Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Sex and Vanity

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

2 reviews

bookswithsoumi's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Check out my review on Books with Soumi

After reading all of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, Kevin Kwan became one of my favorite authors. He dealt with classism and Asian racial identities so well in the trilogy, so naturally I was excited to see how he portrayed Lucie, the half-Chinese, half-white protagonist, who also happens to be a 19-year-old student at Brown University, my alma mater!

Kwan accurately describes Brown students when a character states that his impression of Brown is “an excellent school for people who want to read a lot and have feelings.” Lucie and I both seem to agree this is a fair assessment.

I am biased since I wanted to like Lucie from chapter 1 when she was introduced as “Lucie (92nd Street Y Nursery School/ Brearley/ Brown, Class of ‘16).” I was a fan of how Kwan introduced every character with their educational background in the parentheses. In Lucie’s elite social circles where half the people are the direct descendants of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, it’s never enough to go to the right college or have the right job. You have to go to the right elementary school and the right private high school and do everything proper from birth to death. Sounds like a life that would drive anybody crazy, right? Kwan skillfully shows us what it’s like to live in a world where you have to present your entire resume when you meet somebody new.

As an alum, I am compelled to analyze Kwan’s choice in making Lucie a Brown student instead of from a different school. Of course, she had to fit in with the elite crowd of New York. But since Lucie is interested in painting and art, I would have imagined that the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) would have been a better fit for her than Brown. After all, RISD is one of the top art and design schools in the country, better than Brown for sure in that regard. But perhaps for her WASP-y extended family, maybe RISD was not elite enough since it’s not the Ivy League, and 18-year-old Lucie was still in a stage in her life where she had to follow her family’s expectations. Another theory I have is that Kevin Kwan went to Parsons School of Design, which is also a top art and design school, and perhaps Kwan just had some old-fashioned college rivalry and couldn’t bear to think of his protagonist attending his rival school.

Lucie is crazy in love as she navigates romance in Capri for her friend’s wedding with her older cousin Charlotte in tow and in her hometown New York City. In my experience, Brown students are comfortable with going against the grain, but it takes a little time for Lucie to gain the confidence she needs to be her own person. Some readers have been disappointed by Lucie’s character development (compared to Rachel Chu’s in Crazy Rich Asians) and called her immature. In my opinion, I thought Lucie did a lot of growing up over the five years the book takes place, and by the end, she’s finally able to make decisions that satisfy herself instead of her casually racist extended family.

Speaking of casually racist, let’s dissect Charlotte, Lucie’s 40-something cousin who attends Lucie’s friend’s wedding essentially as her babysitter. I hope that after reading this book, people can realize that family can be racist against family without even knowing it. Charlotte irked me from the beginning when she constantly had to explain her relationship with Lucie by saying, “Her father was my uncle. Her mother is Chinese, but her father is American.” But her father is American. As if Marian Churchill, Lucie’s mother, born in Seattle, is any less American because she didn’t descend from the Pilgrims. Charlotte’s microaggressions are compounded throughout the story, making me feel just as burdened as Lucie. Charlotte embodies all the problems with the WASP side of Lucie’s family.

By the end, I was so close to giving Sex and Vanity a perfect rating, but my feelings about the first half kept me from doing so. I found the first half set in Capri to be a bit slow. Kwan describes the scenery of Capri vividly and with exquisite detail, but after a while, I began to grow tired of pages after pages of reading how beautiful the Italian island is. The imagery wasn’t as enticing as Kwan’s world-building in Asia in his past three books, but I’m sure other readers or people who have been to Capri loved it. I bet I will feel differently after the Sex and Vanity movie is released (movie rights have been bought!).

Secondly, I took some time warming up to George Zao, Lucie’s first love interest. Just as Lucie did due to her internalized feelings after years of racism from her Churchill-side of the family. I did not find him that interesting in the first half of the book, since it was hard for me to decipher his character since he has a quiet personality. He did give the best romantic monologue in my recent memory, but I will keep this review spoiler free!

Perhaps I enjoyed the second half of the book more because I am more familiar with the world of New York and Long Island. I definitely want to visit Tea and Sympathy and bookstore Three Lives and Company in Manhattan one day to reimagine some of the pivotal scenes. And I still want to visit Italy and Capri someday!

Time to read: 10 hours over 71 days (I wasn’t kidding when I said I found the first half slow).

Tl;dr: If you liked the Crazy Rich Asians movie or the books, do yourself a favor and try out Kwan’s first book outside of the CRA world!

Who might enjoy this book?: People of Chinese or other Asian heritage; people who want to know more about Asian racial identities; people who are biracial or want to read a book with a biracial protagonist; people who want to read a romance set in Italy/ New York City.

Content Warnings