Blog Tour: Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao [EN/ZH-TW]

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Release Date: November 10th 2020
• Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
• Page Count: 320 pages

Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

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Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Book Depository | IndieBound

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Ta-ke hó*! I am Hsinju (she/they/他), a born-and-raised Taiwanese currently residing in Illinois. Today (November 13th, 2020) is my Hear Our Voices Book Tours blog stop for the adorable Taiwanese American, fake-dating YA romance Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao! Mostly set in Palo Alto with a few chapters in Chicago (yay, Illinois), the story opens with Chloe Wang and her family meeting her boyfriend—ahem—hired boyfriend, whose real name is Drew Chan, for the first time on Thanksgiving.

* “Ta-ke hó” is “hi, everyone” in Taiwanese.

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Contents

1. Synopsis
2. Review as a Taiwanese Reader [EN]
3. 身為臺灣讀者的書評 (Review as a Taiwanese Reader) [ZH-TW]
4. Travel with Chloe
5. 15 Thoughts While Reading
6. About the Author
7. Tour Schedule

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Synopsis

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this incisive romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.

Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ’Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.

Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ’Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.

When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.

But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew—who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ’rent-worthy—her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?

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Review as a Taiwanese Reader [EN]

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Content warnings: sexism, misogyny, classism, fatphobia, arranged marriage, manipulation, disowning, homophobia, a few references to the HP series

“[…] I’m my own knight in shining armor”

Chloe

As a born-and-raised Taiwanese, I was incredibly excited when I first heard about Rent a Boyfriend, a Taiwanese American, fake-dating YA romance. I knew that even though I didn’t grow up in the US, there would be elements in Chloe and Drew’s story that I would recognize. What I didn’t expect was how much of my own life I saw in the book.

Were we all pretending, putting on a better face to fool everyone around us, even our family? […] Did anyone else go by two names and feel like that separated who they were?

Chloe

Chloe Jing-Jing Wang (19, Taiwanese American) is an economics major at UChicago, much to her parents’ dismay. That and the fact that she doesn’t make an effort in dating. When the seemingly eligible bachelor neighbor Hongbo Kuo (25) suddenly proposes to her, Chloe’s parents jump at the chance to marry her off, for fear she might not get a better husband. But Chloe doesn’t plan on sitting around as life happen to her. For Thanksgiving, she hires fake boyfriend Andrew (real name: Drew Chan, 21, Taiwanese American, artist) from Rent for Your ’Rents to convince her parents that a) she does date, and b) her boyfriend Andrew is perfect—son of surgeons and on his way to med school. While everything in Chloe’s life suddenly becomes an ever-growing lie, her and Drew’s feelings for each other is everything but fake.

I thought this was going to be a very light-hearted story with hilarious disasters surrounding Chloe’s huge charade, and in a way, it was, but there were also many conversations that hit home so hard that I find it painful, too. Growing up, I’ve heard countless variations of the comment, “Aiyah, Jing-Jing, I pick at you because you’re my daughter, […] That’s how I show I care. I want you to be the best.” I used to equate being scolded as being loved. And to catch glimpses of my life depicted vividly in this book was both incredible and terrifying: the little ticks and quirks of the parents, the sense of disconnection with tradition and culture, and even some of the baffling values and beliefs.

“If you don’t eat enough, you get in trouble, and two seconds later they turn around and tell you you’re too fat, right? You just can’t win! With . . . anything.”

Drew

Some might think it is ludicrous Chloe’s and Drew’s parents behave the way they do—I wonder, too, but to a certain degree, it is also very true. While I am not sure if Chao had intended to exaggerate all the polar-opposite values Asian Americans face growing up, I wasn’t surprised by any of the dialogue, because I have personally heard tamped down versions of the same things—either directed to me or a friend.

“For me, your poor mǎmá who is constantly worrying about you so much her blood pressure is high. Don’t send me to the grave early!”

Chloe’s mother

In Rent a Boyfriend, all the parents are problematic, and we also have the awful spoiled rich boy Hongbo. I think his character embodies, and is almost a caricature of, snobby, pompous rich guys, and is a stark contrast to guāi (good, well-behaved) boys which parents prefer their daughters to date. The story also briefly touches upon homophobia within the Asian community, and how some Rent for Your ’Rents clients hired fake dates because they weren’t ready to come out.

