Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan is more about super ultra billionaires and millionaires residing in Singapore. The title of the book should have been Crazy Rich Singaporeans instead of Crazy Rich Asian. Asia has many countries, which include underdeveloped and developing countries as well. But his small point will not take away the charm and ambiance which the author Kevin Kwan has knitted.
Crazy Rich Asians’ plot sounds similar to those Bollywood movies where a rich boy falls for a poor girl and the rich boy family brands the poor girl as a gold digger. What’s different is the insane financial richness of Chinese Singaporeans that the author Kevin Kwan has depicted in the book. It was amazing. Though I suspect the author took liberties in describing the pompous show off of wealth. But I’d be lying if I say that the book didn’t trigger my interest to dig more about these ultra-high-net-worth Singaporeans families and individuals.
The author repletes the story with every spice to make it engaging. You will find spying and plotting relatives, insecure characters laced with a superiority complex, suffocating commoners among these jet setters, family politics, high-class juicy gossiping, backbiting and scheming, extravagant shopping, and show off of wealth is the icing on the cake.
Apart from the main story of Rachel and Nicholas, several other sub-stories filled the book. They might appear unnecessary, but together these sub-stories created an ambiance to give readers an idea of what was our protagonist Rachel Chu getting into after falling in love with the billionaire Nicholas Young. Also, you will get a peep into the problems of have-more in life.
The author gave special attention to bring out well-etched characters, especially all the female characters behaving according to their traits. The lead pair were adorable, but I also liked Astrid and wanted to read more about Sophie. Both were the cousins of Nicholas. Eddie, another cousin of Nicholas, had a typical shallow high-elite mindset. His substory was equally interesting to read.
Overall, Kevin Kawn has shown when a normal love story set in some unusual setting appears to be fresh and intriguing. It is indeed one crazy read about insanely rich people and their mindset. Crazy Rich Asian is an entertaining, light-hearted, and dramatic one time read.
