Crazy Rich Asians

'Crazy Rich Asians' is a 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan. The novel became a best seller and was followed by the sequel China Rich Girlfriend in 2015.

Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience."^[1] He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore.^[2]

Plot

Nick Young, the heir apparent of an extremely wealthy old-money Singapore family living in New York City and working as a professor goes home for the first time in years to attend his best friend's wedding. He decides to bring his girlfriend, Rachel Chu, who has no idea about the extremity of his wealth, with him. Astrid Leong, Nick's cousin, the it girl of Singapore society, referred as "The Goddess", seems to have it all, good breeding, astonishing beauty, massive wealth, great fashion sense, complete with couture collection that rivals the Sheika of Qatar's, and a very attractive ex-army husband. Things head south when Astrid finds a mysterious text message on her husband's phone from who turns out to be his secret mistress. Eddie Cheng, Nick and Astrid's cousin, wants to impress everyone with his family and his lifestyle, but things don't always go his way, from his wife and children who disagree with and suffer from Eddie's obsession to always look perfect, his wealthy, yet cheap parents, a world-renowned cardiologist father and a blue-blooded mother, to his brother, who dates a gold-digging soap opera star who claims to come from a good family.

Characters

• Rachel Chu: A Stanford-educated ABC (American Born Chinese) who is an economy professor in New York University.
• Kerry Chu: Rachel's single mother who had a dark past involving Rachel's birth.
• Nicholas "Nick" Young: Rachel's attractive NYU history professor boyfriend who actually comes from an extremely wealthy Singaporean old-money family.
• Eleanor Young: Nick's controlling mother who disapproves of Rachel.
• Astrid Teo (née Leong): Nick's fashionable cousin who is referred to as "the goddess" and is known for her beauty and impeccable fashion sense. Her old-money family, the Leongs, are implied to be even richer than the Youngs.
• Goh Peik Lin: Rachel's kind, generous, and shopaholic old friend from Stanford who comes from a rich Singaporean family who owns a property development and construction company.
• Colin Khoo: Nick's best friend, whose family is one of the richest in the world. His wedding to Araminta Lee is the most talked-about wedding in the entire Asia.
• Sophie Khoo: Colin's sister and also Astrid's cousin who works as a pediatric surgeon and befriends Rachel. She is sent by Astrid to look out for Rachel at Araminta's bachelorette party.
• Araminta Lee: Colin's fiancée who befriends Rachel. She is Singapore's most celebrated fashion icon, whose father is one of China's richest men and her mother is a luxury hotelier.
• Edison "Eddie" Cheng: Nick's cousin who wants his family to have a picture perfect life. Despite having wealthy parents, with his father being one of the world's renowned heart surgeons, and her mother coming from the wealthy Youngs, they live a humble lifestyle, something that Eddie's ashamed of.
• Fiona Cheng (née Tung) : Eddie's wife who comes from Hong Kong old money family. She always gets fed up by her husband's obsession to live a pefect life.
• Oliver T'sien: Nick's cousin who works for Christie's in London. As part of Shang Su Yi's plan, he lures Kitty to break up with Alistair, leading to her affair with Bernard.
• Cassandra Shang: Nick's gossipy second cousin who seems to know everything about everyone, earning her the nickname, "Radio One Asia".
• Carol Tai: A good Christian who's also the wife of a dirty billionaire. She's good friends with Eleanor.
• Bernard Tai: Carol's son and also Nick and Colin's former classmate, who's very spoiled and wild.
• Kitty Pong: A gold-digging soap opera star who's dating Alistair, Eddie's brother. She later has an affair with Bernard.
• Francesca Shaw: Nick's vain and snobbish socialite ex-girlfriend who doesn't like Rachel. Her mother, Nadine, is also good friends with Eleanor. Her family later goes broke due to their money being taken back from her grandfather, Sir Ronald Shaw, who was in a coma for many years.
• Shang Su Yi: Nick's extremely wealthy and powerful grandmother who lives in a very huge estate that resembles a palace, Tyersall Park, and has maids from the King of Thailand as a gift. She dislikes Eleanor.
• Michael Teo: Astrid's husband who owns a start-up company. He hates being in Astrid's upper-class world so much that he fakes an affair with a text, thinking it's from another girl, to break up with her.
• Charlie Wu: Astrid's tech billionaire ex-fiancé who still has feelings for her despite being married to someone else. He was disapproved by Astrid's parents due to not coming from an old-money family like her.

Reception

The novel received overwhelmingly positive reviews.^[3]

Adaptation

In 2015 Kwan confirmed that a movie version of Crazy Rich Asians was in development.^[4][5]

References