The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo had a whimsical description, but it really should have just called itself a retelling of the Great Gatsby from a different perspective. Rereading the description, I’m actually frustrated by the ways that I was let down by it.

Let’s start with the element of magic. In the description, Jordan is said to be able to work magic by using paper. In fact, the description makes it seem that Jordan needs to learn the magic in order to save her life or something of that grandure. When executed, it seemed randomly placed throughout the story. Something that she could do, not something that held any weight to the plot or who she is as a person.

That being said, I like that Jordan recognized that she didn’t like hanging out with people who were “like her” because she was no longer an exotic creature. This was the first true insight into the fact that she enjoyed being treated as such, other than a few other moments where she made a point of telling the reader that she was different (usually when her Aunt and Aunt’s older friends were chatting or when someone asked if she was “one of those girls”) race didn’t seem to matter. I’m not sure what “doors” I was expecting to be closed to her, but it did seem that Jordan could float through society unencumbered.

Although, perhaps that was the point. Perhaps, as we saw with her relationship with Nick, there were things that she wanted but couldn’t have and had developed an external persona to cope with those needs. There are moments, for example, where we are given glimpses of her attraction to women and an understanding that the other women saw it as more of a game than she did. Despite those glimpses and her love for Daisy (as noted in the final chapters), you don’t really get a sense that she wants to be in a relationship with any of those women. Is this another limitation based upon society? Considering the book was written in the first person I feel as though the lack of internal dialog is a missed opportunity. I would like like to sit in what it was like to be Asian and Queer in the 1920s a little bit more.

Another thread I would have liked pursued was the moment when Jordan realizes that she may have been taken from her parents. What must that do to a person? It seemed like a big revelation and Jordan didn’t really dwell on it for very long.

All in all, I enjoyed The Chosen and the Beautiful, I just wanted more depth to it. I feel as though I’ve been given the opportunity to know Jordan at a very surface level. Was this the point? If so, why utilize the first-person narrator?

After reading my fill of Nancy Drew, one of the first mystery authors I reached for was Agatha Christie. I still remember picking up And Then There Were None from my Grandmother’s church book sale (I still have the same copy on my bookshelf, over two decades later). It shouldn’t have spoken to me, the cover literally has nothing other than the title and a noose on it. And yet, that was enough for me to pick it up and read the back cover. Since then, I’ve enjoyed many of her other novels and a few of the film adaptations. For January, let’s dive into what happened during her 11 day disappearance with The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (fiction).

In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie. In every way, she became a part of their life––first, both Christies. Then, just Archie. Soon, Nan became Archie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him. Nan’s plot didn’t begin the day she met Archie and Agatha.

It began decades before, in Ireland, when Nan was a young girl. She and the man she loved were a star-crossed couple who were destined to be together––until the Great War, a pandemic, and shameful secrets tore them apart. Then acts of unspeakable cruelty kept them separated.

What drives someone to murder? What will someone do in the name of love? What kind of crime can someone never forgive? Nina de Gramont’s brilliant, unforgettable novel explores these questions and more.