Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
"How are we supposed to be a part of the community after what you did? We're ostriched, Jing-Jing!"
"Ostracized," I said quietly.
"No, ostriched! So shamed we have to stick our heads in the sand!"
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?
Chloe has a very solid reason for renting a boyfriend, and that is to avoid an arranged marriage to a full-on demon. Her parents, however, are blind to Hongbo’s flaws because of his wealth and prestige. I will not lie, this felt a little stale. While most immigrant parents are strict, I found it hard to believe that any parent would marry their child off to a repulsive character like Hongbo. Still, some people are desperate social climbers, and it has definitely happened in real life, so I was not inclined to hold a grudge.
This predicament means that Chloe has to turn to drastic measures. Why does she lie to her parents, you may ask? This is something that Chloe wrestles with throughout the novel. The gist of it is that she does not want to lose her parents, but she is not willing to take the role they are handing her. Her parents are rigid. They will not accept her if she does not fit the narrow, narrow mold they have laid out for her. She still loves them.
Enter Drew. I have to admit, the idea of a professional stand-in boyfriend was new to me. Apparently, it is a booming business, especially in Asia! Unlike most fake relationship stories we’ve been treated to, Drew is a professional. His one and only job is to impress Chloe’s parents. He’s well experienced and charges an inordinate fee. This adds extra layers to the relationship between Chloe and Drew… after going to all this trouble to prove that Drew is a perfect boyfriend, she now has to deal with the fact that the real Drew is far from perfect.
The characters in this story are relatively flat, which helps make it relatable. For the most part, both Chloe and Drew are relatively mellow people. They choose the path of least resistance whenever possible. The story stumbles a little when the author tries to make us connect with them on a deeper level. Mainly, the novel cruises along on the strength of the plot, and the various hoops that Chloe has to jump through as her Asian parents become more and more desperate. It is rom-com territory, to be honest.
Chloe’s family and community is painted in a slightly stereotypical and toxic way. However, the immigrant experience has so many different shades that it doesn't require a huge imagination to believe her circumstances. Chloe also comes to realize that her experience is not representative of all second generation Asian immigrants. However, the way that Chloe deals with the merging of her two worlds as she grows up is very, very relatable. The slices of culture we see seem natural, but never overpower the story completely.
Yes, this is a story about a second generation Asian immigrant, but it’s really a story about growing up and finding your own path.
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