Yay or Nay?: Crazy Rich Asians (Novel)

If you haven’t seen this movie, and I recommend you do, go see it! It’s hilarious, romantic, fantastical (yes fantastical), and all around a good movie. Which I may dedicate its own review to one day.

But today we’re not here to review the movie—but the novel, or rather, series that it was based on by Kevin Kwan. 

Which are a fantastic series and I want to read the sequel as soon as I'm able!!!

So here’s the story:

The Story 

The story centers around different plot points and characters, but the base of it centers around New York University economics professor, Rachel Chu, who agrees to spend ten weeks traveling through Asia with her boyfriend, also a professor, named Nicolas Young. During at which point through their travels, Nicolas is the best man for his friend, Colin Khoo’s wedding, where Nicolas takes the opportunity to introduce Rachel to his family. 

Here’s the problem: Rachel does not know that Nicolas spent most of his life and childhood in private jets, living in the lap of luxury in Singapore. What Rachel does not know is that Nicolas’ family is one of the wealthiest families in Asia, which leads Rachel into the world of not just the rich—but the crazy rich, and the problems and obstacles that come with it. 

My Thoughts 

I’ll be quite biased on this one given that the movie was the first bit of exposure I got to this series. The one thing that I didn’t get from this novel very well was the comedic aspect. Yeah. I didn’t get half of the jokes, or where it was supposed to be satirical. That could be because it was just in print, whereas in the film it was much more obvious. I’ll start off with that right off the bat. That said, if you want accuracy, the movie and the novel are pretty much alike, save for some details throughout, and of course, the ending. I won’t spoil but there is an obvious difference from the film’s ending to the novel’s.

What I most enjoyed about the story were two things: the type of lavish and almost fantastical “rich” settings throughout, and the clever overlap and awareness between the net of different characters and perspectives. Crazy Rich Asians is described as a Pride and Prejudice type story, and it most certainly is—set in a modern world. So if you people out there liked and have read Jane Austen’s masterpiece novel, you’ll like this one even more. I’d almost argue it was a Little Women type story as well, from my perspective, but you’ll just have to read it to find out.

Moving on though, the very obvious “Richie rich” settings the story takes place in, of lavish mansions, and expensive jewelry and clothes are pretty cool to read about and explore. Settings like these for example (taken from the movie translated from the novel's depiction)

...are incredibly beautiful, exotic, and just an interest to picture and imagine yourself reading about. While I have no doubt there are rich enough families that could afford this, I never could, so it’s nice to actually experience it through text. And Kevin Kwan is fantastic at weaving a rich, textured, narrative throughout. 

“It only takes a spark, to get the fire going.  And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it. You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring, you want to Pass It On."

As for likable characters, all of them each have their own charms, in their own way. Even the meant to be “unlikeable” characters. They each felt rich and real to me, and my absolute favorite character wasn’t Rachel, oddly, but Nick’s cousin, “The Goddess”, Astrid Leong. Her entire arc was one that I not only looked forward to reading but was engaged with, mainly because of its parallels with Nick and Rachel’s relationship. Which brings me to my second point: 

The awareness of this novel and overlapping network of individual stories. 

For example, the largest problem in the story is Rachel being accepted into Nicolas’ ridiculously judgmental family. Astrid’s husband, Michael Teo, and their relationship is one that potentially predicts the problems with such “outsiders” struggling to be accepted into the family, and where their relationship could end up a couple years down the road. Spoiler: it does not end well for Astrid and Michael, which Nick and Rachel end up dealing with towards the end of this novel. 

As well, for a novel about a large, “crazy rich” clan, I didn’t feel like a single character was rushed, or lacked an in-depth story. And there is a lot of characters, but it feels like you’re actually reading about a family—and all the complex nuances which it entails, especially with a date I say, “crazy rich” family. Part of the enjoyment of this is the dysfunction of the family, which creates a lot of drama. 

My Rating

So, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and if you liked the movie you’ll certainly like the novel, which goes into further detail than the movie does, which only adds to the dimensions that I think the film only briefly touches on.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

4 Stars!!

It’s a yay! Give it a buy or a borrow, but do check it out for a good romance, and some interesting plot lines!

~Meghan