Grab your suitcase and get ready to fly first class with Nick Young and Rachel Chu to Singapore. Kevin Kwan’s national bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians, is interesting, relatable and bound to make you laugh. What once was supposed to be a happy family reunion turns into a mess. Will Rachel be able to handle the immense pressure from Nick’s extensive, tiring family and friends?

New Yorker Rachel, spends the summer with boyfriend, Nick Young, and his family in his home country of Singapore. Little does she know that Nick’s family is crazy rich, and he is Asia’s most eligible bachelor. She will also be attending the most talked about wedding of the year! However, jealous exes and judgemental family will make readers question: whether their relationship still be standing when the vacation is over?

 Crazy Rich Asians is a fiction novel written by, Kevin Kwan. Its success as a book led to producers making it into a movie. It is copyrighted in 2013. It really is a steal considering how the book constantly kept me on my feet, wondering what was going to happen next. I loved reading this because the plot was never too bland or predictable, informing you of what affairs are happening with all the other characters. A plot twist is just waiting to jump at you when you least expect it. Every chapter offers an insight into another character’s mind, even though it’s told through third person.

Kwan is a very descriptive writer. He will go into specifics, even when writing about something as ordinary as noodles. For example, “... slurped down some distinctive noodles and savored the rich broth.” This is one of his many strengths. Part of his goal was allowing the readers to see into the life of Asians. Many aspects of Asian culture were accurately depicted in the book. For example, the way gossip spreads very easily and quickly is described to show how many Asians are extremely nosy.  The news of Nick bringing his girlfriend home was leaked. Many investigated the situation, trying to find out who this ‘Rachel Chu’ was to tell their friends and family. Word travels fast in Singapore. He also shows that marriage is super important because finding the right person is challenging. They need to make sure that the wife is not only after the family fortune. This is shown when they call Rachel a gold digger. Kwan also represents the tension between mainland Chinese (people born in China) and overseas Chinese (people born of Chinese descent but are brought up outside China), old money (people who were rich in China before immigrating elsewhere) vs new money (people who acquired wealth recently) very well. They show obvious dislike towards one another. This was shown in the novel when Nick’s family didn’t like Rachel because of her background as a mainland Chinese.

Dialogue reveals a lot about a character’s personality and true intentions. In the book, Nick’s ex- girlfriend, Francesca leaves a dead fish on Rachel’s bed which shows she is jealous and snobbish. Asian culture is further incorporated through speech. Almost every page introduces foreign words in Hokkien, Cantonese, or Malay, which are all unique dialects of Chinese. This enhances reader’s experience by letting them learn some Chinese. Kwan uses dialogue to show how the characters are as a person without telling directly, which would make reading it less interesting. They are realistic and true. The way they are presented makes me perceive them as real people. I feel like I know everyone in the book personally and genuinely care for them.  

The setting of Crazy Rich Asians is constantly changing its setting, from New York to Singapore. It starts out in the beautiful, crowded city of New York, however the majority of the book’s events take place in Singapore because they took a vacation there. Living in New York may seem overwhelming with tall buildings hovering over you, and the bright city lights everywhere you go, but compared to Singapore, it’s inferior. The setting also allows readers to really get a feel of the character’s lifestyle. While brought up rich, Astrid Leong, Nick Young’s cousin, doesn’t live the luxurious life the rest of her family does. She lives in a cramped flat with her child and husband. Compared to Carol Tai (one of Nick’s mother’s best friends)’s “Star Trek house,” Astrid’s house falls short. This gives the audience more to think about. Why would Astrid live in such a house, when she could be living in a mansion, or something more extravagant?

Crazy Rich Asians is truly something else, a wild adventure. Alamak! —some fishy secrets may be revealed!