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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a silly time! At first I forgot that there's a sequel, so the ending felt weird. I still think it felt a little weird? Idk. I guess I'll update whenever I read the rest. There are a few things I'm hoping get resolved? My theory is that the other book (books?) maybe have a scene or 2 that happens in the movie that patches things up? Maybe.
SPOILERS
I think it's interesting how Rachel makes the VERY good argument that she wants her children to be able to have a relationship with their extended family like she was able to, and she knows they wouldn't have that with his family because she'll never be accepted and therefore neither will their kids. Very reasonable, very understandable. But she gets back together with Nick and they never talk about it? He even says that he doesn't really know how much he wants to be around his family anymore, but even that wouldn't fix the issue because then they would have literally no connection to his family. If that issue doesn't get figured out I'm gonna be sad because the author could have just... not introduced that problem in the first place if he's not gonna resolve it.
I think it's interesting how Rachel makes the VERY good argument that she wants her children to be able to have a relationship with their extended family like she was able to, and she knows they wouldn't have that with his family because she'll never be accepted and therefore neither will their kids. Very reasonable, very understandable. But she gets back together with Nick and they never talk about it? He even says that he doesn't really know how much he wants to be around his family anymore, but even that wouldn't fix the issue because then they would have literally no connection to his family. If that issue doesn't get figured out I'm gonna be sad because the author could have just... not introduced that problem in the first place if he's not gonna resolve it.
The book is long, that's for sure. But I'm not mad about it actually. No time felt wasted really, which was nice. I just wish the ending had felt a little more like a cliffhanger and less like a slightly unresolved ending that could just be a bad ending but you don't fully know. Yeah. Okay that's all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use
Contains 1 racial slur
I prefer the movie. Note, I didn’t say that the movie way better. I only said I prefer it. Both pieces of media will appeal to people. Both are entertaining. The deciding factor in which one you’ll like more is this: do you like soap operas?
Crazy Rich Asians (the book series) is an over-the-top drama abound with manipulative ex’s, backstabbing frenemis, handsome men, beautiful women, and a whole lot of crazy rich people of multiple ethnicities. Each book gets more and more over-the-top in its drama building to an ultimate dramatic-but-satisfying crescendo. If that sounds like a good time to you, then give this one a look. Even though this isn’t my cup of tea, I enjoyed it for what it was. I also appreciated that is largely avoided the chick-lit clichés that I loathe. There’s no cheating. There’s no stupid love triangle. It’s just drama-filled fun on the grandest scale.
The reason I didn’t love this is that I’m very picky when it comes to chick-lit. I don’t like it when there’s several plots going on, each with its own drama. I prefer the more Disney-style romances where everything is focused on the main couple and the drama is kept to a realistic minimum. Crazy Rich Asians is in the first category. There were so many characters in this thing that it could get overwhelming. That only got truer as the series went on. Each book introduced at least two new plots along with a dozen or more characters.
Luckily, there’s only a small sub-set of important characters. For the most part, you can focus on remembering their names and stories while letting everyone else serve as window dressing. For example, Elenore Young (the leading-man’s mother) runs around with a group of middle-aged women. Instead of keeping track of all their names, backstories, and kids, I just grouped them together in my head. I didn’t remember that Daisy had these kids and Carol has that kid. I remembered that these three kids were related to Elenore’s clique. I’d suggest doing the same if you read this unless you have an exquisite memory.
Of the three books, Crazy Rich Asians is probably my favorite since it feels the least over-the-top in drama. The other books are just as good, it just started to seem ridiculous that this much drama could happen to such a small group of people.
Crazy Rich Asians (the book series) is an over-the-top drama abound with manipulative ex’s, backstabbing frenemis, handsome men, beautiful women, and a whole lot of crazy rich people of multiple ethnicities. Each book gets more and more over-the-top in its drama building to an ultimate dramatic-but-satisfying crescendo. If that sounds like a good time to you, then give this one a look. Even though this isn’t my cup of tea, I enjoyed it for what it was. I also appreciated that is largely avoided the chick-lit clichés that I loathe. There’s no cheating. There’s no stupid love triangle. It’s just drama-filled fun on the grandest scale.