The story is told in both Chloe’s and Drew’s first-person points of view, letting the readers in more on Chloe’s motives and Drew’s backstory. I love the contrasting themes in the story, such as Chloe’s initial rejection and Drew’s embrace of their cultural roots as well as the balance between falsehood and truth—though Drew fakes for a living, he is true to himself. And I especially love and deeply appreciate the uses of Mandarin and one Taiwanese phrase in the dialogues. I am not sure what the reading experience would be for non-Mandarin-speaking readers, but I love that Rent a Boyfriend really talked me. There were so many instances I laughed out loud because the word choices were so on point. And there are also many details that connect the whole story well.

“We’re older. We have life experiences. Haven’t we taught you to respect your elders?”

Chloe’s father

Drew is incredibly sweet. I love him from the beginning while Chloe fails to treat him well. We see both of them working through their own issues—Chloe’s identities and Drew’s dreams—before they can finally come together with a believable future. And I love how much potential their future holds. Though almost every other character is not very nice, minor characters such as Drew’s roommate Jason, also a Rent for Your ’Rents operator, and his boyfriend Marshall are truly what friends are for.

The way Chao integrated Taiwanese culture into the story is wonderful. Rent a Boyfriend is not only a sweet romance, but also a soul searching journey. The larger story is about being in touch with all of oneself, that bad memories and misunderstandings should never taint one’s wholeness.

I received both physical and electronic ARCs from Simon and Schuster via Hear Our Voices Book Tours.

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身為臺灣讀者的書評 (Review as a Taiwanese Reader) [ZH-TW]

Note that this is an almost direct translation. I wrote the review in English and translated it to Chinese.

內容警語：性別歧視、厭女、階級主義、肥胖歧視、媒妁婚姻、操縱、斷絕親子關係、恐同、提及哈利波特內容

身為土生土長的臺灣人，我初次聽到Rent a Boyfriend（意譯：租男友）這本臺裔美人、假約會的青少年愛情小說時興奮無比。雖然我並非在美國長大，我相信Chloe與Drew的故事會有我認得的文化元素。但我完全沒想到這本書會這麼反映我的人生。

王晶晶（Chloe，19歲，臺裔美人）不顧父母反對在芝加哥大學主修經濟學。王夫婦也對於Chloe不打扮、約會感到失望。當看似黃金單身漢的Hongbo Kuo（25歲）前來提親時，王夫婦迫不及待嫁女兒，害怕錯過這千載難逢的機會。但Chloe不願生活完全被打點。感恩節時，她聘請Andrew（真名：Drew Chan，21歲，臺裔美人，畫家）扮演假男友已說服父母她的確有在約會，而且有一位完美男友：醫生世家並準備從醫。當Chloe的人生變得處處都是騙局，只有她與Drew之間的感情才是真的。

我原本以為這會是一個輕鬆且充滿Chloe荒唐災難的故事。的確是，但當中也有很多對話令我感同身受，讀其來也是有所痛處。從小，我常常聽到類似這樣的話語：「唉呀，晶晶，我挑你毛病是因爲你是我女兒啊⋯⋯這表示我在乎你。我要你做到最棒的自己。」我曾經以為被叨念就是被關愛。而看到我生活的一部份這樣繪聲繪影地呈現在書中令我不敢置信且倍感驚嚇：父母的一些小行為、與傳統及文化感到失聯，乃至於一些荒誕的價值與信念。

也許有些讀者會覺得Chloe與Drew父母的行為太過誇張。雖然我也有些顧慮，但某種程度而言，卻真實無比。我不確定作者是否刻意誇大亞裔美人成長受到的價值衝突，但我並未對任何對話感到驚訝，因為我多多少少都有聽過或聽人轉述過類似的言論。

在Rent a Boyfriend中，所有的父母都不適任，此外還有糟糕透頂、被寵壞了的富家子弟Hongbo。我覺得他這個角色代表所有勢力、自大的有錢人，恰好與父母們挑女婿時所求的「乖」呈現強烈對比。本故事也稍微提及亞洲社群裡的恐同現象，像是有些人會因為還沒打算出櫃而租男友度過家庭聚會。

