Crazy Rich Asians

Author: Kevin Kwan
First Published: May 2014
Publisher: Anchor
Series: Crazy Rich Asians #1
527 pages (paperback)

Rachel Chu is an ordinary Chinese-American 30-something woman, a professor of economics at a New York University. For the past two years, she has been dating Nicholas Young, a fellow professor at her university. Their relationship has been fantastic. Now, Nick has invited her to attend the wedding of his best friend Colin in Singapore. Rachel is a tad hesitant at first, because traveling to Singapore certainly means meeting all of Nick's family as well -- but hey, maybe it's about time she did. And anyway, what could possibly happen, really?

Instead of an ordinary vacation, Rachel is wholly unprepared for the world of crazy rich Asian people. Turns out Nick comes from an extremely wealthy, multi-billionaire family. They are very old money and can trace their family tree back generations. Nick doesn't think it's a big deal, but Rachel is stunned. The wedding they're going to? The biggest, fanciest wedding in the Asian world, covered by magazines and newspapers! To make matters difficult, Nick's entire family, excluding a select few, are incredibly snobby towards Rachel. Rachel isn't rich and "doesn't come from a good family". The family plots to break up Nick and Rachel, while at the same time, Nick falls deeper in love with his girlfriend and plans to propose soon.

As an Asian person myself, it was so fun reading this book. I did not think any of it was offensive. Actually, it's clear the author really understands what very traditional Asian elders are like! This is not a book about "regular" rich Asian people. This is a book about the extremely, extremely wealthy, the kind who are just bordering on royalty; the old money types who look down on the nouveau riche. It's a crazy, humorous take on the super elite of the Asian world, with a culture that prizes sons and family names. If you've ever watched an Asian TV drama, this is sort of like that, with a lot of stinking rich people and brand names thrown around.

Though I found the story very entertaining, I did have a few qualms with the book. Now, I didn't expect any deep and profound characters or anything like that, especially since this book is classified as humor (?), but I really didn't feel much between Rachel and Nick. They're happy and in love, I am told, but I didn't feel like they were. Everybody else, I don't care, but since they are the main characters this story was revolving around, I did expect their love to feel more ... genuine? This may have something to do with the fact that for a lot of the story, the characters are not actually with one another (physically, not emotionally).

The thing I disliked the most was the ending. What kind of ending was that?! Absolutely nothing was resolved; in fact, there were several cliffhanger-type endings. It was all rather abrupt and left me very unsatisfied.

Regardless, I quite enjoyed this book and am glad that there is a sequel. Actually, that's probably why the ending was so sudden -- it'll all be continued in the next book, I bet.

My Rating: 4/5

Sushi For Beginners

This post first published February 20, 2011.

Author: Marian Keyes
Published: 2003
Publisher: Penguin Books
426 pages (paperback)
 
This book took me forever to get through. It’s not that it was boring; it was alright, but just never quite interesting enough to hold onto my attention for longer than a few chapters.

If you’ve seen chick flicks such as Love, Actually or He’s Just Not That Into You, then you’ll understand the sort of structure this story has with its characters. There’s a bunch of main characters and they each have their own individual stories that somehow overlap with one another. Everyone is connected to everyone one way or another. Granted, this book has less characters than those movies I named, but you get the picture.
Anyway, because of this, it’s kind of hard to give a general plot overview but basically, there are three main female characters, and a whole bunch of secondary characters. The three main female characters — Ashling, Lisa and Clodagh — each are having different troubles in their romantic lives.

This book is about their troubles building up and eventually hitting a climax. Ashling — assistant editor of Colleen magazine — is a hard worker, but has trouble finding the right boyfriend for her. Lisa is Ashling’s boss (and therefore, editor of the magazine) and is more or less a complete bitch, encouraging her husband (whom she’s been separated for a year or so now) to divorce her, even though she is still madly in love with him. Lastly, Clodagh is Ashling’s friend and is married with two children. To everyone else she has the perfect family life, but Clodagh is horribly bored.

An issue I had with this book was that I never seemed to know where the plot was taking me. I mean, to be honest, I had a hard time putting my finger on what exactly the overall plot was, as I was reading. That’s not to say I found the book confusing or boring; it’s just that there’s nothing for me to anticipate and I had no expectations while reading the book, so I found it difficult to remain interested for long periods of time. I’d be mildly entertained for a few chapters, but found it incredibly easy to put the book down if I wanted to; this book had little addictiveness to me.

I personally didn’t find it that funny even though it’s categorized as humorous, though I admit it’s a little witty. Letting the story digest in my head for a few hours now, I think overall, this is a good, decent novel, but nothing really that special. It was a pleasant read, but nothing so amazing that you feel you just have to find out what happens next.

The characters were wonderful, I do have to say. Though I have probably nothing in common with most of the characters (them being thirty plus year old career women or married women and me … not), I think love and romance is one of those things nearly all women can easily relate to, as well as having to deal with crushes, unpleasant people, break-ups, etc. While I didn’t become attached to any of the characters, it was fun to read about their shenanigans, haha. Anyway, this was an alright book; I would try another book by this author.

PS. This book has very little to do with actual sushi, haha. Most of the characters are unfamiliar with sushi, actually. I think it’s used as a metaphor for trying new things in life :)

My Rating: 2.5/5

Shopaholic & Sister

This post first published February 13, 2011.

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published: 2004
Publisher: The Dial Press
Series: Shopaholic #4
352 pages (hardcover)
 
I have been avoiding this particular installment of the Shopaholic series actually, mainly because it just didn’t seem interesting. I was really looking for Shopaholic Ties The Knot but it was unavailable at the library, and I was really itching for some more Shopaholic so I half reluctantly picked this out.

I’ll be honest though: I did end up liking this book. I don’t like it as much as I love the first two, but I do like it. Becky and Luke are back from their nearly-one-year long honeymoon traveling around the world (and Becky has, of course, sent home a load of “crap” with her which she is trying to figure out how to hide from Luke). Upon her return, she was most disappointed to find her family too busy to see her, and her best friend, Suze, seems to have found a new best friend during the year she was gone.

As if to answer her loneliness, Becky’s parents randomly appear at her flat one day to tell her very shocking news: Becky has a half-sister! Way back when, before Becky’s father met Becky’s mother, there was a stewardess on a train that he met … anyway, Becky becomes ecstatic to learn she has a sister and of course, her mind begins fantasizing all the fun she can have with her new sister. However, her new sister is nothing like she imagined. In fact, she’s quite the opposite of Becky. It came to a point where Becky isn’t even sure this can be her sister. Surely a sister of Becky can’t hate shopping.

As I said, I did end up liking it, though in comparison to the first two Shopaholic books, I found this one … average. Firstly, I wasn’t super keen on the idea of Becky finding a long lost sister in the first place, which explains why I have been avoiding the book in general. I mean, the story turned out alright, but in general, long lost sisters (or other family members) are not my cup-of-tea plots. And the way her sister was introduced into the story is just so random. It’s really just my personal preference of plot. Of course, if you don’t mind such a plot, or if you love stories like this, you’ll probably enjoy it.

The second reason I didn’t really like this book as much as the first two is Becky’s decline into becoming a cartoon character. I think I’ve mentioned this before in my post about the fifth book. First two books: Becky is still a believable albeit clumsy character. In this book (and the fifth one), Becky just becomes too unrealistic. In fact, I found myself really annoyed with Becky even though I am normally a fan of her. Like in the fifth book, Becky’s character overstepped the boundary between a believable airhead to just … stupid. I couldn’t believe how ignorant she could be when Luke and her sister and everyone was telling her to stop throwing her money away, and stop lying to people, but she comes up with these ridiculous fantasies how they’ll thank her later; too silly for me. I mean, I realize to some people, Becky’s always a silly character, but I don’t know; for some reason, to me, she seems to become too cartoon-ish.

However, overall, I did enjoy this book. It’s a pretty simple plot. I think what I liked was the contrast between Becky and her sister, and it was kind of nice having people finally just lash out on Becky for being a crazy spender. If you enjoy the Shopaholic series, I think you’ll like this book too, though I don’t know how well it would do as a stand alone novel.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

This post first published February 6, 2011.

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published: 2002
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Series: Shopaholic #2
323 pages (paperback)
 
So, I’ve read the first book of the Shopaholic series (Confessions of a Shopaholic) and the 5th (Shopaholic and Baby). If you’ve read both my posts on those books, you’ll remember that I loved the first one but wasn’t too happy with the 5th one. Well, I decided to read all the books in between, and just finished book number two — Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (US title) or Shopaholic Abroad (UK title).

In this book, Becky Bloomwood has just started dating successful entrepreneur Luke Brandon (they got together near the end of book one), and is having a very successful career giving financial advice on the television show Morning Coffee (which is ironic, she knows). Last book, she’s paid off all her debts, but it seems Becky’s spending habits are just too hard to break, and she’s already in debt all over again. However, she’s convinced herself that everything will be okay and doesn’t really worry about it — though you’d think she’d learn her lesson from the first time she did that. However, it’s Becky, so it’s kind of expected of her, haha.

Anyway, Luke is looking to expand his PR company to America, specifically New York, and asks Becky if she would come with him. If the deal goes through, the two of them will likely end up living in New York. Becky agrees, and once she is in New York, she feels she has found her “homeland”. She visits all the most famous New York department stores, drools over all the brand name shops, freaks out over a street lined with nothing but shoe stores  … Becky has found the place where she belongs. As she gives her credit cards a mighty work out, she doesn’t realize how her spending is affecting her image back in London, and how that, in turn, is going to affect Luke’s business deal.
I’m so happy that this book is as great as the first one, and not as cliche and over-the-top as the fifth one. I mean, of course there is drama in this book. It’s chick-lit, there’s always crazy drama. But this book’s plot is more in tune with that of the first Shopaholic book, which I really loved, so I’m happy to say I really loved this book too. It’s funny and witty and I think one of my favourite lines is, “If the American economy can be billions of dollars in debt and still survive, you can survive too!” Not an exact quote, but you get the idea. Haha, I don’t know why but that’s my favourite line.

Spoilers alert! — The ending was a little meh for me. Luke tries to win Becky back as she boards the plane to America, planning to leave the UK (forever?) but Becky rejects him. Okay. But then we get this little epilogue-ish chapter at the end, where it’s two months later, and Luke appears at Becky’s new job and asks to get together with her again. This time she accepts. I mean, yeah, I know this is completely possible in real life and all, but it all came off a bit strange to me, to say no first during the climax of the plot, but then have her change her mind in the last chapter. Not a HUGE deal or anything, just my personal feelings towards the ending. — End spoilers!

Overall, a really funny and optimistic story that I think anyone could enjoy (though probably more women than men, heh). I’m excited to read the third book, in which Becky gets married, mainly because I think Luke and Becky make a cute couple, even if Luke seems strangely too perfect at times, but anyway, I hope it retains the same fun and quality that the first two books have!

My Rating: 5/5

Remember Me?

This post originally published August 26, 2010.

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published: February 2008
Publisher: The Dial Press
389 pages (hardcover)
 
What if you woke up one day and discovered that you had the perfect life?
Lexi Smart (who is very reminiscent of Becky Bloomwood from Shopaholic) remembers herself having frizzy hair, crooked teeth, wonderful friends but a crappy boyfriend and being somewhere between middle-class and poor. When she wakes up, she’s in a hospital bed, but quickly discovers that she is a millionaire’s wife, looks like a model and is head of the department she used to work in!

The story sounded really interesting to me, which is why I picked it up. I mean, I’m sure we have all desperately wished at one point or another that our lives can just magically become better (please don’t tell me only I wish that, hahaha), whether it’s wishing to win the lottery or finding the perfect dream boyfriend/girlfriend. And at first, everything seems to be just perfect and wonderful and fantastic for Lexi. Her husband looks like an Armani model. She drives an open top Mercedes convertible. She’s a boss. She’s rich. She’s got a walk-in closet that’s bigger than the apartment she used to live in.

