**Origami Permutations on Wealth **
Origami was never about the finished product. For me, it was the act of folding, taking an inert shape and transforming it into something unrecognizable, and doing so through crisp folds neatly executed. The Chosen and the Beautiful feels like Origami. Nghi Vo takes the story and material of Great Gatsby but folds it differently, with just enough wrinkles to keep a reader spellbound.
Rather than tell the story from the perspective of the cardboard cutout Nick, Vo focuses on Jordan Baker: queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers. Vo captures the spirit of cultural unease lyrically: Being a guest suited me […] and as I went along I was turning into a marvelous mimic. I copied the Featherstone’s polished manners, the Banner’s midatlantic accent, and the Wilkens easy command of those they deemed their social inferiors, which was to say, everyone. I learned the trick of simply assuming I was welcome wherever I went, and for the most part, I was. I was clever enough to know that it was my exotic looks and faintly tragic history that made me such an attractive curiosity.
Culture may be the backdrop, but the theme is about wealth. There’s no point in subtlety with Vo: Daisy Buchanan was, underneath her dress waving surrender and her face waving like a flower, a rather handsome and lazy monster. In this version of New York, struggles for wealth open the literal gates to hell. As inequality returns to historical trends in America, stories of the Belle Epoch and roaring 20’s deserve to be retold. Nghi Vo brings a spellbinding twist to Great Gatsby, with enough new flavors and dimensions to keep me up through the night.
**52nd book of 2021 **