Tracy’s Review:

After having watched the movie on an airplane, I decided to read this book out of pure interest in whether or not the movie would be better or the book. Although both are quite good, I find that the book is more enjoyable purely because of the fact that it goes into more detail about the backstories of the families and the underlying problems that fueled the story. The book satirized the fact that it is true that people in Asia, especially the “crazy rich”, focus on a person’s bloodline, ethnicity, and looks rather than their personality or their thoughts. They are quite traditional, and it is something that is mostly unheard of in the West. I enjoyed reading a book that shedded light on the true nature of the rich people in Asia, especially Singapore. The author, Kevin Kwan, is a very good writer who told this story in a very fluid way, and the story flowed well. He also describes certain aspects of society in a very extravagant way, allowing for the reader to also be put into Rachel’s shoes and feel amazed at the sheer richness, for a lack of better terms, that everyone in the story was indulging in. The romance part is also pretty enjoyable, although I find the fact that Rachel didn’t know that Nick was the son of a billionaire family even after dating him for so long to be a little unbelievable, but Kwan allows the reader to be convinced and ultimately forget about that fact when Rachel is ushered into the world of the upper class pretty early on in the book. Overall this book is very immersive, and it is worth a summer read.

Carolyn’s Review:

Final Rating: 5/10

Blurb:
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 has 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.

Review:
Damn, this book made me wish I was a Crazy Rich Asian. Well, I’m Chinese, so I think I’m already halfway there. Too bad I don’t know any great-great grandparents who secretly are loaded and have written a will stating that they will give me their entire fortune. And gosh damn it! I’m also Mainland Chinese AND American-born Chinese, everyone knows that both of those guys are bad news, and being just one of them is horrible enough, but to be BOTH? Unacceptable. And I know that my chances of being a famous heart surgeon in the future are literally nonexistent, so it looks like I’ll never be crazy rich. I’ll just be an Asian then. That doesn’t sound nearly as cool.

This book somehow managed to cover the immense drama of the entire rich and famous Young family, including all of their relatives, such as the Leong family, which is crazy considering how large of a cast that is. The fact that the author managed to keep me from putting this book down through his unique writing style, fascinating characters, and intense, never-ending drama, is admirable. There’s a lot that could’ve gone wrong with this book that this author slipped past. However, there’s still a lot to be desired.

Starting with the positives, this book reads like a TV show, filled with a diverse and abundant cast of characters, with a main plot and multiple subplots that are juggled throughout the book. I think that is why the book worked so well without being boring. This story starts with a relatively simple main plot, a girl named Rachel Chu goes to Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas “Nick” Young, to meet his family. She expects a normal family, perhaps one that is even poor and not as well off as she is, but instead is met with extravagant parties, opulent outfits, and worst of all, egotistical and cold mothers and their daughters who will do anything to get Rachel away from Nick. There are also interesting subplots, such as the story of Astrid as she finds out whether her husband is cheating on her, and how she handles society as a Leong, a powerful and “perfect” family.

It was surprisingly eye-opening how some rich people function in real life, and how dull their lives actually are. 

“I want them to love their family, but to feel a deeper sense of pride in who they are as individuals, Nick, not in how much money they have, what their last name is, or how many generations they go back to whatever dynasty. I’m sorry, but I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of being around all these crazy rich Asians, all these people whose lives revolve around making money, spending money, flaunting money, comparing money, hiding money, controlling others with money, and ruining their lives over money.”

It also taught me more about my own culture that I didn’t know about before, introducing new Asian foods, beliefs, and words that are in different Chinese dialects, without making me feel confused or overwhelmed. I enjoyed listening to the perspective of Eleanor Young, Nicolas’ mother, not because I liked her personality, but because of how she represented a person and a parent I don’t want to be like in the future. She is unfathomably closed-minded, constantly believing that she is always right, no matter what damage or pain she causes. Her perspective on Rachel was particularly interesting because no matter what Rachel did or who she was, she would not be accepted by Eleanor when her mind was set in stone that Rachel was a horrible person and not fit to be Nick’s girlfriend. It didn’t matter if Rachel practically begged at Eleanor’s feet for acceptance or learned all the social customs of how to be someone of high status in Asian society, Eleanor would always find something to nit-pick or hate about her. Eleanor is a horrible mother, and it is a pity that she will only know how to be someone in her own small rich, entitled society because that is all she understands.

When juggling so many different plots and characters, however, it’s easy to get them mixed up or the problems not discussed right away. For example, when Astrid goes through a particularly horrible event, and her chapter ends on a cliffhanger, she is never brought up again until around 70 pages later, which is about 13% of the entire book. This personally ruined my investment in Astrid’s story as well as Rachel’s, which was focused on after Astrid’s chapter, because I was too busy wondering when Astrid’s next chapter would come up. 

The ending of this book felt incredibly rushed. I felt like everyone’s emotions spiraled and changed drastically to happiness so the book could end. It felt like the author got tired of writing for so long, made up an interesting backstory for Rachel, and then decided to end it there. Eleanor got no character development, we didn’t get to see if Nick’s grandmother, Su Yi, regretted her actions when trying to break Nick and Rachel up, and Araminta was hinted at having a rather two-faced personality, but it was never further discussed.

So overall, this book is okay. I will definitely read the next book of the series, but I’m in no hurry to do so. . . Unless I become a Crazy Rich Asian myself.