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ninetalevixen 's review for:
Loveboat, Taipei
by Abigail Hing Wen
>> Buddy read with Meeghan!
I really, really wanted to like this — my family is from Taiwan, I grew up Chinese-American, I am intimately familiar with the struggle between familial expectations and personal passions, etc, etc. And I like a good YA contemporary.
But this just didn't work for me. I found Ever to be annoyingly judgmental, even closed off to other perspectives (though she does undergo significant character growth by the end, it made it difficult to connect with her during the exposition); I was Not A Fan of the love triangle/quadrangle/whatever the heck was going on there, and the relationships in general felt underdeveloped; weirdly and dismayingly, I didn't really relate to the cultural aspects, either?
A lot of the translations felt off. I suppose it could be regional differences — my family speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese, but I was raised in the USA and I wouldn't consider myself to have native-speaker proficiency. But sometimes the Chinese grammar seems straight-up wrong (in dialogue for characters who are supposed to be native speakers); sometimes the in-text English translations are too literal and/or lose their cultural context beyond what Ever would reasonably perceive.
A lot of the themes and arcs don't come together — or really make me even want to care about them — until the end or very close to it, which made the buildup a slog to get through. The resolutions also felt too quick-and-easy, almost to the point of dismissing the drama and trauma that created the situations, which wasn't satisfying either.
Overall, I found this to be an adequate but not revolutionary premise with disappointing execution. I'm always in support of diverse works and I certainly hope this book resonates with other readers, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
content warnings:
rep:
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CONVERSION: 8.1 / 15 = 3 stars
Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 4 / 10
Emotional Impact: 6 / 10
Development / Flow: 5 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10
Diversity & Social Themes: 4 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: N/A
Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5
Rereadability: N/A
Memorability: 2 / 5
I really, really wanted to like this — my family is from Taiwan, I grew up Chinese-American, I am intimately familiar with the struggle between familial expectations and personal passions, etc, etc. And I like a good YA contemporary.
But this just didn't work for me. I found Ever to be annoyingly judgmental, even closed off to other perspectives (though she does undergo significant character growth by the end, it made it difficult to connect with her during the exposition); I was Not A Fan of the love triangle/quadrangle/whatever the heck was going on there, and the relationships in general felt underdeveloped; weirdly and dismayingly, I didn't really relate to the cultural aspects, either?
A lot of the translations felt off. I suppose it could be regional differences — my family speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese, but I was raised in the USA and I wouldn't consider myself to have native-speaker proficiency. But sometimes the Chinese grammar seems straight-up wrong (in dialogue for characters who are supposed to be native speakers); sometimes the in-text English translations are too literal and/or lose their cultural context beyond what Ever would reasonably perceive.
A lot of the themes and arcs don't come together — or really make me even want to care about them — until the end or very close to it, which made the buildup a slog to get through. The resolutions also felt too quick-and-easy, almost to the point of dismissing the drama and trauma that created the situations, which wasn't satisfying either.
Overall, I found this to be an adequate but not revolutionary premise with disappointing execution. I'm always in support of diverse works and I certainly hope this book resonates with other readers, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
content warnings:
Spoiler
racism & microaggressions (mostly challenged in-text), slut-shaming, infidelity, implied sexual content, (physical) domestic/dating abuse, mentioned threats of self-harm, mentioned precanon parent deathrep:
Spoiler
Chinese-American MC & family, Chinese & Chinese-American secondary & minor characters, secondary characters with dyslexia, minor character with depression-----------
CONVERSION: 8.1 / 15 = 3 stars
Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 4 / 10
Emotional Impact: 6 / 10
Development / Flow: 5 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10
Diversity & Social Themes: 4 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: N/A
Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5
Rereadability: N/A
Memorability: 2 / 5