Scan barcode
A review by marik0n
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
2.5
I gave this book 2.5 stars because it is not something special and I would recommend it depending on the mood.
I love me a nice chick lit book every now and then, especially when it is completely surreal (e.g. for millionaires in Singapore). This one was mostly okay, but there surely were some things in there that annoyed me.
Pros:
Reading this felt almost like a book version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I was absolutely here for it. Although in real life I absolutely despise millionaires and I believe that they are deeply unethical and leeches to society, books are not real life so I could just submerge myself into this.
The chapters are fairly short and keep you engaged. Also, every chapter in from a different point of view, which worked well for me, since I didn’t really like most of the characters, especially the main two. In addition, I loved the descriptions, even though generally I am not a fan, because this book is what it promised; a lockpick look into the lives of the crazy rich Asians that captivates you.
Cons:
First of all, I deeply disliked the main characters, Nick and Rachel. Nick is 33 and has lived many years in the UK and USA as a ‘normal’ person instead of a millionaire but somehow acts like he is some idealistic fifteen-year-old when it comes to Rachel meeting his family. He never mentions that his family is filthy rich or that they are extremely snobbish with people of ‘unknown families’ and completely fails to prepare Rachel for all of this. He pretends that that family politics and etiquette don’t exist and throw her right under the bus. Since we are talking about a man that grew up in this family and repeatedly mentions how different his upbringing was even compared to other Singaporean kids of rich families, he thinks that Rachel will somehow win his parents over with no strategy up until the very end. Of course, he only realizes how ignorant he was regarding his mother and grandmother at the end of the book, which just seems crazy. For me, Nick is a very good example of ‘boy man’.
Moving on to Rachel, this whole ‘I am not like other (Chinese) girls’ attitude throughout the whole book is tiring. Moreover, not even bothering to try and persuade Nick to show her the appropriate manners in order to at least avoid provoking his family (by almost being extremely underdressed for example, thank God for Peik Lin) makes her appear kind of ignorant up until the very end. I almost gave up near the ending of the book due to the way she treats her mother. What’s up with all these spoiled brats that disrespect the woman who not only gave birth to them, but raised them in the name of an unknown ‘father’? I will never get it.
Moreover, another thing I disliked were some word combination choices. I got two examples here that are spoiler free: 1. ‘and anointed her (Astrid) the chief object of their masturbatory fantasies’ How disgusting and absolutely meaningless is this line? And 2. ‘Never, ever wear green chiffon unless you want to look like bok choy that got gang raped’. Like, excuse me? Why write something like this?
Lastly, I hated how to endnotes appeared at the end for the chapter, because reading it in Ebook format meant that I would either have to go back and forth every few pages or that I would read all the endnotes at the ending of the chapter, so I was kind of lost while reading.
Overall, although this book surely had disadvantages I will go on and read the second one as well and hope for the best. I would absolutely recommend it if you are in the mood for a beach read and can overlook some stuff like the ones I mentioned above.
I love me a nice chick lit book every now and then, especially when it is completely surreal (e.g. for millionaires in Singapore). This one was mostly okay, but there surely were some things in there that annoyed me.
Pros:
Reading this felt almost like a book version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I was absolutely here for it. Although in real life I absolutely despise millionaires and I believe that they are deeply unethical and leeches to society, books are not real life so I could just submerge myself into this.
The chapters are fairly short and keep you engaged. Also, every chapter in from a different point of view, which worked well for me, since I didn’t really like most of the characters, especially the main two. In addition, I loved the descriptions, even though generally I am not a fan, because this book is what it promised; a lockpick look into the lives of the crazy rich Asians that captivates you.
Cons:
First of all, I deeply disliked the main characters, Nick and Rachel. Nick is 33 and has lived many years in the UK and USA as a ‘normal’ person instead of a millionaire but somehow acts like he is some idealistic fifteen-year-old when it comes to Rachel meeting his family. He never mentions that his family is filthy rich or that they are extremely snobbish with people of ‘unknown families’ and completely fails to prepare Rachel for all of this. He pretends that that family politics and etiquette don’t exist and throw her right under the bus. Since we are talking about a man that grew up in this family and repeatedly mentions how different his upbringing was even compared to other Singaporean kids of rich families, he thinks that Rachel will somehow win his parents over with no strategy up until the very end. Of course, he only realizes how ignorant he was regarding his mother and grandmother at the end of the book, which just seems crazy. For me, Nick is a very good example of ‘boy man’.
Moving on to Rachel, this whole ‘I am not like other (Chinese) girls’ attitude throughout the whole book is tiring. Moreover, not even bothering to try and persuade Nick to show her the appropriate manners in order to at least avoid provoking his family (by almost being extremely underdressed for example, thank God for Peik Lin) makes her appear kind of ignorant up until the very end. I almost gave up near the ending of the book due to the way she treats her mother. What’s up with all these spoiled brats that disrespect the woman who not only gave birth to them, but raised them in the name of an unknown ‘father’? I will never get it.
Moreover, another thing I disliked were some word combination choices. I got two examples here that are spoiler free: 1. ‘and anointed her (Astrid) the chief object of their masturbatory fantasies’ How disgusting and absolutely meaningless is this line? And 2. ‘Never, ever wear green chiffon unless you want to look like bok choy that got gang raped’. Like, excuse me? Why write something like this?
Lastly, I hated how to endnotes appeared at the end for the chapter, because reading it in Ebook format meant that I would either have to go back and forth every few pages or that I would read all the endnotes at the ending of the chapter, so I was kind of lost while reading.
Overall, although this book surely had disadvantages I will go on and read the second one as well and hope for the best. I would absolutely recommend it if you are in the mood for a beach read and can overlook some stuff like the ones I mentioned above.