From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Crazy Rich Asians

Kevin Kwan

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 30, 2019

Discussion: 2019 Monthly Challenge

Why we're reading this: our monthly read for June (includes a wedding)
[close] our monthly read for June (includes a wedding)

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 42 topics — 2,376 comments total

2019 Monthly Challenge

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Announcements [Admins Only]
By Nadine in NY · 6 posts · 474 views

last updated Jul 08, 2019 07:19AM

* 2019 Monthly Challenge: The final list
By Sara · 1 post · 3493 views

last updated Nov 20, 2018 04:34AM

What Members Thought

Mar 31, 2019 Deepthi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: popsugar-reading-challenge-2019

Expected it to be a beach read, turned out to be a tiresome one instead

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2013 Stacy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like · see review

Oct 01, 2013 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: around-the-world-challenge, audio, fiction, international, asian

For a book I couldn't swear is brilliant, I surely did enjoy this book and listen to it intently. The audio version was excellent. I hear there were footnotes, as well as any visuals, and spellings, and all, that I missed, but I have no idea what the accents should sound like, so hearing them performed was helpful as well as fun. From what I can tell, the narrator did a good job with them, although sometimes it sounded like she was slipping in and out of them...then again, when you're reading Br For a book I couldn't swear is brilliant, I surely did enjoy this book and listen to it intently. The audio version was excellent. I hear there were footnotes, as well as any visuals, and spellings, and all, that I missed, but I have no idea what the accents should sound like, so hearing them performed was helpful as well as fun. From what I can tell, the narrator did a good job with them, although sometimes it sounded like she was slipping in and out of them...then again, when you're reading British-Singaporean, Australian-Singaporean, American, mainland Chinese, and Singaporean accents all in one section, I suppose keeping them straight, not to mention performing them at all, could be a challenge.
I don't generally care for books about super rich and privileged people, or books written by men from a female character's perspective. This is one of the few books I can remember where neither of those really bothered me. The obscene wealthiness was kind of the point, but was also an international/ cultural issue, and therefore more interesting to me than it might have been otherwise. Being third instead of first person perspective probably helped with the female voices not bothering me. I nonetheless have to credit the author with creating characters like Rachel who were likable AND felt realistic.
I don't think Rachel had much in the way of obvious flaws; maybe she was a little too perfect. Nick was clueless enough for both of them, I guess. They had a sweet but mature and strong relationship, and I was chewing my nails towards the end to see how things would turn out for them.
I liked Astrid too, but I had a difficult time buying into her relationship with Michael as anything other than an extended lust fest. I didn't feel like there was actually any basis for having the strong marriage she claimed and wasn't especially surprised at most of the developments with them. I was a little disappointed in their ending, but I guess I can imagine it turned out how I want, since it was at least rather open-ended. I did think her ex-fiance was very sweet.
I liked Colin a lot, in his limited role in the story, and Araminta wasn't bad either. Same for Sophia and Pik Lin (spelling? Since I listened to the book, I have no idea.). Many of the other native Singaporean characters, though, were just awful. Really detestable as depicted, no matter how much their motivations had to do with "protecting family" in various ways. Since that was pretty much the point, I guess that's another sign of a job well done, aside from my inability to stop listening to this book until (all eleven disks!) were done: rooting for and against the appropriate characters.
There were a few characters that felt like loose ends, people like Eddie and his family. Others that I won't name, to avoid spoilers, ended up tying into the story later in unexpectedly funny ways, though.
It's funny that reading an entire book about the wild excess of these "crazy rich Asians", the scene that struck me the most about their disconnect from the real world was the story Nick related off-handedly to Rachel about he and Colin stealing "baby chickens" from subsistence farming locals when he was growing up. For those farmers, those chicks weren't pets, toys, or novelties. They were part of their own economy, food security and an investment. To have bored little boys stealing them would have been horrible. While I get that Nick was clueless enough that he didn't understand that even in retrospect, I was surprised that Rachel, the economist, didn't, and that she even found the story cute and funny.
Anyway, the overall point is that this was a fun (long!) glimpse into another world, one that I assume is reasonably realistic. It met criteria for two different reading lists of mine, and did so in an entertaining and interesting way. I'm glad I read something out of my comfort zone. ...more

Like · see review

Nov 18, 2018 Adjrun rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The Exception to the Rulr

The movie is sooo much better. This spends more time talking about the shoes people are wearing or the size of a diamond than about what anyone really thinks or feels. Characterization is paper-thin.

I dislike the arguing about where to get food...

Like · see review

Aug 26, 2015 Laurie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

This is a sweeping family saga of multiple generations of, as the title says, crazy rich Asians. I recommend it if you like to read about complex family relationships and super luxurious lifestyles (jetting off to Macau and then Australia at a moment's notice!) I super recommend this if you have been or plan to go to Singapore. I think my love of Singaporean food which is lovingly described here upped my rating by at least a half star. No matter what, though, this is a fun read. ...more

Like · see review