Of course, there is always a catch. Lexi’s life didn’t magically become this way. She got into a car accident and traumatized her brain pretty bad. She cannot remember anything from the past three years, so it was a mighty shock when the doctor informs her that it’s not 2004, but rather, 2007 now. She doesn’t remember how she got so beautiful, who her husband is, or how she suddenly became the boss. Worse yet, she doesn’t understand why her old friends are snubbing her and who this Jon person is who claims that she and him are lovers. It sounds really depressing, and it sort of is, but it’s also the perfect set-up for a comedy to happen. Admittedly, the flavor of humor in this book is more aimed towards the female population than male, but I think if a guy reads this book, they can appreciate some of the funny parts too! (Maybe not the parts where she’s flipping out over her Louis Vuitton bags or things like that … but I found the part where she’s hollering “There’s a SIXTH Harry Potter book now?!” pretty hilarious).

This book is loads of fun to read, it’s one of those kinds of books where once you start you can’t really stop. I mean, the plot isn’t actually that interesting on paper — she’s basically just trying to recover her memories and reconstruct the missing three years of her life — but it’s the little events that happen along the way that make this book exciting. The characters are all generally likeable, though I did not particularly feel attached to anyone. Lexi really reminds me strongly of Becky from Shopaholic, though not quite an airhead. This is only my second Kinsella book that’s not Shopaholic related, so I am not sure if Kinsella has a “typical” protagonist, but at this point, it seems like it. I’m not really that bothered though. I totally understand some people find airhead females annoying characters, but luckily I am usually okay with it, unless it goes overboard. Anyway, Lexi is really not that big of an airhead, just very reminiscent of Becky.

If you’ve read any of Kinsella’s books before, then you already know what kind of writing to expect. It’s in first person, and written in the same way someone might narrate a chick-movie. So no, it’s not amazing literature, but I found the personality in the writing fun. Actually, it felt like I wasn’t even reading at some points, but more like the novel was talking to me one-on-one, which I kind of liked.

My Rating: 4/5

Shopaholic and Baby

This post originally published August 6, 2010.

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published: February 2007
Publisher: The Dial Press
Series: Shopaholic series #5 
358 pages (hardcover)
 
I know, I skipped books 2,3 and 4 in the series and jumped straight to book 5. It was because the library happened to have all the middle books checked out, and I didn’t think it would be a huge deal to skip the middle books … Anyway, Shopaholic & Baby is book five in the Shopaholic series, and I read it just fine without reading the in-between books. Anything that happened in the previous books was explained quickly so I didn’t feel confused at any point.

I was reunited with Becky Bloomwood — now Becky Brandon, since she married Luke in book 3, which was a good two or three years ago within the storyline — and she is pregnant! (Personally, I was a little worried because Becky does not give off the impression she’d make a great mother, hahaha). Of course, Becky is excitedly purchasing loads of things for the baby, which she believes is a completely selfless act because they’re not things for herself strictly. Since she’s Luke Brandon’s wife now, she’s able to afford all these expensive strollers, baby toys, designer baby clothes and shoes (her child is going to be a spoiled brat, I know it). When Becky hears about Venetia Carter, an obstetrician who treats all the pregnant celebrities, Becky decides she must have Venetia be her doctor.

However, it turns out Venetia is actually Luke’s ex-girlfriend from college! Venetia and Luke are excited at being reunited after so long and are constantly going out for get-togethers with their old college friends. Meanwhile, Becky is feeling incredibly suspicious of Venetia and is convinced she’s trying to be a homewrecker!

