Rating: ★★★☆☆ (2.5 going on 3/5)
Rachel Chu agrees to come to Singapore to celebrate her boyfriend’s best friend’s wedding. She expects a traditional wedding like any other. But what she doesn’t realise is that Nick comes from one of the wealthiest families in the world. And she has no idea how big the target on her back truly is.
Crazy Rich Asian was weirdly entertaining and strangely absurd. And I think that is the best I could say about this book. I wouldn’t call this the best book ever, but it was reasonably entertaining. The way these characters behave are so over the top. Reading this was like looking into a whole new and different world. It was fascinating to read. Kwan has a talent for writing interesting descriptions of this affluent society, its architecture, fashion, cuisine and goods. I read this frustrated at every single of these characters, but there is some humour within. It’s more outrageous than it is funny.
When it comes to the flaw of this book, I don’t know what else I can say that hasn’t already been said. (x, x – note that these articles are about its 2018 movie adaptation but nonetheless they can still be applied to the novel) I didn’t expect this book to the answer to all Asian representation and I don’t think it can be done in one book. But here it’s evident that Asian effectively means east Asian or ethnically Chinese. And there’s a whole lot of ugly in this book. That includes racial slurs towards Black people, Indian people and Romani. A ton of classism and loads of prejudice from Asians towards other Asian ethnicities.
Overall, there’s a lot that goes unchallenged, but the sheer outrageousness of this novel was probably why is it so well received. The plot is a rollercoaster ride, with one bad thing happening after another with this group of wealthy elites. I’m entirely sure if I want to continue the series yet.
Content warning: TBA.
as told by zaheerah 
I totally loved the post and book.
Great review 💙
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