But of course, he’s so curious about what happened to her and the drawing might be the key to finding out. You can tell he doesn’t quite think it’s right but doesn’t yet fully understand the actual ramifications of it.įor him, he believes his mother was an active voice against it and he doesn’t understand why she would choose her protests over him. So it’s interesting to learn about PACT from Bird. The PACT Act had been in place for most of Bird’s life so he doesn’t know what a world is without these rules. Perspectivesįor about the half the book, we read the story from Bird’s perspective. He will embark on a big journey where eventually it will take him to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change. When he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her.

The authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic.īird can’t help and wonder about his mother. PACT is designed to uphold American ideals and anyone who seems unpatriotic, the government will take action.

Margaret was a poet and activist-which stands against the PACT (Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act) act. Bird’s father does not speak much of Margaret, other than proclaiming she held unpatriotic ideas. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left the family when he was nine years old. We meet twelve-year-old Bird who lives with his father at a university. And despite everything that happens and is discussed, that is the key. Still, at the heart of the story is the relationship between mother and son. Devastating loss of jobs, protests turned violent and overall unease and a fearful mentality approach to day-to-day life. While there’s no impact from a pandemic in this version of the U.S., there’s economic and political turmoil. While her other novels are set in a present day format, Our Missing Hearts is technically dystopian fiction, but yet, the world doesn’t feel so dissimilar to our current reality. It’s so readable and everlasting-her words truly stay with you for a long time. Her stories have this precise quality to draw you in with sophisticated writing and vivid details. I quite enjoyed Celeste Ng’s previous novel, Little Fires Everywhere, and the Hulu series as well. This novel was one of my most-anticipated of the year.

Our missing hearts celeste ng