Jordan feels their weight whenever she goes through the Valley of Ashes and when she’s high off demon’s blood, which partygoers in Chosen drink for an extra kick, she destroys the billboard. They’re one of the more ambiguous symbols in Gatsby: they symbolize something different to every character, though Wilson’s noting them as the judgemental eyes of God is the only solid interpretation we get. Take, for example, the eyes of TJ Eckleburg. And one could back that argument with the belief that it’s because of how easy straight, white men had it (and have it). One must admit, whether they love or hate the original novel, that it can be dry and slow-moving. Vo did an exquisite job not only catching and furthering the feel of The Great Gatsby but making it a little more upbeat, even when dealing with heavy topics. Everything I didn’t know I’d always needed. I mean, there are some really fun sex scenes, narrated in a very similar fashion to Gatsby itself. The Chosen and the Beautiful is not cautionary and laid back the way The Great Gatsby is. There has to be a taste of the hellish if the reader is to have fun incorporating people who were practically thought of as evil or magical in the ‘20s. It wouldn’t be throwing a bit of magic into the mix, since it goes so well with all the sinning that must be done in order to breathe new dimensions into The Great Gatsby. It would be turning a blind eye to the theory that Nick is in love with Gatsby (and therefore refusing to pick a side between whether that’s gayification, or a valid possibility). It would not be delving into the difficulties and horrors women faced in an era when saying no to a man was an offense, but removing the unwanted baby he put in you was also unacceptable. Of course, simply getting the story from Jordan’s POV wouldn’t be doing any justice to the people of color who were sitting on the fringes of the source material (oh Nick, you’re good and kind to your Finnish maid! Congrats!). And Jordan is a queer, adopted Vietnamese woman who gets to see the best parts of society but doesn’t get to experience them due to her race.

The Chosen and the Beautiful is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway’s main love interest, Jordan Baker. Let’s face it, literature has stood the test of time better than history, anyway. What I ended up getting was a new mantra: if white men can rewrite history, women of color can rewrite their books. When I picked up Nghi Vo’s debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful, I was excited to get a more femme retelling of one of my favorite books of all time, The Great Gatsby.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo