Loveboat, Taipei, in Fiction and Reality
4:26:00 PM
You don't know how excited I've been for Loveboat, Taipei. Among my many identities, Taiwanese American is one of them, and I was even more excited that there was finally going to be a YA book about Loveboat. I didn't know about Loveboat when I was young, but sometime in late high school, I started hearing about it. Operating relatively globally, my parents, who grew up in Brazil, had attended Loveboat, and one or two summers before I ended up going, my cousins also went on the trip. So the summer after freshman year of college, it was my turn to go.
Loveboat is, and can be, many things, but drama-filled is certainly a cornerstone of it. Loveboat, Taipei doesn't really fit my own experiences for many reasons (nor did I expect it to), but I think that the book captures the drama and romance and rule-breaking so accurately. Set against the backdrop of Taipei, the book sadly doesn't actually tell you all that much about Taiwan or Taipei, but I was surprised to find that by the end, I realized how much heart there is to the story.
The beginning of the book is quite slow, and I found it difficult to get through. There was a lot of set up that I do think was important to Ever’s character growth by the end. I almost groaned at yet another book, especially one with a Taiwanese American main character, with the typical ultra-strict parents stereotype. But I get it. My parents didn’t grow up in Taiwan, and many of my friends did have varying levels of such strict parents.
I also loved the way dance was fused into Ever’s character and to her story. Another Taiwanese American MC who dances and a wide range of styles too. I really connected to the way her parents approached her dancing - fine as a hobby they will pay for and might help me get into college but not as a viable career path (and don’t I dare think about studying dance!!)
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| Me trying to lead a dance class for my non-dance Taiwan friends |
Anyway, the early stages of Ever being in Taiwan was also a bit slow for me. We got glimpses of deeper insight how she felt to be an American in Taiwan, a place she barely knows. Like I said, I was really expecting more on the atmosphere and setting. With a few exceptions and the fact that Loveboat is quite uniquely Taiwanese (I think maybe only Birthright is similar), this book could have taken place almost anywhere.
All that said, a little past halfway through the book really started picking up and got really good! The characters are really well written and are complex. The dynamics of their cohort was well done, and although again it didn’t fit my Loveboat experience, I easily connected it to how the program must’ve been like for my classmates. And rest assured, below I’ll talk more about my own experience.
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| Keelung's famous night market |
The love triangle is one of the best I’ve ever read. Although I suspected which guy Ever would end up with, there were several times when I second guessed and was so compelled to keep reading so that I could find how which one she’d end up with. That suspense is one of the best parts of the book.
In addition, Loveboat, Taipei does a good job of handling friendships, especially ones formed over the course of a program such as Loveboat. I thought it was incredibly realistic, and there was almost as much of a focus on this aspect as with the romantic relationships. It shows flawed relationships, people making mistakes, and them genuinely making it up to one another.
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| Me and my Taiwan roommates / friends |
The actual best part, however, is Ever’s character growth in particular. There were a few choices the author made that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but Ever’s rebellious actions was mostly believable. And I was pleasantly surprised with the complexity and acceptance Ever reached by the end of the book. Her life isn’t perfect and she isn’t perfect by the end, but she is able to handle her family situation with grace and compassion and humility, firm in who she is and what she wants but also understanding of her parents and willing to hold space for them. She sees her mistakes and actively makes up for them and for the hurt she caused. And she helped others to go on their paths too. Although some parts of this transformation felt a little forced, for the most part, the journey was very well crafted and meaningful, and you could trace how she got there. Again, truly one of the best character arcs I’ve seen in a while.
While Loveboat, Taipei wasn't the perfect book, I'm glad it exists and think that it does its most important parts extremely well. The tension and conflict is so real and tangible and kept me reading. I am a very biased reader of this book, so I think a lot of my personal qualms with it could be non-issues for most others. Either way, I'd recommend picking up the book!
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I must say, it was quite fun to imagine how the other half lived during Loveboat. Let me tell you a bit more about my personal experience in Taiwan. Loveboat has had many forms and actually now varies quite a bit from country to country. I, too, did a 6 week program, but we were informed somewhat last minute that we would not be in Taipei for the program. Because of Loveboat’s reputation, the usual university did not want to host the program, instead opting to host other international students. So we were placed in Keelung instead. Keelung is near the northern tip of Taiwan, a port city, and about an hour train ride from Taipei.
