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A review by jjandherbooks
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
3.0
3.8 stars ahaha
Okay... I initially picked this up because it was set in Taipei haha but I don't know if it lived up to my expectations or not. I think that this book addresses many important things, especially from the Asian American viewpoint, such as identity, racism, mental health, relationship with parents, etc. The author does go for it, and I think that she brought some of the issues up in a way that didn't make "bumps" in the plot, but it just wasn't executed well after that. It felt sort of rushed, and the other things like the rather strange love triangle and crumbling friendships kind of overtook those. This was the author's first novel, I don't think she did too bad, and I was still able to connect with the text on some level.
Now let's talk about characters. Ever was... ok? She was fine at the beginning, but in the middle of the book, I was pretty confused about whether I liked her or not. She kind of annoyed me half the time, and I think the author wanted to prove Ever's character development, but it kind of went downhill, and she "developed" in a few brief moments towards the end. Obviously, not all humans are perfect, and this type of character development is totally valid, but it was still had my brain scrambled when I was trying to figure out who Ever was as a person. I think she mainly grew off her interactions with others, which was also interesting. Xavier was also very confusing to me because we get introduced to him as this player who's confident and loud (?) but then he just randomly changes and is actually quite reserved and artistic. I don't know if I missed something, but I was like what just happened there.
I mean... other than that the plot was okay. We had conflict and consequences, and it was entertaining enough to make me finish the book. It was a mix of "rebellious teenage girl" and "artsy teenage girl" and romance so it was fine?
Also the setting! I love Taiwan, but I don't think that was the main point of this book lol. The author got the night markets down, kind of? But I felt like I was reading it from a tourist point of view, which was interesting enough for me.
I feel like I said interesting so many times oops anyways I think it was a good read. It talks about lots of worthy topics, and the romance is sweet at some points, and overall wasn't a complete waste of time. (shrug)
Okay... I initially picked this up because it was set in Taipei haha but I don't know if it lived up to my expectations or not. I think that this book addresses many important things, especially from the Asian American viewpoint, such as identity, racism, mental health, relationship with parents, etc. The author does go for it, and I think that she brought some of the issues up in a way that didn't make "bumps" in the plot, but it just wasn't executed well after that. It felt sort of rushed, and the other things like the rather strange love triangle and crumbling friendships kind of overtook those. This was the author's first novel, I don't think she did too bad, and I was still able to connect with the text on some level.
Now let's talk about characters. Ever was... ok? She was fine at the beginning, but in the middle of the book, I was pretty confused about whether I liked her or not. She kind of annoyed me half the time, and I think the author wanted to prove Ever's character development, but it kind of went downhill, and she "developed" in a few brief moments towards the end. Obviously, not all humans are perfect, and this type of character development is totally valid, but it was still had my brain scrambled when I was trying to figure out who Ever was as a person. I think she mainly grew off her interactions with others, which was also interesting. Xavier was also very confusing to me because we get introduced to him as this player who's confident and loud (?) but then he just randomly changes and is actually quite reserved and artistic. I don't know if I missed something, but I was like what just happened there.
I mean... other than that the plot was okay. We had conflict and consequences, and it was entertaining enough to make me finish the book. It was a mix of "rebellious teenage girl" and "artsy teenage girl" and romance so it was fine?
Also the setting! I love Taiwan, but I don't think that was the main point of this book lol. The author got the night markets down, kind of? But I felt like I was reading it from a tourist point of view, which was interesting enough for me.
I feel like I said interesting so many times oops anyways I think it was a good read. It talks about lots of worthy topics, and the romance is sweet at some points, and overall wasn't a complete waste of time. (shrug)