Today's review is of Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.
"Nobody is ever going to come from 'the right background' in your eyes," Nick scoffed.
"I'm only telling you what everyone is already thinking, Nick. You haven't heard the horrible things I've heard. Do you know her family comes from Mainland China?"
"Stop it, Mum. I'm so fed up with this ridiculous snobbery you and your friends have toward the Mainland Chinese. We are all Chinese. Just because some people actually work for their money doesn't mean they are beneath you." -Crazy Rich Asians, p. 436
Kwan's book opens with a scene in a hotel lobby. Three (not yet known if Crazy or not) Rich Asian women, each accompanied by one of their children, are turned away from staying in this particular luxurious, historic hotel. Although the woman are frustrated, they keep their calm and instead use their connections (after all, they are rich) to enact justice. Meanwhile, we briefly get to know their three children, who together entertain themselves by playing pretend and ordering drinks from the hotel's bar.
After this opening scene, the three children (but as grownups) are the three main people we follow for the rest of the book. We have Nick, Astrid, and Eddie.
Now, herein lies the issue. But I'll get back to that in a second.
What kept me speeding through this book is Nick's story. Born into a wealthy family, he has chosen to live his life as a professor in New York City. He is dating Rachel, also Asian, who grew up in the States. She has no idea that Nick is wealthy. After dating for two years, Nick invites Rachel to go back to Singapore with him to meet his family and attend his best friend's wedding with him. What Rachel doesn't know (other than of Nick's affluence) is that Nick's mom is crazy and rich. She makes it her job to find out who Rachel is and split them up, yes, even before meeting Rachel.
For whatever reason, Kwan also decides to give us a lot of time with Astrid and Eddie, Nick's cousins. This is where I found the book to have problems. I didn't think that Astrid and Eddie's storylines added anything special to the bigger plot. We learn that Astrid is beautiful, loves to buy clothes, is married to a man who doesn't have as much money as her, and they have one son. To try to make her storyline more than that was a waste of time. Then we have Eddie. He is married, has three children, is not only obsessed with clothing (for himself and his entire family) but is obsessed for the purpose of being photographed. He is mean to his children and wife due to this infatuation. We also learn that he often cheats on his wife.
In some ways, Astrid and Eddie's stories show us how different Nick is (thus serving as his foil) but there was nothing about either of them that I thought was interesting enough to write more than a paragraph.
Instead, I would have really loved to hear more about Nick's mom Eleanor's background. She treats Rachel like absolute dirt, but there's a drive, a passion there that makes her much more fascinating than her spoiled niece and nephew. If Kwan had delved further into Eleanor's past, perhaps giving us flashbacks of her relationship with Nick, I would have truly enjoyed this book. Towards the end, Eleanor makes the statement that she sacrificed so much to make Nick his grandmother's favorite, thus setting him up to be the heir to the family fortune. Sadly, we never get to experience the said sacrifices. We are rather given flashbacks of Astrid's ex-boyfriend taking her on a shopping spree, Eddie's thoughts on how cheap his parents are and the jealousy he had towards his friends because of his parents parsimonious ways, and only shallow interactions between Eleanor and her other crazy, rich friends.
The book also has quite a few crass moments that could have been left out (Colin's bachelor party, the information about things Nick did as a teenager that go against his character and personality). These parts of the book reminded me how some movies seem to throw in "the F word" so that they get a more mature movie rating. The tasteless incidents Kwan included made the book unnecessarily dirty without adding depth to characters, deeper understanding of experience, or aiding in the opinion of the author's writing. Honestly, that is what is a shame. Kwan is a good writer and the foundation of his storytelling ability is absolutely there. However, I think he should have focused on developing his most intriguing characters and also stay true to who intially presented them to be rather than including superfluous vulgar details.
Why would I recommend this book? I loved the setting! I loved the Asian characters. As someone who is married to a Korean-American and living in Asia, I seriously enjoyed reading a book in English that had an All-Asian character cast. I loved how Kwan tried to use this book to educate the reader on Singaporean culture, but he did so in a humorous, fun manner. I love how he was honest about the disdain towards Mainland Chinese but did so with intelligence as he uses the characters to remind us (and the other characters) that they all originally came from the Mainland. Seriously, that was when I realized that Kwan is such a good writer (Eleanor and her crew going to ShenZhen was one of my absolute favorite parts of the book). Overall, a fun, quick read that would be difficult to not enjoy.
