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Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy Book 1)
Envisioning a summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl.
- Release Date
- 2013
- Length
- 403 pages
- Publisher
- Doubleday
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Our Review
About the book
New York professor Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nick Young, unaware that his family is one of the wealthiest in Asia. Her arrival sets off gossip, scheming and judgment among relatives and socialites.
Our review
Kwan’s glittering satire of old and new Singapore money is smarter than its champagne surface suggests.
Kwan writes about absurd wealth with the eye of an insider and the timing of a comic novelist. The private jets, couture fittings and island bachelor parties are fun on their own, but what makes Crazy Rich Asians stick is its sharp sense of hierarchy: who came from which island, which dialect, which generation of fortune. Rachel, an outsider who is far from naive, gives us an anchor amid the excess.
The ensemble is enormous, and the book sometimes feels like a gossip column, hopping between cousins whose subplots never fully connect. Footnotes explaining slang and references are often hilarious, though occasionally they slow things down. Astrid’s storyline is the most emotionally resonant, and we wished the novel gave her even more room. Overall it is a lively social comedy with real bite.
What we loved
- Kwan’s witty, footnoted commentary
- A vivid portrait of Singapore’s food and social codes
- Astrid’s quietly moving subplot
Keep in mind
- A sprawling cast makes the middle feel scattered
- Some characters are more caricature than person
Read it if you like
Readers who like social comedies such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada.
The verdict
A funny, extravagant comedy of manners whose wit outlasts its many shopping sprees.
