Through Jordan and another acquaintance named Nick, Gatsby devises a plan to reunite with his one true love, even though he knows she’s married another man. Now Gatsby has returned from the war and has moved into a huge mansion in East Egg, but he has never forgotten Daisy. Daisy had a brief affair with a man named Jay Gatsby, but they lost touch several years ago. Jordan’s best friend is Daisy Buchanan, a young married woman whose husband is seeing several women on the side and not really hiding that fact from his wife. The story is told by Jordan Baker, who in Vo’s version of The Great Gatsby is a Vietnamese immigrant, adopted by the well-off Baker family and brought to America at a young age. But as far as atmosphere goes, you can’t do much better than this, and despite a few issues I had with the overall plot, I’m so glad I had the chance to read this book. This means that some important events are off page, which makes the story feel a bit distant at times. The story itself meanders back and forth from past to present, and it’s told entirely from Jordan’s perspective. However, if you’re looking for a plot-driven tale, this might disappoint you. But what makes this so different is the subtle magic that Vo adds to her story, which was one of my favorite elements. The main plot involves Gatsby’s obsession over his old paramour Daisy and how he draws Nick and Jordan into his scheme to win her over.

If you’re familiar with the source material, you’ll immediately recognize lots of familiar elements: the characters (Jay Gatsby, Nick Carroway, Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker), the setting (East Egg and West Egg), the time period (1922) and even the story beats. Leave it to Tor.com to bring us this unusual, magical and gorgeously written story, based on the famous classic, The Great Gatsby. It was real, and I doubted more than one or two had ever been printed. It felt heavy in my hand with all the weight of an imperial summons. It was good paper, deep red as if dipped in blood, with gold lettering sunk into the card stock. He drew the invitation from his jacket, and I turned it over in my hands. The nitty-gritty: A strange and magical reimagining of The Great Gatsby, The Chosen and the Beautiful is full of spellbinding imagery and glorious prose.

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo