Our Missing Hearts (by Celeste Ng)

If you have read previous novels by Celeste Ng, let me just say that this book is not Little Fires Everywhere and it is not Everything I Never Told You. This one is a dystopian novel. What makes it truly scary, though, is that the dystopia is milder than some, making it more believable and, for me, more scary. Noah Gardner, previously known as Bird, lives with his father. His mother is on the run because she supposedly wrote a subversive poem titled "Our Missing Hearts". America is living under PACT -- the Preserving American Culture & Traditions Act. In Ng's America, there is no reason to burn books; they instead recycle them into toilet paper. Under PACT, children of parents considered culturally or politically subversive are placed in foster homes. Bird goes on a quest to find his mother.

MY VERDICT: This reads a bit like a classic hero's journey, but the reader is expected to believe that children can live this reality and and feel not animosity toward the parent who has abandoned them. Chinese Americans are the target in this dystopian America. They are held responsible for everything that is wrong in the country -- a story of blaming those who don't look like White America. In the end, this is a story about the power of words and the power of our stories to create change. I enjoyed the book but it was a bit predictable for me. The idea was solid and timely, though. I give this book 4 stars.