Sharon Orlopp's Reviews > Our Missing Hearts

Celeste Ng is an incredible author. Our Missing Hearts is my third book that I have read that is written by her. It packs a powerful punch! I also thoroughly enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You.

Our Missing Hearts is initially told from the perspective of Noah "Bird" Gardner. Bird lives with his father; his mother left over three years ago and he hasn't heard from her. The country is focused on extreme nationalism and wants to root out any people, books, thoughts, and discussions that are not supportive of the country.

It is a dystopian novel that borders close to reality, at times. Children are separated from their parents if either the parent or the child demonstrates subversive thoughts or behaviors. The country is filled with anti-Asian sentiment which results in bullying, harassment, and death.

Many people in the book focus on keeping their heads down and doing whatever is necessary to prove they are patriotic. Their silence enables the horrible treatment of others. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr so eloquently said, "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."

Ng's Author Note at the end of the book is fabulous. She reminds us of the many times that children have been separated from their families in the US: slavery, indigenous boarding schools, Japanese internment camps, and cages for children at the US and Mexico border. Ng provides many book recommendations that influenced her research and writing.

When I did additional Google research on this book, I discovered a book, Fourteen Days, that has 36 authors' short stories about the pandemic. Some of the authors include Celeste Ng, Margaret Atwood, Scott Turow, John Grisham, and many others. Proceeds from the book will go toward fighting against book banning.

Highly recommend Our Missing Hearts!