Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Series: Crazy Rich Asians #1

Published by: Doubleday in June 2013

Pages: 527

Source: Purchased by Me

Genres: Contemporary, Social Conflict, Domestic Fiction, Asia

"When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country's most eligible bachelor.

On Nick's arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers. (Source: Goodreads)

My Thoughts: I’ll start off with a warning: DO NOT be intimidated by the scope of this novel. Before it even begins, there is an extensive family tree (you will only become extremely familiar with about 1/8 of them, so do not cry!) which is more than a little intimidating.

The Family Tree:

I originally started reading this book in January 2016 shortly after purchasing it and was almost immediately crushed by anxiety. I read less than 100 pages and had about 50 sticky notes on the pages in an attempt to track all of the introduced characters and their characterization. This scared me away from this book and I kept putting off reading it every time I would come back to my TBR shelf.

The proof: 

HOWEVER, I am happy to announce that upon picking it up again this month, I was able to complete it in less than a week. Not only that, but when I was not reading it, I found myself itching to read it. I would often stop what I was doing and find my way back to the pages in order to get another taste, to see what drama was going to happen next, and to see if anyone would end up happy by the conclusion!

I want to mention that this novel portrays only a small scope of what the crazy rich must act like, especially in Singapore. We all like to imagine how ridiculous people in tabloids act and spend their ‘well-earned’ money, but Crazy Rich Asians puts American billionaires to shame. Although I wasn’t personally familiar with 99% of the locations or food dishes that were introduced in this novel (and honestly didn’t have time to look them all up), Kwan did an amazing job at describing and building these extravagant scenes with words. I feel it was extremely easy to relate to our main character, Rachel, who has grown up with a single mom who struggled to make it in America. Most readers’ jaws will drop (like mine) when they realize how fantastical and mythical these characters live.

There was also such a sense of drama and social combativeness in this novel. Women against women, families trying to ‘preserve’ their good names, and throwing gossip around like a Real Housewife would throw a cocktail in someone’s face. I would categorize this book as a contemporary romance-ish because it deals with super-wealthy people and their relationships (ups, downs, and all over the place), and that’s honestly not generally a genre I dip my toes into. It’s not heavily bogged down with romance though, and honestly it’s more about world-building and allowing the reader to understand the complex relationships that these people have with money.

I think the quickness with which I completed this novel really solidifies how much I loved it. It wasn’t too light and airy that it was a throwaway novel, but something about the frivolous spending of money and the carelessness of some of the wealthy people’s actions sweeps you up into their lifestyle. I started to think ‘Yeah, so what if she spends another $250,000 on a dress? That’s less than she makes in a few weeks!’ I was wrapped up in this world and I’m excited to read the next two novels.. And to also check out the movie that will hopefully be coming out by 2018!

My Rating: ★★★★★