- Rom coms
- Stories that are super focused on the materialistic
- General beach read chick lit stuff
And yet, Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians books are SO MUCH FUN. They are 100% all of the things above. It is all about money and brand names and being rich beyond your wildest dreams. The characters are really more outlines. They have one or two characteristics with little to no nuance. The story is right out of a soap opera. And I loved reading them. So I was pretty excited when I was approved for a copy of the latest book, Rich People Problems.
Does it really matter what the plot is? It does? Fine, I mean I guess, kinda. Mild spoilers for the earlier books, Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend:
Nick's grandmother, Su Yi, the matriarch of the Young family, is on death's door. Rachel convinces Nick to go home and see his grandmother one last time, to patch things up. He hasn't seen her since her whole refusing to give her blessing to Nick and Rachel for their wedding (hence the last couple books). And of course the whole family is going crazy, some with worry but a lot is wondering what is going to happen to all of the money and especially the famous property Tyersall Park.
Then there's ALSO a subplot about Astrid and Charlie's relationship being sabotaged by their respective ex-spouses.
Oh there's ALSO Kitty Bing (previously Kitty Tai and before that Kitty Pong) who has divorced Bernard and married Colette's father, making her even more insanely rich than before. Of course, being a step-mom isn't easy and Colette and her father Jack haven't spoken since his divorce. Kitty is determined to outshine Colette, who seems to have moved beyond the petty and shallow world she previously inhabited (but don't worry, she's still insanely rich).
Then there's ALSO a bit about Nick's family badgering Rachel about when she and Nick are gonna make babies already.
There are actually a few other subplots but I'm going to stop here because I've already described too many. So while the book was lots of fun and I loved reading it, it's probably my least favorite of the three. There's a little too much going on and many times characters behaved in ways to serve the story, but didn't really match the personality that had been set up in previous books.
Despite all of the problems I might have, I still recommend the book. If you've liked the others, for sure. If you haven't tried them, do that. They're not deep reads but hey, sometimes we need something that may not have any nutritional value but sometimes you just want some chips.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Gif rating
Title quote from location 1095
Kwan, Kevin. Rich People Problems. Doubleday, 2017. NetGalley
