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I‘ve loved “The Great Gatsby” since first reading it in high school. This retelling had a good concept and some interesting elements, but it didn‘t fully work for me. The choice to tell this from Jordan Baker‘s perspective was smart and I liked how she was re-imagined as a queer Vietnamese character. The magical elements felt thin and not fully integrated into the story. Overall, like the characters, this left me feeling disillusioned. 🎧

reading this Great Gatsby retelling made me realize I‘ve never read or watched the Great Gatsby lol. ANYWAY told by Jordan, a queer, Vietnamese woman w/ magical abilities, raised in the US. this book is a slow meandering journey & not super plot driven but I liked the magical and queer aspects, most characters in this story aren‘t straight. everyone felt emotionally unattached to pretty much everything, but an interesting plot with the magic.

You know how some retellings are just using the beats as a skeleton and some retellings feel like this is actually the real story told by someone who knew more? All due respect to Mr. Fitzgerald, this queer magical version told from the point of view of Jordan, who is a childhood friend of Daisy's manages the latter.

Went through my emails last night and Waterstones blurb for this one had me immediately hitting up my local library!

TBD if I actually get around to reading it 🤔😅

Gatsby retelling from Jordan‘s POV if she was a queer Vietnamese adoptee with a talent for the magical. I‘m kinda torn on this one. But I leaned in to what I loved. The writing itself is so lovely-beautiful & lyrical, painting pictures that come alive, and capturing the decadent vibe of the original. The magical elements of Faustian deals, prohibition demon blood and the not fully developed paper magic, didn‘t feel integrated fully into the world

I knew nothing about this going in, and I almost gave up on it when I realized it was a Gatsby retelling, but then I realized it was a queer, magical Gatsby retelling, so I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it, almost enough to make me go back and reread Gatsby - I think maybe I was too young for it when I read it in school?

This just didn‘t work for me — the magical concept didn‘t feel fully developed and neither did the characters. The writing was lovely, but the story itself didn‘t come together for me. The bones of it were just lacking.

The historical fiction and fantasy world building elements in this ambitious Great Gatsby retelling didn't merge together for me. The writing style was really good though and so I will check out more from this author.

The Great Gatsby reinvented with magical realism and Jordan Baker recast as a Vietnamese adoptee? Yes, please!! I ended up buying the hardcover because I want this book to be shelf buddies with my copy of Fitzgerald‘s Great Gatsby.🔸#septemberreads2021

At one point, narrator Jordan Baker says her set can‘t handle displays of genuine, passionate emotion. That snapped my problems with the book into focus. The story covers important ground, but the characters never feel like real people with real responses to events. Nothing feels consequential until the very end. It‘s all like water splashed on a hot rock; there, then gone.

I‘m bummed. I loved Nghi Vo‘s novellas, but So-So‘s generous here.

I‘m still trying to find my way into THE CHOSEN AND THE BEAUTIFUL at page 100. Huh. Maybe I‘d feel it more if I knew THE GREAT GATSBY better. I‘ve read it, but it was so long ago that all I remember is Daisy‘s name and her years-ago love affair. I don‘t recall Jordan at all.

I do like 1920s NYC in general, though, especially when there‘s magic and some acknowledgement that things weren‘t great for everyone. We‘ll see if it clicks later on.

Between a pick and a so-so in a case of "it's not your it's me." A magical, supernatural reimagining of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker. I really enjoyed the underworld, supernatural elements like the demon's blood drink, "demoniac." But I've never been a fan of The Great Gatsby, and, maybe because of that, I felt the story would've been better for not trying to follow the original and just standing on its own.

Library haul! I got the rest of their FMA collection (which, alas, isn‘t the rest of the series😭), Nghi Vo‘s first full novel, Catie Murphy‘s latest Dublin Driver mystery, and a random Korean short story collection I stumbled across when I searched for a 19th century Chinese novel with a similar name.

I also lucked into a digital express copy of THE SKIN WE‘RE IN by Desmond Cole this morning. It‘s been a good day for books.

I have been slogging through this for far too long, never getting through more than 10 pages or so before falling asleep. I‘m finding the magical, dark layer Vo has put over the story to be confusing at best and flat out boring at worst. The writing is good but too much for me. Time to let this one go.