My roommates, unlike most in the program, slept early and rarely wanted to go out at night. We did make weekend trips to Taipei (as you can imagine it was also much more difficult to sneak out from Keelung and none of the three of us really wanted to try anyway) and did a lot with just the three of us. And I didn’t like most of the other students, who were either way more into Taiwanese culture than me (that triple identity part of me never felt so out of place than among Taiwanese Americans I thought I’d understand and found I barely did) or just personalities that really don’t match with mine. I mostly don’t regret it, but it really wasn’t like the typical Loveboat experience. There were certainly others who had that heavy drama-filled experience, and I saw some of it and got roped in loosely to some, but for the most part, it was all very outside of my own circle.
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| Me and my roommates at Elephant Mountain |
I was placed in the 6th level, the highest, even though I actually didn’t do too great on the placement exam. I just did better than the majority of students, who scored 50 or below (I think I got 74 or something). Unfortunately for me, because I was in the highest class, my class was mostly people who were really passionate about learning Mandarin, love Taiwanese popular culture (movies, music, dramas), and were really good at Chinese. I felt so out of place and out my depth. At least one of my roommates was in the class with me. I spoke to my teachers about at least dropping me down a level, but they refused. So I spent so much time studying, just to try to catch up on the basics and keep up with the basic level of my class. I probably could have failed my classes if I wanted to, but that’s not my nature. But before getting to Taiwan, I had thought that maybe I was ready to slowly go back to learning Mandarin again. I quickly realized I was not and that after so many years of horrible Chinese school experiences, I was still too traumatized and still hated learning Mandarin in a way that I never hate learning Spanish.
As you can imagine, then, I didn’t skip very many classes. We did have other culture classes and such that I definitely hated and maybe skipped some classes of, though...
We also had to do a performance at the end of the program, which was tied to a “masquerade ball” that was really the dumbest thing and which we all hated. Anyway, each class worked on a different performance, and being in the highest class, with the only students who actually cared about class and wanted to do, of course my classmates were super enthusiastic about it. I promise I groaned and complained the entire time and definitely skipped as much of it as I could and did the very bare minimum. 
All of this is to say that I had a very complicated relationship with my time in Taiwan. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and I’m still processing a lot of it. To be Taiwanese American in Taiwan is an experience... But going to Taiwan also helped me to reconnect with my Asian heritage and really jump started my journey of reclaiming that part of my identity and working through my internalized racism.
My mom, grandma, and I went to Taiwan a week early and took a tour around the major parts of the island, and I’m so glad we did that because Loveboat is such a particular experience and one that I had a hard time with. But during the tour, I saw some of the most beautiful sceneries, ate food I didn’t even know existed, and learned more about Taiwan and about my family history. While in Taiwan I also got to see family I knew, as well as family I had never known before, which was so interesting. I learned from my great uncle that my dad and his family had actually left by boat to Brazil from Keelung, only a short walk away from the university we were at. That felt particularly powerful. I also got to go hiking with my aunt and cousin (we’re actually a short distance “removed” by English measures that I don’t completely understand) and saw the freaking Milky Way Galaxy, an experience that really triggered my love for hiking. I spent so much time walking through night markets, drinking bubble tea and eating the most delicious food (seriously, I think I miss the food the most). I have a good relationship with my roommates, still. One visited this past year, and I’ll be seeing another when I’m in Switzerland for work.
I don’t think Loveboat was the earth shattering experience for me that it is for others. I definitely didn’t hook up with anyone or whatever. I don’t know that it had any profound impact on who I am at the end of the day other than making me re-examine my identity and reclaim that part of my heritage. I made some amazing new memories and some new friends. Maybe one day I’ll start studying Mandarin again, but I know that’s much further in my future now. When I first left, I said that I would definitely want to revisit Taiwan but not for another few years at least, and now that there’s been some distance and lots of learning and unpacking, I do feel ready - already! - to go back.
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When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s 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 nine—and her parents’ 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 parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
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 parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
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3 comments
I loved reading this review, and all about how aspects of the book fit into your life. Can't wait to read this one :)
ReplyDeleteMegan S.
Aww, thanks so much! Would love to know what you think of the book after you've read it. :)
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