(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. It breaks my heart to write this review and to have been so saddened. While some of the elements were interesting, like seeing The Great Gatsby from the outskirts, almost like we are actually there in their orbit, I was largely just disappointed. And I fely like I was the most intrigued by the story, towards the end when Jordan’s story took on more of its own life. I enjoyed some of the aspects of the magical system, but even that left me wanting more. The Chosen and the Beautiful was so promising. I wanted to deeply empathize and connect with Jordan, I expected to, but she missed the mark for me. I felt like most of the characters, including Jordan, needed some more depth. And that brings me to another disappointment. Maybe it’s just me, but I saw so many missed opportunities where Jordan could have really dug into her feelings, but she never does.

The Chosen and the Beautiful is largely an example of my hopes being dashed across the rocks of the sound. Overall,īecause of these moments, which I felt like were shallowly developed in relation to her adoption, I was so disappointed. While I understand that Jordan’s identity revolves mostly around being treated as ‘exotic’ by her peers, I felt that there were some opportunities for Jodan to examine her feelings which were not discussed. And it’s another way this book broke my heart. As a transracial adoptee I was even more excited for The Chosen and the Beautiful. But, I haven’t read it in a while, so I tried to move past that. However, I instead felt that the basic story of The Chosen and the Beautiful sticks pretty closely to the original – even though it’s been a while since I read it.Īnd for the new perspective of Jordan to be so different from the original, maybe that was my own fault for expecting it to interrogate the classic. Taking a side character perspective of The Great Gatsby I was expecting more subversion and a new lens to the classic. But what I found instead was a book that seemed not to interrogate with the original material enough. I have loved some of Vo’s other novellas and so I was so excited for this queer Asian retelling of The Great Gatsby – which was a book I really did not enjoy ever since my first reading of it. The Chosen and the Beautiful broke my heart because I wanted so much more from it. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley.

The chosen beautiful