This unexpected skip the line loan made my weekend!! ☘️I‘m so ridiculously happy. 🤩 Just enjoyed reading Nghi Vo‘s Singing Hills Cycle novellas and then discovered this latest title of hers. A Vietnamese recast of Jordan Baker, my fave Great Gatsby character? Yes please!!!

8-30-21: My 88th finished book of 2021! This is a retelling of The Great Gatsby from the point of view of Daisy‘s best friend, Jordan Baker. In this version Jordan is a Vietnamese adoptee and queer. This story is also full of magic! To be honest, I didn‘t love the magic part the way I normally would, it felt unnecessary. Otherwise, it was a beautiful retelling. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👍🏼📖#️⃣8️⃣8️⃣

Gut punch! 🔥🔥🔥❤️

(Honestly I‘m finding this book kind of dull, but this line struck a chord for me.)

#FantasticStrangelings

I love retellings of classics! The Chosen and the Beautiful retells The Great Gatsby from Jordan Baker‘s point of view. The writing is gorgeous and this version includes elements of fantasy. And the cover is beautiful too!

So far, I'm really enjoying this Great Gatsby retelling! 😍💕📚 #catsoflitsy #littenkitten #roxas

It's a competition for most beautiful between this book and the peaches. (Just kidding, it's always these peaches, but the book is gorgeous.) #readathon @DeweysReadathon

A little dull and too derivative for me. Good writing, but I found myself getting lost in what was real, what was magic, and what was metaphor.

Retellings can be tough. This one feels to me too shackled to it‘s source material and is falling completely flat. I‘m 1/4 into it and have no interest in continuing.

This looks interesting

I wasn‘t planning on buying any more books outside of my subscription boxes for awhile since I‘m so far behind, but I had a birthday recently and my boyfriend spoiled me. This is my birthday #bookhaul and I don‘t even know where to begin. I probably won‘t get to any of these until next month. See any favorites that I should prioritize?

When I reread The Great Gatsby, I hadn't really remembered the character of Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy and sometimes narrator. In this retelling, she is the focus, lending a queer, Asian, and sometimes magical perspective. I know I claim to dislike retellings, but I loved this! More in the comments. ↘️

I really enjoyed this retelling of The Great Gatsby from Jordan‘s perspective. I found her character very interesting in the original, so I was glad to have her be the main focus. Vo‘s writing style was gorgeous and she incorporated magic into the story so well that it felt like it was always meant to be there.

This lovely arrived today for #FantasticStrangelings. I‘m in #coverlove! I‘ve seen a few really good reviews for it already 🤍.

I adored this book and rereading Gatsby helped illuminate the mastery of the beats transposed.

I loved the way magic was woven matter-of-factly into the world and how it fit so perfectly with the 20s.

And, listen, I am no Fitzgerald scholar. But the prose in this is exquisite. It‘s reflective and languid while still cutting through. It doesn‘t feel like it‘s trying to mimic Fitzgerald, but complements.
https://youtu.be/miSTWevLde0

Love this Gatsby redo from Jordan‘s perspective (with a dash of magical realism). So many beautiful passages, so many great new looks at classic scenes.

This book is living up to everything so far, and I am very pleased.

How apropos to have my Gatsby (who is my chosen and beautiful girl) model this queer, Asian retelling of The Great Gatsby. *Yes, I‘m adding another book to the pile of “I should see if this one gets me out of my reading slump” books. Fingers crossed!

Nghi Vo's reinvention of The Great Gatsby will spirit you away, hot on the heels of Vo's queer, adopted, Asian-American, amateur paper magician Jordan Baker. Here, the Faustian deals the wealthy make are literal, the prohibited spirits they drink are demonic, and those who were previously cast invisible are spotlighted. The Chosen and the Beautiful is as not-to-be-missed as one of Gatsby's grand parties, but more magical, daring, dazzling, clever.

Love. Love the cover. Love that the lead is a queer Asian American. Love the writing.

This book is filled with atmosphere, wonderful writing, there is a thin thread of magical realism throughout that makes the story feel a bit more extra then just a retelling. I love the Gatsby story, and the Gatsby setting, so this was made for me, but it surpassed my expectations. .