Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen Series: , ,
Published by Harper Collins on January 7, 2020
Genres: Asia, Contemporary, Cultural Heritage, Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 432
Format: Audiobook, Hardcover
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When eighteen-year-old Ever Wongβs parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nineβand her parentsβ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.
Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parentsβ uber-strict rulesβbut how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
ah a ha ah aHhA hahah. this was one of my most anticipated books of 2020. think about it: a YA story set in Taipei that has Crazy Rich Asians energy? um YES. but that was not the case lmao.
here is everything wrong with this book:
- Ever, our MC, has zero substance!!! she simply reacts to the situations around her and is a piece of cardboard. clueless and rebellious. sheβs DUMB (as duck π½). and a child throwing a tantrum. bitch, get over yourself.Β
- iβm personally bitter because sheβs like βi just wanna be a dancer; i feel so trapped listening to my parents who want me to be a doctor.β 1) this is a TERRIBLE ASIAN STEREOTYPE. i know it happens to a lot of families but itβs done so poorly. 2) Ever’s path for pursuing dance is very unrealistic and it does! not! work! like! that!! i guess it could if you just want to open a small studio in a suburban town for the rest of your life. and thatβs a MAYBE. MAAAAAAYBE. conclusion: i never want to read a book where the MC wants to be a dancer or does dance.Β
- the love interests are the same!! very stereotypical βperfectβ male specimen who secretly hates his life and player/bad boi who is secretly soft (to an extent).Β
- the friendships and side characters are also inconsistent and chaotic!!! do you see a pattern here?
- the love triangle makes no sense to me because i honestly donβt understand how any guy would like Ever and yet here we have TWO of the ββhottestβββ guys at this summer program are pinning for her.
- then we have the plot. which somehow makes NO SENSE and is predictable. the plot is pure drama and feels like a bunch of random occurrences that have nothing to do with one another, and yet predictable in that you know the MC is going to go through a Struggle and some sort of climax. then everything is suddenly resolved and youβre like ?????? okay i guess. this makes no sense but LITERALLY NOTHING DOES.Β
- NOW THE NITTY GRITTY aka all the problematic parts!!! i would go Off on it, but breana did a great job in our book club discussion (love her π₯Ί)
!! SPOILERS BELOW !!
okay back to the rant:
- the only reason why i was able to finish was because i forced myself to listen to the audiobook vs actually reading it. and as the book progressed, i continued to up the speed because i was so so excited for it to be over.
- now it really sounds like i hated everything, but i swear thatβs not true! there were a few paragraphs that did a wonderful job at representing Taiwan and Asian culture. i appreciated the food and some minor diversity topics discussed. iβd be specific on what, but i already forgot what it was. the cover is pretty as well.Β
- clearly, this was not my book. but thatβs not to say you wonβt enjoy it! i realize i have the unpopular opinion since many of my friends enjoyed it and rated the story 5/5 stars. who knows! if you plan on reading, donβt get your expectations too high like i did.
side note: i just found out there’s another book and i cannot βΒ for the life of me β understand why you’d need continue this story.
[rating-report]
Thank you so much for your review πππππ
Oh no, I’m so sorry that you disliked it! But at the same time, I’m really happy to see this book coming from you considering you’re a dancer and an Asian yourself. I hate passive MC, but Breanna’s point makes me unsure that I will enjoy this book at all.
Regardless, thank you for writing this review!
YES, THANK YOU!!! I was starting to think something was wrong with me bc all I saw were positive reviews of it everywhere, plus the CRA vibes was definitely played up in the promotion of book so I thought I *had* to love it. Agree with everything you said above PLUS I hated hated HATED how Sophie’s treatment of Ever was just brushed off. It’s disgusting behaviour & it was never really explored as such. In fact, I think the author uses the fact that Sophie gets abused later on as an excuse for what she did to Ever. Not to mention Ever fully manipulated Xavier & how he felt about her.
ARGH. Reading your rant has riled me up again π
π Ngoc
yes!!!!! you’re reminding me more points as to why this book is problematic and frustrating. i’m glad i wasn’t the only one who felt this way, but it’s unfortunate that we both disliked this book. SIGH.
Thank you for your review of this book! It was great!
I thought to maybe give it a chance, but now I won’t. I actually attended Loveboat many years ago and hated it, but I thought to maybe read the book and see if it was entertaining or told from a different perspective. Turns out it was probably always just full of the ugliest people (inside and out).
What I am sharing below is pretty heavy, so please take care while reading:
For other readers who did not attend nor heard of Loveboat before this book, it was basically a government brainwashing camp that happened to be full of rape, bullying, and abuse. Kids as young as 15 were allowed to attend, and there were many people there under 18. The oldest people were about 30. It was “normal” to see a 23-30 year old groom and share a bed with a 15-16 year old. Gender didn’t matter. The kids and perpetrators could be either female and male. The groomed kids were sometimes nicknamed “jailbait.” This is only a small piece of the utter bullshit I saw there.
The only reason I am sharing this is because I want people to get an idea of why abuse and problematic behavior are getting such a free pass in this book. It’s pretty tame compared to the awful things that actually happened there.
I’m reading this book and loving. The author’s writing style and word choice is modern, interesting, and hilarious. I think Ever acts like a restricted Asian American teenager who sees an opportunity to do all things her parents would never let her do. She isn’t dumb, she’s sheltered. Also, this book isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s an exaggeration and it’s hilarious. Ever’s internal dialogue is like a blind dog who’s been released in a meat locker. Her internal conflict in how she was raised and what she wants to do is too funny. Meanwhile, on the outside, she presents herself as a joiner who’s willing to try anything through a cool as a cucumber facade. Ever reminds me of the main character girl in the movie “Superstar.” She gets giddy and excited, then she calms herself down when she is with others. I’m finishing this novel and so far, it’s the funniest and interesting YA novel I’ve read in a long time.