Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)

403 pages

English language

Published July 30, 2013 by Doubleday.

ISBN:
978-0-385-53697-4
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3 stars (41 reviews)

Crazy Rich Asians is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore. The novel became a bestseller and was followed by two sequels, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017. A film adaptation of the novel was released on August 15, 2018.

5 editions

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I really enjoyed this! I walked into it thinking it would be a hard romance book, but it really is a study in the culture of the Singapore ultra wealthy (to the best of my knowledge). By far, my favorite parts were the descriptions of the food.

I won't lie, I was a bit disappointed in the end of the book. I feel like it ended abruptly and fell a bit flat for me, but I also didn't realize this was part of a series. So maybe the story gets tied up a bit nicer in the follow-up novels. I'll have to think on whether I want to continue the series.

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Did not finish at about 75%. I don't even know why I kept going that long. It's pretty vile wealth porn--all the wealth obsession and luxury references reminded me of American Psycho, only without the ultraviolence and ambiguous social commentary, so basically just a giant luxury list. Which is truly, fantastically dull. Almost as dull, in fact, as our 2 "main characters" (who I'm pretty sure get less page time than one MC's mom and cousin do), who manage to be even more dull than all of the status-obsessed, disgustingly rich supporting characters who are all awful but at least that makes them one-note characters which is more than can be said for the MCs who could have been replaced by cardboard and literally nothing about this book would change.

Without a plot or characters I can love, hate, or love to hate, all that's left is a description of …

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

On the nutritional scale, this is cotton candy. It reminded me of reading "Sweet Valley High" or another guilty pleasure series from middle school. That said, I now want to watch the movie so I can enjoy the scenery. And it's impressive that a male writer can do such a solid job delivering on a traditionally chicklit/fairytale plotline. I can see why it's a best seller and think it would make for an entertaining movie (a la Pretty Woman).

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4 stars

Crazy Rich Asians was a fun read with many descriptions of UNBELIEVABLY RICH people's lives, consisting of their clothing, houses, parties and a story about their complex relationships.
There was a LOT of characters and some POVs were less interesting that others, but the author succeeded in making me want to know what would happen next in their crazy world^^

Even though Nick and Rachel are central in the story, we don't spend that long with them, my fav is Astrid I think, but Nick's mother and this Eddie are horrible, I wanted to slap some people HARD lol

Also the descriptions of food made me hungry and the little end notes about the language and environment were very interesting!

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It was quite a surprise, finding this paperback in the backseat of my mom's car. When I asked her about it, she said that she hadn't been able to get into it, and invited me to take it with me. Out of curiosity, I did. I haven't seen the movie or even the trailer (I barely watch TV and don't get many channels, anyway), but had heard this was a funny read. I needed a funny read.


These days, my mother and I no longer gravitate to the same books as often, but I found that I agreed with her this time--Crazy Rich Asians did not pull me in right away. Since I hate putting books down, I did persist and finish, with mixed feelings. The author does mention some interesting history, in passing, and the culture of the Singaporean ultra rich is indeed a new reading experience for …

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I finished the book so quickly because it sets a rapid pace and I really really wanted to know what happened next. The writing is off-putting at first. But the story and the view into a different (for me) cultural background and the crazy off all that money, the intrigue and the beautiful backdrop of Singapore more than make up for it. (Though I doubt I'll ever re-read this). If you can get beyond the name-dropping of famous brands and designers, the fashion descriptions and the mounts of expensive rocks... it is a fun read. Also Kaspar von Morgenlatte is my favorite character in the book (me being German and all that). More interesting is all the food they get to eat...

Also: the movie is fun.

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3.5 stars

What a weird book. Maybe this kind of book is common in its genre, but since I don't read chick lit or contemporary books, especially about rich people, it felt like something new to me. I'm not exactly sure how to categorize it--I've seen it described as a farce, but I don't feel that the tone is right for that (though there are definitely farcical moments). It is compulsively readable, and I definitely understand why it's sold a zillion copies and inspired a movie.

It's not that it's a good example of a novel. There are just so many characters that I don't feel like I got to know any of them. The only one I actually had feelings about was Astrid (well, and Eddie, whom I hated to the depths of my soul). Everyone else was just there, even Rachel. She's not a character, she's an audience …

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The story of Rachel, whose boyfriend invites her to meet his family in Singapore, without even hinting that his family (and the people who gravitate around it) is richer than rich - and not necessarily behaving in a "not richer than rich" way. Drama ensues. I liked it way (way) more than I thought I would - it does have a Downton Abbey meets Gossip Girl in Singapore kind of feel, it's generally pretty funny, many characters are likeable (and you love to hate the ones you do), the sprinkling of Malay and Chinese expressions in the dialogs is pretty well done, and that book made me SO HUNGRY, there is SO MUCH FOOD!

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Interesting but not nearly as funny as the blurb and the hype make it out to be. The most interesting part for me was the amount of money these people have. Mere millionaires are slumming it to them and the luxury designer names that were dropped were things I had mostly never even heard of. And there's a lot of name dropping. At least 3-4 instances per page. It got to the point when I just skipped over the name-dropping because the only designers that I actually knew were, again, slumming it to these people. The Chinese/Cantonese slang words that were peppered through out the text were also annoying because they were defined in endnotes, when really, a better writer would have just let us use context clues to figure it out. Also, it just kind of ended. After all the plot leading up to the Big Reveal, what came …

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Subjects

  • Rich people
  • Social conflict
  • Single women
  • Fiancés
  • Single men
  • Fiction
  • Fiancées
  • Americans
  • Rich
  • Domestic fiction

Places

  • Singapore