The Chosen and the Beautiful
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Average rating3.5
Nghi Vo’s stunning and subversive retelling of The Great Gatsby subtly infuses the world with magic. Jordan Baker is a queer, adopted Vietnamese American raised in America’s wealthiest social circles. She can make cut paper come to life — though it's a skill she has little opportunity to hone as it comes from her Vietnamese ancestry, and she knows no other person of her heritage. She befriends Daisy as a child, and Daisy becomes the epitome of white wealth and privilege. Immersed in Jazz Age culture, Vo expertly draws out the white patriarchal racism and sexism of The Great Gatsby.
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This book is full of 1920s sparkle and longing—I love this classic story more from a queer Asian American point of view. Jordan Baker is everything—a dreamer, supportive, strong, adaptable, sensual. Watching the story play out from Louisville to West Egg with Baker at the center helped me come to some new realizations about Gatsby, Tom, Nick, and Daisy. With gin babies, speakeasies, and demoniac dancing around the periphery, this story stayed true to the class struggle, racism, and grime at the edges of 1920s glitz and glamour. Love this book! And I'll read The Great Gatsby again with new eyes because of it.
