China Rich Girlfriend
LIFESTYLES of the rich and famous have always been a good source of inspiration for authors intent on showing the negative effects of a decadent and consumerist world, but this novel by Kevin Kwan takes it close to home, focusing on members of the Asian high society.
A sequel to Kwan’s first book Crazy Rich Asians, this book involves even more crazy rich Asians and their hijinks.
How much of this is fiction and how much it is based on real life is a mystery, but most readers can tell which events seem to be ripped from the headlines, like the Ferrari crash that kicks off the novel.
The crash, caused by Carlton Bao, the irresponsible son of an elite China family, is rapidly covered up by his strong-willed mother Bao Shaoyen, in order to save the family’s reputation.
However, this is only the start, as it is soon revealed through a series of coincidences that Carlton’s father is also the secret father of Rachel Chu, the protagonist of the first book who caused a scandal when she fell in love with Nicholas Young, himself a scion of a rich Singapore family.
This news sparks off Rachel’s reluctant induction into the world of Shanghai neo-aristocracy, and launches several sub-plots involving other equally wealthy Asian socialites who are more interested in saving face and hiding secrets.
The book is pure black comedy, as most of the characters in it seem to live in their own gilded world.
Their wealth and positions allow them to say and do almost anything, and they certainly exploit that to the extreme. And, some of the book’s standout scenes involve the sleazy dealings of Bao family lawyer Edison Cheng as he uses his clients’ wealth and influence to get what he wants.
Kwan uses a mix of formal and colloquial language, having characters pepper their sentences with Hokkien swear words or other expletives, perhaps to prove a point that all the money in the world just cannot buy you class.
The best thing about this book is its detailed descriptions of the opulent lifestyles its characters lead.
High fashion brands and jewellery, multimillion dollar architecture or flashy European cars – all are itemised in rich (pun intended) flowery language.
The main flaw of this novel is that too many of its characters are just plain unlikeable.
Probably this was Kwan’s intention, but it’s hard to read a book where you want to punch the faces of most of the people in it.
Aside from Rachel and a few supporting characters, almost everyone else in this sordid drama is the personification of every rich, evil stereotype there is.
Still, there are moments of pure literary gold in here, and there are quite a few laughs to be found.
A worthy read, although you might want to take a cleansing shower afterwards.