Posted on June 9, 2021 at 2:06 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Perhaps you were among those who cringed at the announcement of Nick, a novel that imagines the earlier years of The Great Gatsby’s narrator.
If so, you might also wince at the latest Gatsby spinoff that we’ve become aware of — or you might find it so different that it actually intrigues.
NPR reviewed The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo and couldn’t stop raving about how deeply compelling it is.
This novel, though, tells the story from the perspective of Jordan Baker — here, a queer Vietnamese woman brought to America as a baby.
Baker still meets Nick Carraway through their mutual acquaintance, Jay Gatsby, but in this iteration, Gatsby “has literally sold his soul,” and his party guests add demon's blood to their cocktails.
We suspect we’re not doing it justice; read writer Jessica P. Wick’s praise for The Chosen and the Beautiful on NPR’s website.
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Categories: Today in Books