Crazy Rich Asians

By Kevin Kwan

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The international sensation and blockbuster Hollywood rom com. • "A Pride and Prejudice-like send-up about an heir bringing his Chinese-American girlfriend home to meet his ancestor-obsessed family.” —People
 
“Deliciously decadent.... This 48-karat beach read is crazy fun.” —Entertainment Weekly

When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor. 

On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9780385536981

Kevin Kwan

Kevin Kwan is a contributing to writer to SOMA magazing and the author of I Was Cuba. He is also a sought-after creative consultant to clients such as The New York Times and Rockwell group.

Reviews for Crazy Rich Asians

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first time I tried reading this book, I put it down. I gave it another try because I heard so many interesting things about it. Having been to both Malaysia and Singapore, I found it very interesting. Yes, it was a soap opera, but reading about ultra-wealthy people is always interesting. They weren’t a group of people with whom I would have been comfortable around.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What a crazy book! I must be living a desolate life with no designer clothes and private airplane trips all over the world. Kevin Kwan’s book, Crazy Rich Asians, really opened my eyes to the life of the rich and famous. Kwan creates characters that provide a range of personalities. In the 21st century, family still rules the life of children. I felt that too much emphasis was placed on material objects and the emotional life was obsolete. After finishing the story, the excesses of spending remain in my memory, but the actual relationships fade in the background.

[codonnelly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Crazy Rich Asians, author Kevin Kwan, a Singaporean native, satirizes the lifestyles of the mega-rich of Southeast Asia. The novel focuses first and foremost on Nick Young and Rachel Chu, an established couple in their late twenties, as they travel from New York to Singapore to attend the wedding of Nick’s best friend, Colin Khoo. Nick’s family, who he doesn’t talk about often, also happens to live in Singapore. Since Rachel has never met them, it’s the perfect opportunity for introductions. Kwan deftly maneuvers between multiple plot threads and many outrageous situations, all while juggling numerous characters and exotic locales.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to have a ridiculous amount of money, this is the book for you. But it’s more than just a depiction of the lives of the rich and famous. It’s also a unique look into a variety of travel-worthy destinations. Characters jet set to settings as ordinary as New York and Australia to as uncommon as Shenzhen and Macau. The third person narrator is also incredibly knowledgeable, as is evident in the addition of footnotes, some of which are quite funny.

While extreme wealth is obviously a huge leg up in life, it doesn’t solve all problems. In fact, it probably causes more trouble than you’d expect, particularly in relationships. Although Nick was not always forthright with Rachel about his family, their relationship is the most stable and down-to-earth among their friends and family. It helps that Rachel is so relatable. Her reactions to the extreme wealth on display are both realistic and impressively open-minded. Nick’s family is gigantic, so it’s fascinating to observe the dynamics between the various family members. Despite such a large cast of characters, Kwan gives them unique personalities that are easy to distinguish from each other. The family tree posted at the beginning of the book is also a handy tool.

The sheer volume of plot threads present should cause confusion, but Kwan navigates between them well. When the narrative veers away from Rachel and Nick, the paths taken are just as interesting. Kwan touches on subjects as diverse as the many types of love, designer clothing, infidelity, private islands, and racism (just to name a few). Despite a few chapters following an unlikeable character or two, it’s also hard not to be pulled in by the extreme situations they get themselves into. The entire book is compulsively readable.

On the shelf, Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan may look like a shallow beach read, but there’s a lot more complexity to it than you’d expect. It provides a fascinating, albeit somewhat over exaggerated, look into a lifestyle that most people will never experience. As unbelievable as events can become, it’s impossible to not get caught up in the drama. The characters are fun to love and hate, and ultimately, who can resist the opportunity to judge the lives of the over privileged?

[tronella_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining fluff that was let down for me by the clunky dialogue (very "as you know, Bob"). I don't plan to continue reading the series, but it seems like it will make a good-looking film, so I'll look forward to that. I read this for the "book and movie adaptation" challenge for Booktube-a-thon 2018 - the film isn't out yet but it was the only thing on my TBR that was remotely relevant!

[readingover50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great escapism. This book was funny and entertaining. I loved the look at a way of life so different than my own. I really liked that Rachel and Nick were honest with each other and did not play mind games like so many of the other characters.