故事透過Chloe與Drew兩人的第一人稱視角闡述，讓讀者更能了解Chloe的動機與Drew的背景。我非常喜觀故事中的對比主題，像是起初Chloe與Drew分別對自己文化根源的排斥與完全接納，以及真與假的平衡：儘管Drew以假扮男友維生，他事實上更是忠於自己。我特別喜愛書中對話使用的華語以及一句臺語。我並不確定不會華語的讀者會有什麼樣的閱讀經驗，但我喜歡Rent a Boyfriend和我對談到的感覺。閱讀過程中，有數不清的用字精確到令我捧腹。書中也有許多細節將整個故事連串起來。

Drew非常地真摯善良。我從一開始就很喜歡他，但Chloe一直對他不佳。我們看見他們先面對各自的挑戰——Chloe的身份與Drew的夢想——才擁有可信的共同未來。我也非常喜愛他們的未來是如此的充滿潛力。雖然幾乎所有其他角色都不友善，小角色如Drew的室友Jason與他的男友Marshall呈現出真正的友誼。

作者將臺灣文化整合進整個故事令人激賞。Rent a Boyfriend不只是個可愛甜美的愛情故事，更是追尋自我的旅程。巨觀而言，這個故事更是關於尋求深根自己的一切，以及即使過去發生過不好的事情，一個人的完整性並不應因此受到威脅。

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Travel with Chloe

In this part, I will take you on a virtual trip to five places in Taiwan that Rent a Boyfriend had made me think of.

National Taiwan University (國立臺灣大學)

There are multiple mentions of great schools in the US, primarily about med schools. Since National Taiwan University, aka Taídà, is Chloe’s mother’s alma mater and has the best medicine college in Taiwan, it is a must visit.

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National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院)

National Palace Museum houses countless pieces of art throughout the Chinese history. You can take an actual virtual tour on NPM’s official website here. And if you play Animal Crossing, here is NPM’s official open data library. I believe Drew would love this place.

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Miyahara Ophthalmology (宮原眼科)

Miyahara Ophthalmology is no longer a clinic. Located in Taichung in central Taiwan, they now sell delicious ice cream, beverages, and great pineapple cakes. Though pineapple cakes are technically not mooncakes, I think they are close enough.

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Can’t stand the long wait time? Walk a couple blocks to Fourth Credit Union (第四信用合作社), which is no longer a credit union but an ice cream shop, and enjoy yourself.

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CHIMEI Museum (奇美博物館)

Maybe Chloe would enjoy something more… Western. CHIMEI Museum is located in Tainan in southern Taiwan and has the world’s largest violin collection and Asia’s largest fossil collection. You can take a virtual tour here.

The Pier-2 Art Center (駁二藝術特區)

Chloe’s mother is from Kaohsiung, located in the southern part of Taiwan. And Drew is an artist. The Pier-2 Art Center used to be empty warehouses. Nowadays, many exhibitions and artists showcase works there. Maybe Chloe’s mother and Drew can share bits of what they love at this art center.

