At the beginning, the reader is rooting for Ever, but as the story goes on, it becomes difficult to empathize with her. The way that the author has written the beginning of Ever’s character arc is truly wonderful and has the potential to resonate with thousands of teens around the world who are going through a similar complex.Īlthough Ever’s character arc sounded promising, the characterization in this novel was done fairly poorly. This notion of heavy expectations makes Ever feel restricted and claustrophobic in a way, so when she gets the chance to live life by her own rules when she is in Taiwan, she is relieved and uses her newfound freedom to really discover who she is and what she wants in life. She feels guilty about disappointing her parents after everything they’ve done for her, so she caves into their expectations and reluctantly agrees to attend the camp. Because Ever has grown up in a westernized environment, it is also important to them that she has an appreciation and a deeper understanding of her heritage. In their eyes, dancing is a fruitless activity that doesn’t guarantee their daughter any success in the future. They aren’t encouraging of Ever’s passion for dancing because they would rather her focus on her academics so that she can get ahead in life. Her parents are, however, overbearing and extremely restrictive. Ever understands the huge sacrifices that her parents have made and are still making in order for her to be where she is today, and she loves them fiercely because of that. The quote above perfectly sums this theme up within the novel. I would emigrate to a foreign country and give up dancing to unwrap blood-soaked bandages every hour of every day if it meant food and shelter for my family.

I would die for my family if I needed to.

One of the standouts of the novel was perhaps the representation of Asian culture and characters that it provided (most of the characters in this novel were Asian) and Ever’s complicated relationship with her parents. Although the story is very clearly set in Taiwan and places an overarching focus on that culture, something undoubtedly feels… missing. While the novel does give the reader insight into the various different sides of Taiwan (for example, when Ever ends up doing a shot that consists entirely of a freshly dead snake’s blood), I anticipated more than what I got. Just from the synopsis, readers develop the expectation that Loveboat, Taipei will explore multiple aspects of Taiwan both as a country as a whole and in the context of the Chien Tan camp after all, it’s in the name. Right off the bat, one of the central themes in the novel is Taiwanese culture.

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen