happened to his mother and what the future holds for him and his sister.

My Review

You are probably already aware that this book is different from other Celeste Ng works if you have read "Little fires everywhere" or "Everything I never told you." I genuinely think that you need to be in the right frame of mind to read this book and emotionally prepare for what you'll encounter.

I wasn't really engrossed in this book the whole time I read it, but I was definitely intrigued. This book may have served in some respects as a means of processing the pain brought on by the catastrophes and injustices that have occurred over the past four years in the United States. The book is heavy.

In Our Missing Hearts, a superbly written, emotional, and current book, the themes of family, love, sacrifice, and racially motivated injustice are all present. It paints a dark, dystopian picture of a nation where injustice, intolerance, and discrimination are accepted in order to uphold social norms, cultural traditions, and economic stability. Families have been split apart by the forcible removal of defenseless children from their homes.

The story itself is quite interesting. The characters you meet along the way really well complete the story. There were many different characters, and each one was vividly detailed. Each of their stories adds to the book's main plot and message.

Unfortunately, it lacked any depth of personality you would have desired and was fairly slow-moving. Yes, everything worked well together, but when I consider the underlying idea of the story, I see that the characters might need a little more nuance and complexity.

When it was all said and done, I was just a bit let down. I'm not trying to be overly negative of this point since, in all honesty, I'm not sure how else she could have ended it. I just think it works. But in contrast to Ng's other two works, I feel that this one just kind of ended rather than having a quick, thrilling conclusion. In a sense, everything and nothing are happening at once.

I can absolutely understand and identify with the disappointment this is causing. However, I did appreciate the beginning of the book and the overall premise, so I'll stick with a neutral rating.

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done! 

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.