[mbmackay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am a little embarrassed and to admit how much I enjoyed this book! A love story set among the uber-wealthy of Singapore is far outside my usual genres, but the story is well told, the humour is of the laugh out loud variety, and the food, geographical and cultural references are interesting (although the high-end designers were beyond my ken) and I found myself with a page turner. I finished in less than two days.

[daumari · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can see why this was the fun summer read of 2013- a peek into the lifestyles of the outrageously rich and famous through the eyes of our ABC homegirl Rachel, accompanying her boyfriend Nick Young to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. Nick's mother combines the worst of Mrs. Bennett and Lady Catherine deBourgh. A sharp satire of today's modern Downton Abbey types, am definitely looking forward to the movie adaption.

[amsee-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Whether it’s because I’m not Asian or because I’m not exceedingly wealthy, I don’t know, but I could not connect with this book. Spending $40M on a wedding seems absolutely ludicrous and I’ve never been very label-conscious, so when Kwan starts talking about designers, I felt like I should be impressed, but I was lacking the necessary background. The book only really got interesting, plot-wise, until about 40 pages from the end, but then instead of going out with a bang, went out with a faint cough as the story got somewhat tied up. I found out that this one’s part of a trilogy, but I don’t feel a pressing desire to read the next two.

[sbenne3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I know the premise of this book is for entertainment and shouldn't be taken too seriously, but really? The descriptions of every outfit, car, house, meal, etc. was really too much. It was easy to follow, but long and painfully material. There were really only two characters with a little bit of depth at all . . . I won't be reading the other books in the trilogy.

[jessika.c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story was so big and ambitious I was honestly surprised how invested I became in the lives of all of the family members and then some.To include a summary in my review would be a waste. Nick Young has fallen in love with Rachel Chu, Rachel wants to finally meet Nick's family, Eleanor Young has heard whispers of her son being with some random Chinese girl and knows nothing about her, Astrid Leong lives a fabulous life but it's not all champagne and roses, and Eddie Cheng is the pompous rich guy you will love to hate. You root for Rachel and Astrid because of how good human beings they are. While you don't understand Nick or Eleanor at first you still want to like them anyway. Nick with his charming demeanor and Eleanor with her misguided but love and protective nature when it comes to her son. Anytime something stupid happens to Eddie you get a good laugh at his misfortune.And I'm going to give a shoutout to Peik Lin, Michael, and Charlie. These secondary characters made the relationships they had with specific main characters made me like all of them so much more.I wouldn't say this book is hilarious or overly romantic. I felt as nosy as Cassandra Shang or "Radio One Asia" while I was reading but it was just too much of a juicy story not to keep reading. I'm really excited to pick up the next two books.

[elizabeth088 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having read the entire trilogy, this is my favourite of the three. A crazy book about Rich Asians, I enjoyed reading and laughing at the excesses and foibles of the Super-wealthy. But beyond that, I felt that this was a uniquely Singaporean novel. Maybe I’m mixing it up a little with the movie, but the Singlish phrases, the obsessive discussions on food, and even the stereotypical characters - like the Tiger Mum, the ostentatious new rich, the kaypoh (busybody) aunties - which remind me of Singapore sitcoms of the 1990s, all describe some aspects of Singapore culture which have nothing to do with the crazy rich but make this book so enjoyable and relatable to me.

[soosthemoose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very amusing look at the shallow life of very rich Asians. Enjoyed reading and learning about the Asian culture.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan is an extravaganza of a romantic comedy that is set against the backdrop of extremely rich Asians in Singapore. While the author admits to loosely basing this story on his own childhood, there is something here to delight everyone. The story centres on Rachel Chu, a smart, independent Chinese-American economics professor who is in love with Nick Young, who turns out to be from an insanely wealthy Singapore family. The book is drenched in obscene wealth, over-the-top status and the expectations that stem from families with this kind of lineage.I became totally engaged in this book which was the perfect foil for some more serious reads I had going at the same time. From designer fashion and jewels, to elegant interior decorating, from private planes and gigantic yachts, right down to the variety of street foods available in Singapore, this book was a delight for the senses. The author also overloads us with characters of both the sane and crazy type, which at times made it hard to keep the storyline straight. The reader also has to accept that Rachel was absolutely clueless as to Nick’s family background, even after two years of serious dating. Crazy Rich Asians is pure escapism. The author has mixed a lot glamour with a serious amount of trash talk and a sprinkling of “mean” girls, then blended it with humor to produce a book that shows us what I already knew. The extreme rich are always different – no matter their race. Next time I need an escape from reality, I will certainly be looking for the next book in this trilogy.

[ayanami_faerudo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

*I just read this because I watched the movie.*Insane, rich people*I skipped most of the middle part.*Astrid still steals the show (just like in the movie). She's more interesting than Rachel.*The best was the food.

[klmesoftly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A little bit predictable and obnoxious at times in the way most female characters were written, but still so comfortable and fun. A textbook beach read.

[aeshamali · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really, really enjoyed this book. Probably one of the ones I’ve enjoyed most in a long time (particularly amongst non-YA novels, which as a percentage of my reading tends to be higher). The characters were a lot of fun; even the nasty, backbiting, cruel characters were interesting to me. I didn’t root for them, but it was just a type of person I’m not used to at all. The closest I did come to feeling some sympathy or softened feelings for was Eleanor, when she confessed that she sacrificed her own relationship with her son in order to ensure that he was treated well despite her strained relationship with her mother in law. (Don’t worry, those twangs if pity disappeared pretty quickly!)

I bet much enjoyed the storytelling style of this book as well. I don’t usually like when books tell a story from multiple perspectives like this, where the viewpoint changes virtually every chapter. However, Kwan manages to write this in a way that I barely even noticed. Crazy Rich Asians ostensibly has two main character—Nick and Rachel—but in my opinion, it’s really an ensemble tale. (I find myself a bit disappointed that the movie, which I’ll see in a could days, almost certainly will not have this kind of a feel, but will be much more focused on Rachel and Nick with the other characters revolving around them.) I loved learning more about Astrid, and Peik Lin’s family. Even insufferable Eddie was interesting to hear about—although thankfully very sparingly, as I don’t know I could have taken more of him. I also wish Astrid’s story had ended differently... she seemed like such an awesome, independent woman, and as much as I liked following her I lost a bit of interest (and to be honest, maybe not of respect) by the time her part of the tale came to a close.

I loved the use of footnotes throughout the book, and the smattering of Malay and Chinese dialects throughout the novel. It immersed me in the world a bit more, for one thing. For another, I liked that the author didn’t kowtow to what might a western sensibility of wanting a pure English text—he was writing about Asian families, and it is only natural that the language of these people should be in the book. I also liked how the footnotes at times had some running commentary on the lifestyles of the rich and famous, or Singaporean culture, and so on.

The one thing that made me... not necessarily uncomfortable, but more sad than anything, was the -isms some of the characters displayed. Classism certainly is the most obvious. But the colonial influences came across strongly here: The use of English names by some characters; the Eurocentric preferences (e.g., London or Paris as favored destinations and the disdain for Mainland Chinese); the favor placed on Christian spiritual life to the extent that Buddhist or Taoist traditions were seen by some characters as primitive or sacrilege. I realize this wasn’t the authors views but rather the attitude of those in the tale, but if these attitudes have a basis in truth, it makes me sad and almost a little angry at the lingering effects of colonialism, xenophobia, and racism.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to read the other books in the series. It was fun to peep behind the curtain at a life that will never be one I’ll see. I felt like I was Rachel, agog at this lifestyle that seems beyond comprehension, at the extravagance with which some people live. It was giddy fun to live in the world of the Youngs and Leongs, to which I’ll be returning soon.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD read by Lynn Chenn NYU Economics professor and PhD, Rachel Chu has sworn off Asian men. But then her good friend introduces her to the new history professor, Nicholas Young, who transferred from Oxford. They hit it off and after dating for a couple of years he invites her to join him during their summer break for a visit back to Singapore, where he’s to be best man at his best friend’s wedding. Rachel has no idea what she’s getting into. Nick is the scion of an ultra rich, and extremely private OLD money Singapore family. Okay I knew it was chick-lit going into it, and of course I’ve seen the incessant trailers for the movie. Sounded like a fun, quick, breezy beach-read kinda book. But I have to say that I really hated most of these characters. Rachel and Nick were okay but Kwan does little to really explore their relationship. Every time I thought we’d get to something important regarding the two of them, the story was side tracked to Nick’s cousin Astrid and her marital problems, or to his crazy mother and her friends, or to the crazily jealous “bridesmaids” of the aforementioned wedding party. (Talk about bachelor and bachelorette parties from hell!) I also got tired of all the “product placements” for designer this and designer that … much of which was lost on me. Not impressed. And then it ends with basically nothing resolved …. WTF?! I’ll just put on my Walgreen’s sunglasses and Kohl’s sandals and enjoy a different book at the beach. (Though I might still go to the movie on $5 Tuesday …)P.S. At the risk of sounding as shallow as most of these characters … for a book about the ultra rich who are SOOooo concerned about the latest fashions, this has got to have the ugliest cover EVER. Though, if you wanted to judge the book by the cover .. you wouldn’t be far off.Lynn Chenn does a pretty good job of the audio performance. But she didn’t have very good material to start with. At least she moved along at a brisk pace. Her accents were all over the place and I found them distracting, but I think she was trying to differentiate all the many characters.

[bodagirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot is fairly prosaic and some of the characters are painted with broad strokes, but the enlightening aspects of the book: Singaporean society and culture, are what hooked me.

[briandrewz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those guilty pleasure books that draws you in right from the first chapter. Rachel Chu is invited to visit her boyfriend Nick Young's family in Singapore. What she doesn't know is that her modest, unassuming, down-to-earth boyfriend belongs to one of the wealthiest families in the country and they are hell-bent on stopping any attachment he has to her. It's a very fast-paced, engrossing read. The sumptuousness of the settings are dripping with opulence. It's an interesting look into a world that few but the very privileged get to enjoy. Perfect weekend reading.

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I just finished this book... I began it last night & stayed up until 5:30 am, and I still wasn't able to finish it... So as soon as I woke up this morning 10:30, I grabbed my coffee & just now finished it!This is a romance & semi-family saga: Nick's family is Old Chinese $$$$ , but Nick thinks nothing of it, as he is a professor at NYU and living far away from his family.Rachel is also a professor at NYU, the daughter of a Chinese single mother (who ran away from China and is now a successful S.F. real-estate agent).Nick's best friend (another super-rich) Chinese is getting married and Nick is best man at the Chinese wedding of the century. Nick takes Rachel home with him for the wedding & to me his family.Nick's family is comprised of monsters, as are the friends of Nick's family and as soon as they find out that Nick is going to marry Rachel, they conspire together to make Rachel's life hell OMG : This should not be called: "Crazy Rich Asians", this should be called "Crazy Rich Asian Monsters"Other than Nick, Rachel, three of Nick's friends, Nick's cousin, & Rachel's friend, everyone is a total demon.... Ugly nasty totally crass monsters, lacking in class, & faking respectability. (which was why I marked this down 1.5 stars)This is definitely a compelling read, I wanted Nick & Rachel to win. The story was overly long due to the lengthy description of obscene & ostentatious European designer labels & antiquities as well as the footnotes describing Chinese history, dialogue, & food; which I could have dome without. I'd say this is akin to Dallas on steroids....

[bravenewbks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Basically a fun, gossipy beach read that focuses on the super-elite of Singapore instead of the traditional Hollywood/Beverly Hills set. I loved the smattering of words from other languages (Singaporeans speak a hodge-podge that's sometimes called Singlish) and many of the book's background details were verified by an acquaintance of mine who lived there for a few years. My appetite is definitely whetted for a visit of my own someday!

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I won't say I fell for the hype with this one, but I was definitely intrigued by the comparison one review made with Jane Austen. Unfortunately, Austen was writing about class, Kwan about the obscenely wealthy - Austen's novels would have been populated entirely with Walter Elliots and Augusta Eltons if she had been pouring scorn on a society like the crazy rich Asians. I did like Rachel (though not Astrid, the well-dressed drip) and Oliver, but thought the descriptions of what money can buy - apparently not taste or self-esteem - were overdone, tipping past parody and into pretentiousness. I did enjoy some of the sharper social commentary - Austen would have been proud of the woman who persuades her friend not to marry a man because he can only bring in so many hundreds of thousands a year, and after the mansion and the clothes and the private schools for the kids, she would only have around thirty thousand left over. How would she live! - but the final chapters dragged and the various storylines turned into some weird hybrid fairy tale/soap opera that didn't work for me. The film looks gorgeous, though!

[iira_24 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was the easiest snack there is. Funny at times, laughs at Americans and other westerners and insanely stereotypical. Rich people are rich people, but some people are too rich. And some people are crazy rich. Some are just crazy. That's the lesson, I think. Or probably there is no lesson to learn.

[alanna1122 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I tried to listen to the audiobook of this years ago when it first came out and didn't get past the first couple of chapters. I think I might not have been in the right mood plus I didn't love the style of the reader. I picked this up again this time the print version and it was the perfect thing to read during the end of winter with all the late season snow and drearyness. It is definitely over the top but it was just a lot of fun to read. I love any book that gives me a window into a life I have never seen and this was great fun in that respect. I especially loved the description of flying first class on Singapore Airlines. I found out while I was reading it that the movie will come out this summer featuring one of my favorite TV actresses Constance Wu. I'm excited to see it!

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Avoided this book at first, because I thought it would be chick lit, but it's really a study in cultural anthropology. At university, I was an Asian Studies major, but after graduating in 1978, did little follow-up. This filled in the gaps nicely, with a romance and a little bromance woven throughout. Loved the footnotes, especially. Off to find the second in the series.

[askelmore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

est for: People looking for a comic look at the absurdity of obscene wealth.In a nutshell: Nick is the kind of wealthy that never talks about money. His girlfriend Rachel doesn’t know it. He brings her home to Singapore to meet his family, and things get awkward.Worth quoting: “All her life she’d been treated like a hothouse flower, when in fact she was a wildflower that was never allowed to bloom fully.”(I find this metaphor — or is it simile? — ridiculous because women =/= flowers, but I also weirdly like the imagery.)Why I chose it:The film’s trailer was released two days ago. I decided it was finally time to suck it up and pick it up (I’d been avoiding it for years because I don’t like the use of words like ‘crazy.’).Review:(some minor spoilers below)After I finished the book I went back to read other Cannonball Read reviews. I’m intrigued by how many folks thought it wasn’t that great — I think maybe we viewed it through different lenses? I went into this knowing that I would find so much of it absurd, and I think the fact that the author is clearly both interested in pointing out the absurdity of many of these people AND is aware that lots of people like absurdly fancy shit (whether than can afford it or not) made it pretty easy for me to dive into this ridiculous world for awhile. I loved the book. I devoured it. I enjoyed that Mr. Kwan was able to write chapters from multiple perspectives. (Seriously, that takes talent, to not just create many characters, but to take their point of view and have them really be different characters.) I liked that while some of the women were horrible, they weren’t all just one-dimensional materialistic harpies. There were very rich women that were appealing, and very rich women who … super weren’t. The men were also more complicated than just absent fathers or playboys. Nick, for example, seems to be a genuinely good guy, but his actions result in some pretty serious distress for quite a few people because he lacks some self-awareness. Astrid is obviously someone who has no real comprehension of how much money she has, but she’s also, to me, extremely likable in trying to lead a life that matches what her husband is comfortable with.One of my favorite parts are the friendships between Colin and Nick and between Rachel and Piek Lin. Colin and Araminta pick Nick and Rachel up from the airport in Singapore is so … normal. These are people we will come to learn are essentially Singapore royalty, and they want to do the things friends do: welcome their friends to town and take them out. I also like that Rachel is pretty chill for most of the trip, and then when it makes sense, just sort of loses her shit. Not in a theatric way, but in the way many people do: she completely shuts down. At the same time, I also like how unlikable so many of characters are. Nick’s mother Eleanor and her friends are obnoxious and kind of shitty parents. They can convince themselves they’re trying to do what is best for their kids, but they don’t really KNOW their kids at all. And Eddie … I’ve not wanted to smack a character so badly as I did here. What. An. Asshole.I’ve seen some reviews that chastise Mr. Kwan for being so ostentatious in his descriptions of things like clothing and decor, but I feel it’s necessary. This isn’t the kind of rich I’m familiar with — these are definitely not the Kardashians. These are next-level rich, and I think that’s fascinating. It’s not the only thing I want to read about in life because it’s not realistic, but then neither is the world of Game of Thrones. If the only books available were books like this, that would be a problem (I want novels about people who aren’t absurdly rich), but I think Mr. Kwan does a great job with this one. I’m interested in the characters, and I’m putting off starting the next book until tomorrow because it’s late and I know I’ll just stay up reading it.

[narshkite · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A boatload of fun. Lizzy is repelled rather than seduced by Pemberly in this one, but repelled or no, this iteration of Darcy is way too delicious to let go. Looking forward to #2.

[booksfortheliving · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me a while to get into this. There were times where there was a lot of description, and I tended to skim over that. Also, there were quite a lot of characters and names to keep straight. I almost wish the character list had been thinned down. I realize that Nick's extended family was extensive, but I had to refer back to the family tree throughout the book to see how/if the character was related to Nick. I would have been fine it the story had focused more closely on Rachel, Nick, and Astrid. I felt like their stories had some similarities; showing how people act and react to similar situations.
I didn't really care to hear about Eddie. I didn't see how he related to Nick and Rachel's story, other than showing just hoe extravagant and snobbish one can be. Nick and Rachel's story was the one I was most interested in.
I'll probably read the sequel eventually; just to see how everything pans out for Rachel, Nick, and Astrid.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A massive cast of characters embroiled in drama among the super rich families of Singapore. Normal New Yorker Rachel Chu goes on vacation with her seemingly-normal boyfriend Nicholas Young and meets his family - who are so rich that even the very rich have never heard of them. Nicholas' mother Eleanor is convinced that Rachel is a gold-digger and enlists a private investigator, and her friends' daughters (all of whom would rather have Nick to themselves), to help scare her off. Nick's glamorous cousin Astrid likes Rachel a lot, but is too busy buying next season's fashion in Paris and supporting her working-class husband to come to Rachel's rescue. Nick's best friend Colin is getting married and whisks Nick off on a jet-set dubiously legal bachelor party weekend, leaving Rachel to join fiancee Araminta's bachelorette weekend at her parents' resort. Can Rachel stand up to this kind of life? This book was so much fun to read. The world is so intricate and so foreign to me that it might as well be a fantasy. There are strict rules about who can talk about what and who can wear this and how those people are related. Schools, designers, last names, and generations of money are of the utmost importance. It's comedy-of-manners hilarious, like Downton Abbey or a Jane Austen novel. Nick and Astrid's other cousin Eddie is a delightful comic device - so spoiled and rude (despite his many-generational fortune) that the rest of the family can't stand him (and he gets a very satisfying comeuppance!). Best of all, there are FOOTNOTES! And a FAMILY TREE! The footnotes (and sometimes the text) contain just enough SE Asian history and politics to provide context without being overwhelming (nor does it feel condescending). While nothing about the plot leaves me dying to know what happens next, I enjoyed reading this so much that I would do myself a disservice if I didn't read the sequels. Highly recommended if you like light-hearted family drama, and "old money vs. new money" feuds. And footnotes!

[jovemako · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's not a bad read overall. The actual plot is kind of cute, but I kept getting distracted by the the rest of the characters and their "Keeping up with the Kardashians" type lifestyle and mannerisms. That's the part that keeps me from giving the book a higher rating. I understand why they were written that way, it relates to the book, I still found that gross though. Not entirely sure if I'm going to read the sequel or not. Honestly, I read this because I saw an article about the film adaption and thought it looked like a good Sunday afternoon watch (when it comes out anyway) and decided to read the book first. I was stuck at home sick with a cold and I still managed to finish it in about 4 days. I will say I didn't like the ending. It was too abrupt. I got to the last page thinking it was a chapter end only to find myself gawking "that's it? THAT'S how they're ending this?". I thought it needed one more chapter to tie things up in a tidier manner.