Celeste Ng’s dystopian novel, “Our Missing Hearts,” is overwhelmingly reminiscent of today. The novel, touching on themes such as racial oppression, censorship and the danger of resistance, beautifully conflates the art of storytelling and meaningful social and political change.
Bird Gardener, the novel’s 12-year-old protagonist, lives in a near-future, post-depression United States where injustices against Asian Americans have reached a peak. After intense economic strife coined as the Crisis, the government implements the PACT policy, standing for the Preservation of American Culture and Traditions. Bird’s mom, Margaret Miu, a Chinese American poet whose works inspired much of the resistance against PACT, mysteriously leaves when he was nine years old. Bird receives a cryptic letter and embarks on a journey to find his mother in New York City.
Ng uses graceful prose to capture an extraordinarily powerful story. By weaving traditional Asian stories in the plot, she highlights the beauty of Asian culture by juxtaposing it with the rampant discrimination of their society. Although Ng’s lyricism was extremely captivating, we thought that the pacing of the novel could have been improved. Specifically, the second half of the novel largely focuses on portions of the past, disrupting the previous linear storytelling of the first half. While the past does give readers insight into Margaret’s turbulent past, we felt that more of the novel could have been used to center on the current oppression of the dystopian society that Ng works so hard to create.
We recommend the book to any Sage students who enjoyed reading “Everything I Never Told You” in their freshman year. Ng utilizes a similar style of writing in both novels and touches on the challenging aspects of the Asian American experience with nuance. Additionally, readers who like to spend time in dystopian worlds such as Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” would like “Our Missing Hearts,” where similar themes of political censorship are present.
As a criticism of anti-Asian sentiments in the United States as well as a warning against politically institutionalized racism, the novel captures the instability of collectively ignorant societies. Although PACT enables governments to legally remove children away from their homes, fear silences opposition to the oppressive regime. With current events such as increased crackdown of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota, some people have similarly become immobilized and ignorant as a result of fear and desensitization.
Novels like “Our Missing Hearts” cultivate awareness and urge action against these issues. Through her novel Ng shows her readers how, as educated individuals, we are obligated to take action and speak out for those who are silenced by violent oppression.
