Like its source material, The Chosen and the Beautiful is set in 1920s America – particularly 1920s New York where glittering excess is the norm, and magic lurks amidst its drama and mysteries. The Chosen and the Beautiful is a retelling of the American classic The Great Gatsby, reimagining its breakout character Jordan Baker as a queer, Asian woman who had been adopted from northern Vietnam (many in the book call it “Tonkin”).

Naturally, I had high expectations for The Chosen and the Beautiful.ĭid it deliver? Stay tuned to find out. Marketing further flamed the hype with promises of magic, infernal pacts, and elemental mysteries. With that said, though, I was excited when I heard of Nghi Vo writing a re-imagining of the book, with Jordan Baker at its centrepiece as a queer, Vietnamese adopted woman. Scott Fitzgerald, and my familiarity with the book had become rusty. I have to admit – it had been a long time since I read The Great Gatsby by F. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She’s also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.īut the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society-she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age.

The chosen and the beautiful book