I don’t want anybody to misunderstand — I truly did enjoy this book, but it was nothing special. My problem was that the first Shopaholic book was so much better, this one just felt like a huge let-down. Firstly, I don’t remember Becky being this stupid. Sure, she was an airhead and couldn’t really handle complicated numbers or words, but she wasn’t plain stupid. I feel that her character had backtracked instead of progressed and Luke’s really married to a high school middle school little girl. She used to have an air of realism around her, but in this novel, she’s a caricature. This was really disappointing to me because I liked Becky from the first novel, actually; now she’s like … dumb.  It’s a little less thrilling when Becky purchases things because she’s a millionaire’s wife now. I miss the days when she was overspending and running away from her Visa bill, that’s what made her shopping so adrenaline-filled! So I guess maybe that’s why she’s ‘dumber’ now, to maintain some spark in her character, but I can’t say I like it.

The story was enjoyable, my only issue was that it was incredibly predictable. This may be because I am a veteran with chick-flicks so I’ve seen all the plotlines this genre can whip out, so maybe that’s why I saw the truth behind the whole situation Becky is in a mile away.  The sub-plots aren’t very interesting either. Overall, I feel the story is really unimaginative. Enjoyable, yes. New and exciting? Ehh …

My Rating: 2/5

Confessions of a Shopaholic

This post originally published August 5, 2010.

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Series: Shopaholic series #1
Published: 2000
Publisher: Dell Publishing
312 pages (paperback)
 
After reading several ‘intense’ novels, I was in the mood for something not-serious and more relaxed, so I picked up this chick-lit book from the library. First things first — yes, I saw the movie before I saw the book. The movie was alright, for a chick flick. The book, mind you, is nothing at all like the movie and thus, should be treated as two completely separate stories (because really, nothing is the same, the plot and story isn’t even the same and the characters are only vaguely what they were in the novel). With all that being said, the book was very enjoyable and humorous. I could really sit down and just read away several hours because it was very fun and rather engrossing. And, as a bit of a ‘shopaholic’ myself, I could kind of relate (although I am nowhere near the main character’s level of obsession!)

The main character, Rebecca “Becky” Bloomwood, is really the engrossing factor in this book. She’s like a girl who never properly grew up from high school — very materialistic, loves fashion, make-up, clothes, not very aware of what’s happening in the world, no real idea of consequences of her actions. Her ideal job would be fashion editor at a fashion magazine, but she’s stuck being a boring old financial journalist at Successful Savings. Somehow she manages to spit out articles that even she doesn’t understand. Nobody seems to suspect the fact that she knows nothing about finance, all except Luke Brandon, the boss of her company’s PR company. He seems to obviously know she’s a phony financial journalist, yet he is always being nice to her.

Her job as a financial journalist is hugely ironic because Becky is a chronic shopaholic with little to no sense when it comes to money. She is thousands of pounds in debt, the bank is chasing her down, her credit card company is chasing her down and she owes several people money. In fact, chapters always begin with one or two ominous letters from the bank or something or another, politely demanding that she send in the minimum payment soon. And then the next time a new chapter starts, you read another letter from, say, the bank and it’d start with, “Sorry to hear you had glandular fever … But you still owe us money” and I just think, “Oh Becky!” Hahaha! Desperate to get out of her financial situation, Becky tries to cut back on how much she spends (with hilarious results) as well as making more money (also with hilarious results), and several more options along the way.

For a person who’s kind of an airhead, Rebecca is strangely likeable. Normally a person who is obsessed about money, fashion, make-up, has no real concept of how the world works and lies all the time is a person I wouldn’t really like, but Becky is actually a very relate-able character, at least for me. I’m sure we’ve all experienced really wanting to buy something but not having the money to do it, and I’m sure we’ve all had money woes big and small, so in that sense, I understand her problems. When it comes down to the end, she shows she can be very dedicated and hard working … when she wants to, hahaha. A bit off topic, I am always amused by how the smallest things can trigger an entire daydream sequence out of her and she’d go so out of hand with them!
All in all, a very enjoyable chick-lit novel! If you saw the movie before this and didn’t like the movie, just be aware that the novel is 90% different from the movie, so give this a chance. It’s a really great book.

My Rating: 4/5