"Every family is a crazy family." -Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians Did you ever read one of those books that's so good, that you just can't put down, that you're zipping through, that when you're halfway through you get a feeling of sadness and loss knowing that this book is going to come to an end, and so you slow start slowing down your reading so that it will last longer? I happened across the book recently while roving through the stacks at Barnes & Noble, and as the cover looked intriguing I took it from the shelf to browse through a few pages. After laughing my way through the first chapter I smacked the book shut and hurried to the checkout so I could buy it, get it home, and dive into it, Crazy Rich Asians is a comedy of manners - and errors - about the super-, hyper-, megatomic-rich Chinese families of Singapore, the wealthiest and most prosperous city on the planet. The characters in the story wear top-of-the line designer couture which they buy by the boat-load from Paris, they eat the finest food prepared by their gourmet cooks as well as from the city's legendary food stalls, they go to the best schools, zip around in their private planes from the palaces in which they live to the most beautiful and amazing places in the world. Meanwhile they jockey for status, prestige and good marriages for their children in the gossip-, snobbery-, and money-saturated shark-tank of their high-brow, high-drama society. From the lavish parties to a $40 million dollar wedding, every scene in the book is over-the-top. And hilarious.
In an interview with Vanity Fair Kwan said of the wedding scene in his novel: "I’ve seen weddings even more over-the-top than this. So many aspects of and stories in the book I actually had to tone down! The reality is simply unbelievable. They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there’s such a thing as believability when you’re writing a novel. I did a lot more simplifying and cutting out of the decadence and the excess than I did of adding it on, if you can believe that." He then added: "Sometimes I had to actually take details out, because my editor was like, No one will believe this. And I would say, But this really happened, and she’d reply, It doesn’t matter. You’re going to lose readers because it’s going to seem so unreal that people would spend this much money, or do something this excessive. So those parts were changed."
So if you haven't already read it, go read Crazy Rich Asians. And - oh, happy day - you won't have to feel sad half way though! It turns out that Kevin Kwan has written a sequel I'm on my way to Barnes & Nobel! Reference:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/06/crazy-rich-asians-kevin-kwan-asia-upper-crust
5 Comments
Claire
5/24/2016 04:12:26 pm
You look like me reading that book! I couldn't put it down, and now I can't put down the sequel.
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Patti
5/24/2016 06:49:53 pm
I didn't end up getting to Barnes & Noble today after all, but I gotta get that sequel! And guess what - oh joy! - they're making a movie of Crazy Rich Asians! Won't that be awesome?!
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Marianne
5/25/2016 08:45:34 am
I sitting in economically depressed Johnstown PA...economic inequality is so disheartening. Great escape to read about the uber rich.
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Patti
5/25/2016 10:06:38 am
True about the income equality. I expect it's everywhere. But apparently living conditions in Singapore are pretty good across the board for everybody as Singapore has a good social safety net, good national health care, good public schooling for all and even good and inexpensive public housing with low crime rates. The wealth that Singapore has accumulated through taxation of it's billionaires is pumped back into the society for the welfare of all. And yet Singapore is considered a capitalist's Mecca.
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Patti
5/25/2016 10:07:51 am
PS - After reading the book I did a little research on Singapore
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