Books Again!
During September and October 2019 I got a chance to read the entire trilogy of Crazy Rich Asians. I saw the movie in 2018 and absolutely adored it; I just had to dive back into the exciting world that Kevin Kwan created.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Out of the entire series, I liked book one the best, followed by book two then three. The first book, “Crazy Rich Asians”, was very close to the movie adaptation, though the world painted in the book seemed a lot more vivid and dramatic.
The story begins with an average American girl, Rachel, who has what seems like an average boyfriend, Nick, who is actually the son of one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. Rachel doesn’t discover this until she travels with Nick to Singapore to attend a wedding, and her whole life is shaken from that point.
Kwan takes us into the lives of Nick’s family members, constantly using excessive wealth as a theme or character even, that control the behaviour of these people. A lot of conflicts seem petty, but at the same time are quite realistic when you consider that this is the life such people have come to know.
If you’ve seen the movie, know what to expect, but expect more laughs. Kwan also gives a rich description of the various settings, which really made me want to travel Singapore.
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
The second book, “China Rich Girlfriend” was probably the most suspenseful for me - I literally rushed through this book in a couple of weeks (which is fast for me!) because I was dying to know how the small plots were going to resolve. New characters, new level or rich, new locations, new drama, new plot twists. Even more wanderlust in this one, as they characters were spread all over different parts of Asia. We see Rachel as the main protagonist, where many of the different sub-stories somehow correlate to her. This book was probably the most fun to read.
Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
The third book, “Rich People Problems” wasn’t my favourite but it was still interesting, because of the uncertain future of Nick’s family’s wealth. It was a bit anticlimactic once we finally found out what was to happen to it, but an ending with good feels, nonetheless. Family truths come out, certain relationships take a turn.
The writing felt a bit rushed in some places, as well as the drawing out of a plot. But if you’ve read the first two books, you sort of have to get through this one for the sake of completion. Characters are pretty straight forward and not super complex, which is not a bad thing, but it just made my bias toward certain characters very straightforward.
I would definitely recommend all the books for something easy and fun to read.
