The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Pages: 260
Published by Tordotcom
Publication Date June 1, 2021
Date Read October 26, 2023
Source: Fantastic Strangelings Book Club
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Physical Book
Goodreads
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She's also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
Nghi Vo's debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.
Reviews Done Quick
I was a little nervous to read The Chosen and the Beautiful as I dnf’d Nghi Vo’s other book Siren Queen. I need not have worried. The Chosen and the Beautiful was an eloquent magical read. The author took the familiar of The Great Gatsby and spun it on its head creating a new story from the sometimes lost character Jordan Baker. What I enjoyed most was that besides the magical elements of paper the author focused on Jordan being different from everyone else in her peer group and how she combated that throughout the years. Like The Great Gatsby, I was left wanting a little more, The Chosen and the Beautiful was too short and ended somewhat abruptly but like a decadent dessert was still satisfying.
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