A review by themoonwholistens
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

3.0

“Everything changed then nothing changed. And I was still, frustratingly enough, nothing more than myself.”


I have such mixed feelings about the majority of this book but that ending with Nghi Vo’s writing style… gave me a new perspective on everything that it brought this book up from 2 stars to 3 stars.

The dark, magical, and lyrical writing of The Chosen and the Beautiful sold me so quickly at the start but as the story progressed it was a little disappointing that the story focused more on everything except Jordan, the main character. I feel like the main character’s background, complex personality, and intriguing personal relationships were wasted on a story that didn’t really revolve around her most of the time. She was very much an observer but I have heard that it pays homage to how the original was written. Even then, I feel like even a retelling should be able to stand on it’s own even with readers who have not read it in it's original form. Especially since this is supposedly an Asian Queer retelling, bringing something new and refreshing, I feel like this could have done so much more than it did. Don't even get me started on the fantasy and magic... it barely added anything to the story except made me continue the book in the beginning.

“I hadn’t even reached the bottom of learning what I wanted. And even if he couldn’t give those things to me, maybe I liked that he wanted to try.”


The drama and nuanced socialite society kept me going but the casual cheating at the beginning bothered me a little too much. I get where it’s coming from and I do like how everything tied together in the end but I was just too bothered by how emotional cheating was tackled. It kept me from enjoying the story and it’s sad because I so badly wanted to love this book. It also felt a little weird how majority of the lgbtq+ rep was related to the casual/emotional cheating.

I knew absolutely nothing about The Great Gatsby (i haven’t read or watched it) when I started this but reading the reviews makes me think that I might actually like the original story still. Especially since it intrigues me that the story was from Nick’s perspective, which what the original piece was in, apparently.

“The world was on fire but we could only smell the smoke.”


Medium paced, socialite society, friendship, drama, and about finding yourself. There’s not that much magic, which was a little disappointing but I feel like I would still recommend this to people if you find that it calls out to you. There’s just something about that ending that pulled at my heart more than I thought it would and I wouldn’t want to discourage those that might find this life-changing.

— 3.0 —
content warnings// Abortion, Alcohol use, Car accident (hit and run), Colonialism, Death, Domestic abuse (physical), Emesis, Infidelity, Murder, Racism, Substance abuse


pre-read review

magic and a queer asian-american great gatsby??? WHY WAS I NOT AWARE!!!

@publishers please do not stop with these beautiful covers