Review: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

This book was incredible and odd, and I’ll write a full review as soon as my brain figures out the correct words.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo was an incredible and odd book; I am so happy I read it. This book is a retelling of The Great Gatsby following Jordan Baker as opposed to Nick. This Jordan Baker is a Vietnamese adoptee, queer, and lives in a world that has actual magic. The book largely follows the events of Gatsby and hits the main themes with the added layers of commentary on race and gender plus the class commentary we all expect from this book.

I really liked the way Vo handles the end of this book. She gives the women of this story so much more agency and life than they have in the original, but still does not back down from having the women, especially Daisy, still have the same flaws they had in the original. I really was so impressed by the final conversation between Jordan and Daisy; Vo handles this relationship masterfully.

This book is absolutely beautifully written. If you have read Vo's work before, this will not be surprising, but I was still stunned by how gorgeous the writing was. I underlined and reread so many lines in this book. I absolutely cannot wait to read Vo's future work.

It took me a little bit of time to get used to this book; you are just dropped into this world that is both very familiar and very new. That is normally an experience I really love, but it did take me a bit to adjust to this book. But once I was in this book, I was very in it. I really would have loved this world even if it had not been at all connected to the Gatsby story; I would have adored a series in this world. The world-building in this book was amazing. It is a lavish and magical place while still matching the original novel very well.

I will continue to buy and read and love Vo's work in the future. I am so excited to see what she does next.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.