The reason I didn’t love this is that I’m very picky when it comes to chick-lit. I don’t like it when there’s several plots going on, each with its own drama. I prefer the more Disney-style romances where everything is focused on the main couple and the drama is kept to a realistic minimum. Crazy Rich Asians is in the first category. There were so many characters in this thing that it could get overwhelming. That only got truer as the series went on. Each book introduced at least two new plots along with a dozen or more characters.
Luckily, there’s only a small sub-set of important characters. For the most part, you can focus on remembering their names and stories while letting everyone else serve as window dressing. For example, Elenore Young (the leading-man’s mother) runs around with a group of middle-aged women. Instead of keeping track of all their names, backstories, and kids, I just grouped them together in my head. I didn’t remember that Daisy had these kids and Carol has that kid. I remembered that these three kids were related to Elenore’s clique. I’d suggest doing the same if you read this unless you have an exquisite memory.
Of the three books, Crazy Rich Asians is probably my favorite since it feels the least over-the-top in drama. The other books are just as good, it just started to seem ridiculous that this much drama could happen to such a small group of people.
I just couldn’t keep myself interested there was too many characters all at once that I rather just watch the movie and keep it moving I never rate books I haven’t full finished so no stars will be given
My first complaint about this book is that there's simply too many characters. Maybe it's because I listened to this on an audiobook, but I had a very hard time keeping track of every single character especially because it kept jumping randomly between time, place, and characters. By like the last 100 pages I really didn't care about Rachel and Nick's relationship, I really didn't. Every single plot twist I saw coming which is usually fine in a rom com such as this, but here it all just felt overdoneeee. Oh wow he's actually not cheating and the women he's been seeing for 4 years was his cousin?? Crazy. Wow. Groundbreaking. Oh the giant plot twist is that the father that has been called dead for 300 pages is actually alive and in prison and then it turns out it's not even her actual dad? Insane. Wow. I really do care (I don't). Why did Rachel suddenly care about her parentage???? Why did she not even let her mom explain?? And then it took her like 2 seconds to get back with Nick after they break up like it was all just super fast and weird. I cared more about Astrid's story if I'm being completely honest. Second chance romance with a young flame when both of you are divorcees?? Don't mind if I do!!!!! I supported all of her actions and her story was just a lot more interesting to me, someone surrounded by wealth married someone who is embarrassed by that and how that marriage crumbles over time. AND LIKE HOLY MOLY WAS THAT TEXT MESSAGE EVER EXPLAINED??? AND THE RECEIPTS??? WAS HE HAVING AN AFFAIR OR NOT????? WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE IMPLIED??? Dude I don't even know. All I know is that I don't care about Rachel's dad oh my god. And also it was stupid how she had this big whole speech about how she didn't want her kids to grow up in such a family and then goes bragging about how amazing her family is???? Like girl can't you see the reason he barely talks to his family is because he's not very close with them?? Like this girl is just flying by the seat of her pants oh my gosh. I think the whole problem with this story that I had was I just preferred plots over others so when they were focusing on one plot that I didn't care about I was like ughhhhh where's Astrid.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The audiobook felt like I was listening to a gossip podcast which was so fun
this book put me in a reading slump and i finally just gave up on it. i really tried to get into it but it wasn’t for me. i’ll try to read the next book in the series and see if those can make up for this one.
Kevin Kwan succeeds in giving us a peak into the lives of the ultra wealthy with vibrant colors and an endless imagination that a movie with a limited budget couldn't. While I really enjoyed this, the pacing drove me NUTS where the intertwined storylines would stop at a point of HIGH tension to tell another story. By the time we go back to the other storyline, I would have forgotten about the cliff hanger. A book like this doesn't need a cliff hanger every chapter (especially when the issue doesn't get resolved for another few chapters at which point it no longer matters).
Left off with a lot of questions to be answered. Might read the sequel just to get some closure, but I doubt the pacing will allow for that.
Left off with a lot of questions to be answered. Might read the sequel just to get some closure, but I doubt the pacing will allow for that.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes