Date: November 15, 2025
Author: Celeste Ng
Genre: Dystopian, literary fiction
P. 60 ‘The news calls China our greatest long-term threat…’
Imagine the chaos that statement could stir up.
This story dove deep into the horrors of racism, its aim directed towards any and all members of the Asian persuasion. The story is told of an America very similar to Nazi Germany. When the Nazi beliefs were first becoming popular and the population was assimilating to all the propaganda, stirring up such extreme hatred and, in turn, violence. That is how this America seems to me.
Bird, a young lad ((of mixed Asian and Caucasian descent), (in this portrayal of America, very scary in-deed)), discovers through a riddle from his mother, her hiding place, where she (the Asian of the two parents) had fled to so long ago, in fear of her life. All the way to NY, sending little Bird on an epic journey to find her. To help Bird deal with this intensely terrifying journey he envisions himself as a fierce knight in a fairy tale. His bravery, his badge of honor.
There’s a scene where a woman is brutally attacked in the streets and young Bird can only stand in horror and watch. Terrified the attacker was going to cross the street and get him next. It was horrific to read how people on the streets turned and walked away, shopkeepers shut their front doors so they could block out what was going on outside. And Bird was so young and little he could be of no help against this giant brute of a man.
Day 3 reading: Margaret (Bird’s mom, yes, he finds her!) & Bird have been hiding bottle caps throughout NYC. The author doesn’t say specifically what they are to be used for but I’m wondering if she plans on blowing up NY with hundreds of tiny little explosions? Like the one that took out her mailbox, when as a child her family was moving into their first ever family home?
I don’t know, but what I do know is the police are searching for Margaret (Bird’s mom), wanting someone’s shoulders to lay all the blame on for everything wrong in this fictional(?) America, and Bird’s mom has become their patsy.
Has she had enough of this racist nonsense and is ready to return the sentiment in-kind? With hatred? It appears so, though I cannot coincide a violent outcome with the beauty and love woven like silk through Mz. Ng’s story.
OMG! I knew this couldn’t be a book about vengeance. *Spoiler Alert these bottle caps are not bombs but in fact tiny little radios with speakers that pack a punch in volume, the broadcast can be heard from a whole block away! Little devices built to catch a very specific frequency and almost all 2000 that Margaret planted throughout the city and every borough into gross little hiding spots in hopes of curbing the finder’s enthusiasm towards destroying the devices, are ready to go! All fingers crossed they work.
Examples of gross hiding spots included, but were not limited to:
· dead squirrels
· piles of feces
· etc.
Success! When the time came to broadcast, all the little devices were up and running! Ready to share her truth and the truth of all the families affected by this racist movement. Will the population of New York City, and beyond, turn their heads and act like they hadn’t heard the message? When we all know they had, thus rendering all Margaret’s work and subsequent arrest moot? Or will they pick up the torch of truth where it was dropped when the police found Margaret’s broadcasting hidey hole?
Fun fact: Crabs like chicken. To successfully crab-hunt, all you need, other than an ocean, is a chicken bone, string, and patience. A net may be helpful as well.