I haven’t been the biggest fan of Celeste Ng, but I keep reading her books. This one is my favorite so far.
It takes place in a dystopian America after there’s been an economic downturn so severe it became known as The Crisis. People like to have a scapegoat when there’s a crisis, and because China happened to be doing well economically during America’s Crisis, people assumed China must have done something to cause it. China gets blamed and anti-Asian sentiment rises, along with hate crimes against Asian Americans.
There was also a law passed called PACT, which I can’t remember what it stands for. It forbids “anti-American” speech or behavior, and encourages people to report on each other to the authorities.
The book takes place about a decade after The Crisis ends. It’s mostly told from the perspective of a young boy named Bird. Actually, his name is Noah, but his mom always called him Bird and insisted everyone else call him Bird. But then his mom leaves them and they all go back to calling him Noah.
So, Bird lives alone with his dad, who works at a library shelving books. His goal is just to keep himself and his son safe, so he’s intent on keeping his head down and not making a fuss. He encourages Bird to do the same.
But Bird can’t help wondering about his missing mom, even if his dad refuses to talk about her.
One day, Bird gets a postcard from his mom with cats drawn all over it. He vaguely remembers a story his mom told him involving a boy who liked to draw cats, but he can’t remember the story. He tries to look it up in the library, but because it has Asian origins, the book has been banned, and there are no copies available. He manages to find a copy anyway, and that eventually leads him halfway across the country to New York City where his mom is living.
He does manage to find his mom, Margaret Miu, and that’s when we get her side of the story. She’s Chinese American and her husband is white, making Bird half Asian and therefore “suspicious.”
Margaret had written a book of poems that had been published. Then some people protesting PACT started using the last line of her last poem in the book, “our missing hearts.” They would hold posters that said “Bring Back Our Missing Hearts.”
The “missing hearts” referred to the children being taken from their parents, allegedly for their own safety. Any parent accused of “anti-American” speech or sentiment is considered a danger to their own children, who are then put into foster homes.
The propaganda makes it seem like this is a very rare occurrence, but it’s actually very common. Bird’s best friend is a black girl who was taken from her family without explanation.
Once people start using Margaret’s poetry in protests, Margaret starts getting hate mail and death threats. She and her husband agree it’s not safe for her to be around them, so she packs up and leaves. And none too soon because the next day Social Services shows up asking questions. Bird’s dad says that Margaret is gone, he doesn’t know where, and he doesn’t care. He’s careful to say he doesn’t agree with her anti-American views.
The funny/tragic thing is that Margaret hadn’t been intending to write about politics. She was writing about a pomegranate. But because of what other people did with her poetry once it was out in the world, she had to pay the price. If that isn’t a problem only creatives worry about, I don’t know what is.
Nevertheless, she joins the movement. It’s already cost her her parents, her husband, and her child. It’s not like she has anything left to lose.
My favorite thing about this book is how strongly it believes in the power of a good story. It ends with Margaret broadcasting the stories of parents whose children have been taken from them. She’s spent years collecting them and she broadcasts as many of them as she can in tiny speakers all over New York City. People everywhere stop to listen.
There’s a line about how she has to believe that one person can make a difference. As much as I love that, I was especially comforted by the idea of how big an impact a story can have when it’s told to the world.