A review by poachingeggs
Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao

3.0

3 stars ! probably my favorite of gloria chao's books: the references to taiwanese culture and shared experiences of the east asian american experience are pretty relatable and fun, but the dialogue and inside jokes between characters felt contrived and very different from how teenagers actually speak in a way that feels a little bit ~cringy.~ there was definitely a very insta-lovey moment between chase and ali, and it felt like chase could have been any other taiwanese american boy, and ali would've fallen for him anyways just because he shares similar life experiences and doesn't like it when people are racist towards him. however, this felt like one of the most complex books by the author, in terms of the interspersed snippets of the butterfly lovers story, and how everything ties together. though i am a little over the fact that every single one of gloria chao's books feature taiwanese immigrant parents in basically the exact same (negative) way, i do appreciate the dimension that the backstories add to their character. (this is a spoiler, but genuinely how in the world did both ali and chase get into uchicago despite basically burning bridges with all teachers, disrupting class constantly (rightfully, because people were being racist, but still), and literally ditching school less than a month in with no explanation to go to china and chicago ?? like there was all this talk of ali's mom being super into looking at college rankings and demanding that ali does well enough in school to get into a top college, so why in the world would she allow, nay, encourage, her daughter to literally pack up and leave the country like three weeks into school ?? what was the point of them even being in school if they were just going to ditch ?? how did they get into a top college despite not even going to high school ?? college is a scam though lmao i wouldn't put it past them)