Author : Kevin Kwan
Publication date :
June 11th 2013
by Doubleday
I discovered Crazy Rich Asians on Buzzfeed, although I forgot the title of the post. Sometimes Buzzfeed gives a little unusual book recommendation and this got me attracted. The title is intriguing, the blurb is interesting, but I wasn't in the mood to read funny book at that time, so it had to wait for a while. My first impression of Crazy Rich Asians is the book is quite long for a humor book and I kind of hoped that it wasn't infested with unnecessary filler.
Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young were lovers. Nick's best friend was getting married in Singapore and invited him to come as his best man. Nick then asked Rachel to come with him to Singapore because he also wanted to introduce her to his family and in Singapore Rachel found out that she knew very little about nick and quite shocked about it.
All right, Crazy Rich Asians is totally different with the stereotypical Harlequin romance of millionaires. This is the wildest I've come so far. Phew, what a read! This is also the book that makes me think "maybe I don't want to be that rich" and when it comes to the good and pampering side "oh, maybe I do!". This Singapore Chinese were so uptight and standoffish when it comes to choosing son/daughter in laws and they believed everything is about money (and bloodlines, of course).
"So why not do it? The wedding isn't until next week, but if you're already this miserable, why not call it off?"
"You know this merger has been choreographed down to the most minute detail, and this is how it's going to be. It's good for business, and anything that's good for business is good for the family," Colin said bitterly.
Such a shame!
However, those annoying facts didn't annoy me, thanks to the author. He did a great job is making them humorous, even hysterical. As an Asian, I am confident enough to tell you that this Crazy Rich Asians do exists in real life and you know, they make rich celebrity look like peasants. Imagine that!
I wish that the characters to be more human though, this is my only criticism for the book. They are likable, but very flat, it's hard to care or fall in love with them. I like Astrid, anyway and she's not even the main character, but she has the most potential to be a very strong one, if Kwan is willing to do more work to polish her. Now that I have my hands on book two, I certainly hope things will get better. Here's a quote about Astrid, still about money:
She had lived the first eighteen years of her life surrounded by people who had money but claimed not to, people who preferred to hand things down rather than buying them new, people who simply didn't know how to enjoy their good fortune. Spending money the Charlie Wu way was absolutely exhilarating -- honestly, it was better than sex.
4 rating for Crazy Rich Asians. I would have given it 5 if only the characters were more alive. It's a very good and entertaining read, especially since this is Kwan's debut novel and the story is pretty much unpredictable. My suggestions to you is not to take this book too seriously. I believe it's a good book to read between serious novels, to ease your mind a little bit. After all, we also read because it's entertaining, right? So, what have you been reading lately? Have you come across a debut novel that's actually good? What is it?
Check this novel for another read set in Singapore :
Review : The Moonlight Palace by Liz Rosenberg
Check this novel for another read set in Singapore :
Review : The Moonlight Palace by Liz Rosenberg
