I was holding off on starting a thread on Cindy Pon's Want because I wanted to see if we could read it for book club in the near future. But since our TBR pile is a mile high and people have been expressing their interest in reading Want, I didn't want to wait any longer. If we do end up reading Cindy Pon's novel for book club, I'll probably move this thread to the Monthly Pick sub-forum.
Personally, I loved reading Want. I'm not Taiwanese, but even I could tell that Pon did a great job making sure that there was authentic representation. There were so many tiny details that only an #ownvoices author could have nailed. Here is my Goodreads review on the book:
"This is how you write a diverse sci-fi novel set in a dystopian Asian country!
Want is essentially a heist novel packed with high stakes, kidnapping, secret identities, hacking, and cool spy gadgets. Cindy Pon's prose is cinematic, making it easy for readers to visualize both the glitzy and gritty sides of a near-future Taipei, where it is plagued with toxic smog and only the rich can afford high-tech medical suits that allows them to breathe clean air.
I absolutely loved how the book opened with a Taiwanese night market. All the food descriptions made me hungry! For a 328-page novel Want explores a wide variety of social and political issues, such as wealth disparity, global warming, and the role of youth in social justice movements.
There is also great diversity within diversity. Our protagonist Jason Zhou is Taiwanese, and his team is made up of different Asian ethnicities as well as sexualities. Victor is Filipino, Arun is Indian, and the two females--the brilliant hacker, Liyngyi, and the badass fighter, Iris--are in a romantic relationship together. What's great about these characters is that there is no tokenization. Their backstories and personalities are well crafted and specific to their culture and upbringing. Each member fits together like a puzzle piece and is vital to their ambitious mission of taking down Jin Corp.
My two main criticisms are that the pace seemed to drag toward the middle of the novel and the romance between Jason and Daiyu seemed clunky at times. Despite it being a little out of character, I would have liked to have seen Jason waver more in his decision to take down Jin Corp. I felt like he was almost too perfect and single-minded in his mission. I think some of the pacing issues could have been remedied with Jason making more grievous mistakes either in his mission or in his relationship with Daiyu."
Personally, I loved reading Want. I'm not Taiwanese, but even I could tell that Pon did a great job making sure that there was authentic representation. There were so many tiny details that only an #ownvoices author could have nailed. Here is my Goodreads review on the book: