Hi, it's Naomi back with another vlog for you folks. This time I'm going to be
talking about Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. This book is the first in a series
of three that follows incredibly rich families of China and Southeast Asia.
It's very recently been turned into a film. I actually read an American article
I think that said this is the first Hollywood movie since The Joy Luck Club
in the 1990s that features an all Asian cast which seems at once very unfair and
unbelievable. But we can only hope this is a bit of a leap forward in
representation in cinema and that will continue. They've already greenlit a
sequel so we will be seeing a lot more of these characters soon. So a lot of
people have asked me how the film compares to the books and I've got to
say that the film leans more towards the romantic side of things whereas the
books have a lot more kind of humor, a lot more sort of like wit to them, a lot
more scheming and plotting as well. What I really liked, I thought that author had
a great sense of humor. He has these little footnotes in the books that were
great for explaining aspects of language and culture, someone like myself
wouldn't understand. But as the books go on and as the series goes on his comments in
these footnotes become more and more acerbic and snarky. And yeah he's just
really funny and it's something that sets the book apart
a little from similar things I might've read. The main plot of the book circles around
Rachel and Nick who are a couple of academics from New York. They are
incredibly likable and you are rooting for them the whole way through. They're
really nice folks but Rachel doesn't know too much about Nick's family, she
especially doesn't know that they are a crazy rich family. She herself is from a,
she's Chinese-American. Her mother brought her up as a single parent
because her father died before she was born.
Nick's family live out in Singapore so that's why Rachel doesn't really know
too much about them. The only person from his family that she has actually met is
his cousin, Astrid, who herself is a really
interesting character and you feel quite a lot of sympathy for her. At first I
thought someone like myself wouldn't feel much sympathy for a woman who has a
wardrobe full of Parisian couture and items of jewelry that are worth more
than I will ever make in my entire lifetime you know but it's the
classic saying you know: money doesn't always buy you happiness. And I think
Astrid is someone who very much represents that saying, sadly. Nick's
family are really against him getting serious with Rachel, with him marrying her.
They are expecting Nick to bring home
someone who's been to the right school, who's been to the right college, who's
going to have the right job and they can track back their family to the old high
society families of yore. You know they don't want him marrying below his
station. Which I think is, you know, I think it was really hard to read
about, you know, you felt incredibly sorry for him and Rachel at those points.
The displays of wealth in this book are insane. It's really common for
people to have their own jets and on their own jets they have their own yoga studio.
And you know it's just a world I'll never, ever be able to understand or
probably experience. And I'm kinda okay with that, I've made my peace with it.
But it sure is fun to read about. You know when you think about books that
have big displays of wealth you think to things like American Psycho, Bonfire
of the Vanities. Both books I think are quite a lot more serious
than this, it's a lot more lighthearted - Crazy Rich Asians. And I think you know
it also goes to show perhaps, I mean I'm no expert in global economics,
but you know when we think of grand displays of wealth in the UK, we think to
America you know, books like American Psycho, Bonfire of the Vanities. But you know the times
have changed, the world economy has changed, and now perhaps we should be
looking when we think of wealth more towards China. And that was such an
interesting thing about picking up these books because I learned a lot more about
the culture of Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, even Malaysia as well. It
was really nice to read something a little bit different, a little bit in a
way educational. As much as I've said I've had a really fun time
reading this book, I also have learned a lot. And you know
learning things about other cultures is certainly something I'm interested in, so
from that side of things I was really pleased with what I got out of
the book. There are three books in this series in total so we've got Crazy Rich
Asians, we've got China Rich Girlfriend and Rich
People Problems. Yeah so I bought them all because I really loved the first one
and he leaves you on a tiny bit of a cliffhanger at the end of book one so
I'm prepared. I see you Kevin Kwan. They have been so far a total scream to
read. They're really funny, they've got a bit of romance to them, but it's not
schmaltzy which would probably put me off. And also you get to read about
horrible, scheming, nasty people getting their comeuppance, which I always love.
So, yeah, for a bit of fun they've been a bit of escapism for me and they've probably
been the funniest books I've read this year as well. I've enjoyed changing it
up a bit because I've been reading a lot of kind of like crime and thrillers so
these have been a nice welcome break and I'd recommend it to anyone who is
looking for a bit of a laugh, a bit of fun. Yeah also shout out to Joan Wong for
these amazing cover illustrations. I think they're absolutely perfect for the
books, who doesn't love a good jacket? So have you read any of this series yet?
Have you seen the movie? If you have let me know. Thank you so much for listening to me
today. If you want to hear more from me, more from the other vloggers then please
do subscribe to our channel and I will see you next time. Bye bye!