Crazy Rich Asians: Book Review

 I remember seeing title before and thinking “Is it ‘crazy rich’ like filthy rich, or ‘crazy’ and ‘rich’ like Tom Cruise?” Turns out it’s a little of both. I described to a friend as Downton Abby with Chinese characteristics. Obviously there is a whole lot wrong with that description but it’s a starting point. Where the British show had a 2 part aristocrats and their ‘help’ feel, Asians is about the aristocrats only.  The story is modern day and mostly takes place in Singapore where a lot of ethnic Chinese live. There is history of wealthy Chinese leaving the mainland after the Japanese invaded in 1931, but that’s a post for another day.  

I can’t tell how much of this fictional account is true to form. In other words, is the wealth really that grand, million dollar shopping trips and 2 million dollar earrings? Or is it an exaggeration to emphasize a lifestyle that almost no one reading it can relate to? 

Here is the story in a nutshell. An American woman (Rachel) goes to meet the family of her wealthy boyfriend (Nick) at the occasion of a wedding for Nick’s closest friend.  The twist is that she doesn’t know how fabulously rich his family is or how nasty they are. She gets blindsided by an all-out assault from relatives and hangers on. Nick doesn’t exactly prepare her for the world he is bringing her into. Partly because he sees himself a bit outside of it, he’s lives in New York with Rachel, and partly because he doesn’t want to freak her out.

I had a hard time buying Nick as a character. He is more endearing as an honest guy who doesn’t consider his family’s immense wealth, but it’s not plausible to me.  He’s always saying things like “I just don’t really think about that stuff” or “Well my Ah Ma is rich but I’m just a regular guy”. His Ah Ma (grandma) is basically royalty with a massive estate and a corner of Singapore all to herself. The family of characters, uncles, aunts, nephews and friends add to the colorful nature of the book. Not all of them are enemies to Rachel but there are a fair amount of ‘mean girls’ and nasty tricks. She is ABC (American Born Chinese) and therefore holds a lower tier in their social stratosphere. Also she is dating a rich guy, and likely to inherit wealth they would rather keep for themselves.   

  

I got a little lost in the labels. The author is clearly steeped in fashion. He listed off more high end chic stores and designers than I’d ever heard of. It’s was a bit much and I don’t think it enhanced the story. This is probably just my bias coming through. I imagine by telling the reader which handbag, shoe or designer is a way of mentioning the scale. “I bought a watch today” sounds a lot less impressive than “I bought a Patek Philippe watch today.” Much like writers who know about guns, they never write “John grabbed the handgun off the ground and squeezed off a short burst into the killer’s chest.” They have to write “John grabbed the Smith and Wesson 9mm off the ground and squeezed off a short burst of hollow point rounds into the killer’s chest.” Some of that adds to the story but gets old quickly if not reigned in.

 Detail is essential for mental images but works like peanut butter cups in ice cream, too many will make you sick.

What does work very well is when the characters speak with a combined English and Hokkien (Malaysian) dialect or an English and Cantonese mixed dialect. The author included a helpful footnote at the end of every chapter to explain the meaning of the dialect. Most of it doesn’t need a lot of explaining, the dialogue works even if the reader doesn’t speak the language. The expressions and exasperations are pretty much the same everywhere.

I watched the movie almost right after I read the book. The book is far less conclusive on the whole ‘will they get together despite the nutty family theme?’. In the movie...well, it’s a romantic comedy so make what you will of that.