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15 Thoughts While Reading

1. The cover! Though I’m not usually a fan of covers with real people, I think this one is super cute and very well done!
2. Drew greeted Chloe’s parents with “Ǎyí, Shǔshú hǎo” (阿姨、叔叔好) which translates to “hi, Aunt, Uncle.” I never really thought it makes no sense in English until Chloe tried to process it in her Americanized head.
3. Chloe goes to UChicago! I’m currently in Illinois so that’s kind of cool.
4. Chloe’s mother despises college dropouts. In Mandarin, there is an awful saying that roughly translates to “tens of thousands of activities are worthless; only studying is superior” (萬般皆下品，唯有讀書高). I grew up learning things like this.
5. I love Drew using random Mandarin in his sentences. “Between a shítóu (rock) and a hard place.” Really, Drew?
6. Mooncake points! Basically “brownie points” but Asian. I love this idea! Also, I want to have mooncakes now.
7. Chloe’s Chinglish “Aiyah, Mǎmá, bài tuō yourself” (唉呀，媽媽，拜託yourself) makes perfect sense to me but is unfortunately not translatable.
8. They play Mahjong (麻將)! I miss playing Mahjong. My maternal family only plays it during Lunar New Year and my paternal one doesn’t play it.
9. I used to wonder how people address each other in English during family gatherings. Then I realize they probably one another by first names. In Mandarin, we have an incredibly complicated naming system. Here are a few examples of what relatives are addressed as:
   • Yéye & Nǎinai: paternal grandfather & grandmother
   • Wàigōng & Wàipó: maternal grandfather & grandmother
   • Bóbó & Bómǔ: father’s older brother & his wife
   • Shǔshú & Shěnshēn: father’s younger brother & his wife
   • Ǎyí & Yízhàng: mother’s sister & her husband
   • Táng-: cousin who is father’s brother’s child
   • Biǎu-: cousin who isn’t father’s brother’s child
10. In Rent a Boyfriend, all Romanization of Mandarin is Pinyin. However, Taiwanese people do not use Pinyin, so it is normal if your Taiwanese friend cannot read it. We use another system called Bopomofo, which is not spelled in Latin letters.
11. “Good night, sleep loose.” I think that makes sleeping sound so much more relaxing!
12. Chloe’s mother loves Chinese sausages (sweet and salty) but hates American ones (salty). I think I just found the reason why I love Chinese sausages but dislike German ones.
13. Chloe’s mother went to Taídà! Both my bachelor’s and master’s are from Taídà!
14. “Giǎ xiláng” is “scared to death” in Taiwanese (Tâi-gí)! This is so cool!
15. Let’s end on “filial piety” (孝道)! It was supposed to be a good trait of loving one’s parents but more often than not, it means that one should sacrifice for their parents if need be. Kind of yikes. There is a story collection called “24 filial piety” (二十四孝) and I think one of the stories is about a man who uses his body heat to warm the bed for his parents in the winter and offers himself to hungry mosquitos before his parents go to bed in the summer. I’m not so sure why I learned about this growing up.

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About the Author

Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, Our Wayward Fate, and the upcoming Rent a Boyfriend (Nov 10, 2020). When she’s not writing, you can find her with her husband on the curling ice or hiking the Indiana Dunes. After a brief detour as a dentist, she is now grateful to spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths.

Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.wordpress.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram @GloriacChao.

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Tour Schedule

• November 9
  • Between the Books – Favorite Quotes
  • Books and Strokes – Dream Cast + Journal Spread
  • Bibliomaniac Aza – Review
  • Monique Ocampo Writes – Blog Interview + 15 Thoughts While Reading
• November 10
  • Books N Rae Dunn – Playlist + Book Tag
  • Books, Films, and Tea – Review
  • Between Printed Pages – Book Recs
  • Fictional Booktique – Fan Art + Favorite Quotes
• November 11
  • READING (AS)(I)AN (AM)ERICA – Favorite Quotes
  • The Paper Reels – Playlist 
  • Bookstorm Reads – Video Book Review + Cooking Corner
  • Jenan Reads Books – Original Quiz
• November 12
  • Coast to Coast Reads – Mood Board + Book Aesthetic
  • The Bookish Court – Video Book Review + 15 Thoughts
  • We Are the Last Words – Blog Interview + Look Book
• November 13
  • Geek Declassified – Fan Art + 15 Thoughts 
  • Galaxy Boooooks Blog – Look Book + Video Review
  • Hsinju’s Lit Log – Travel with Chloe + 15 Thoughts While Reading
  • The Mind of a Book Dragon – Review in 5 GIFs + OwnVoices Reflection
• November 14
  • Sometimes Leelynn Reads – Journal Spread + 15 Thoughts While Reading
  • Life of a Random – Mood Board + Review in 5 GIFS + TV/Movie Recs
  • Scoopies and Literature – Favorites Quotes 
• November 15
  • Books Dramas and More – Playlist + Favorite Quotes
  • Phantom Paper – Review
  • The Bookarazzi – TV/Movie/Book Recs
  • Quill Tree Fox – Favorite Quotes + Ownvoices Reflection

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