The Worst-Kept Secret: Loveboat, Taipei

Torn between her desire to become a dancer and her immigrant parents’ demands that she go to medical school, recent high school graduate Ever Wong tries to split the difference: gaining acceptance into Northwestern’s six-year BS/MD program while applying in secret to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. On the day her NYU acceptance (from the waitlist) arrives, Ever also finds out her parents are sending her to an eight-week Chinese language and culture program in Taipei. Goodbye to enjoying her summer with (non-Asian) friends in her Ohio suburb. After arriving, though, she finds out from roommate Sophie Ha that it isn’t the strict educational program her parents envisioned but “Loveboat,” a barely-supervised opportunity for 500 mostly strictly brought up and high achieving Asian-American teens to drink, party all night, and hook up.

So begins Ever’s highly educational summer, where she finds out the truth about Rick Woo, Sophie’s cousin and the Wonder Boy to whom her parents have compared her, always falling short. She learns about healthy and unhealthy relationships through Rick, his absent but troubled girlfriend Jenna, and Xavier Yeh, the player son of a technology magnate whose connections have gotten him into the program even though he’s a high school dropout who can’t read. Along with the nonstop drama, readers feel Ever’s conflict with her parents, rooted in her respect for the sacrifices they’ve made so she could grow up with more opportunities than they had, and her fear that she can never measure up.

Abigail Hing Wen is a graduate of the Loveboat program, and her debut novel captures (or should I say, spills the secrets of) this experience that affirms its attendees’ culture in both expected and unexpected ways. She portrays convincingly Ever’s journey from a teenager chafing at being “different” while wanting to please her parents to someone with a greater understanding of who she is and why she needs to stand up for herself. In the process, Ever discovers what it really means to be a success – and what it means to be a friend. While Loveboat, Taipei will have special appeal to Asian-American readers (and alumnx of the program), its themes, conflicts, and romantic intrigues make it a delightful read for everyone.