Crazy Rich Asians

A few weeks ago, I was getting a book at Three Lives, when I looked to my left and came upon, "Crazy Rich Asian."  Who could resist that cover?!!  Bright pink words against a slightly tarnished gold background!  And the book is set in Singapore!

I hesitated.  I hadn't heard anything about the book...  No one at Three Lives had got round to reading it yet...  A Chinese-American Economics professor is invited by her Singaporean History professor boyfriend to attend the wedding of his best friend at home.  She accepts the invitation and goes to Singapore to find that not only is her boyfriend the scion of a very, very rich family, but that all the knives are out for her for being involved with the most eligible bachelor in Singapore.  So far, so good, but I still wondered about impulsively buying a hardcover book with a somewhat conventional-sounding plot.  Then I read the first two paragraphs and the image of proper Asian ladies delicately dabbing the rain off their, no doubt, impeccable faces sold the book.

It took a couple of weeks before I got to the book, but when I did, I tore through it in about three days...  All four hundred odd pages of it.  I spent almost an entire day in bed reading.  The only reason why I put it down was because I had a dinner engagement.

I don't know any crazy rich asians, having grown up among expats.  And the Singapore I grew up in was a rather quiet town - I remember when the shophouses on Emerald Hill were really shophouses; I am THAT old.  But I found plenty that was familiar in the book.  I could completely SEE all the places described, all the gestures drawn, all the food eaten.  Among other things, the description of the wedding reception is pretty priceless.  I haven't been to one in many, many years, but one of the last times the Husband and I were in town, we returned to the hotel one weekend evening to find people waiting for their cars at the entrance, exactly as described.

The book has been catagorised as a trashy read, but I'm not sure I would agree.  I saw plenty in the novel which was pretty close to life in Singapore when I lived there and whenever I visit.  I particularly loved that the author depicted all the cultural nuances so perfectly.  The book may not be to everyone's taste, but I certainly enjoyed every page of it.