TITLE: Crazy Rich Asians: A Novel
AUTHOR: Kevin Kwan
PUBLISHER: Doubleday
PUBLISHED DATE: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-0385536974
PAGES: 416
I am so glad I gave this book a fresh read in anticipation of the dazzling new movie out in theaters now. I read this book when it came out for Uptown Girls Harlem Book Club. I remembered the book for its over-the-top materialism and obsession with European pomp and circumstance. A fresh read...and a read that goes all the way to the last page, reveals that this book challenges the Asian elite's preoccupation with wealth and status, albeit it subtle, in a Cinderella-esque love story.
Rachel, an economics professor at NYU, has been invited to Singapore to attend the wedding of her boyfriend's best friend. The boyfriend is Nick Young, a member of the Asian elite covertly disguised as a charming history professor, also at NYU. Unbeknownst to Rachel, she has just been invited to the largest wedding in the history of Asia, where the wedding costs a staggering $40 million. She is quickly deemed a gold digger, though she had no inclination of Nick's wealth, fame, and status. Kwan deliciously blends the opulent lifestyles of the fabulous and wealthy with Asian history and custom to offer readers a peak into an exclusive world closed off to the larger Western world. If you can get past the materialism....this is truly a fun and worthwhile read, even if the tale is as old as time.
Recommendation: Read it! If you haven't seen the movie yet, hurry up and read it before you bask in the eye candy I'm sure this movie provides. If you've already seen this movie in theaters, now you can go back and read the layers of background, history, and character building that Kwan has lovingly draped in this book.