ARE YOU LISTENING? CRAZY RICH ASIANS: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

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GIVEAWAY ENDED 
CRAZY RICH ASIANS 
Read by Lynn Chen 
BY KEVIN KWAN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.
 

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.

AN EXCERPT FROM CRAZY RICH ASIANS:

As Peik Lin’s car approached the porte cochere of Tyersall Park, Nicholas Young bounded down the front steps. “I was worried you’d gotten lost,” he said, opening the car door.
         

“We did get a bit lost, actually,” Rachel replied.
         

“For some strange reason, your grandmother’s house didn’t show up on my GPS,” said Peik Lin, who prided herself on knowing every street in Singapore.
         

Rachel got out of the car and stared up at the majestic facade before her. “Am I really late?”
         

“No, it’s OK,” Nick said. “Peik Lin—thanks so much for giving Rachel a lift.”
         

“Of course,” Peik Lin murmured, rather stunned by her surroundings. She paused, thinking Nick might invite her in for a drink, but no invitation seemed forthcoming. Finally she said as nonchalantly as possible, “This is quite a place—is it your grandmother’s?”
         

“Yes,” Nick replied.
         

“Has she lived here a long time?” Peik Lin asked, craning to get a better look.
         

“Since she was a young girl.”
         

What Peik Lin really wanted to ask was, Who on earth is your grandmother? “Well, you two have a great time,” she said instead, winking at Rachel and mouthing Call me later. Rachel gave her friend a quick smile ...To finish reading this excerpt, visit the publisher's website HERE and click on EXCERPT. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin Kwan was born and raised in Singapore. A graduate of Parsons School of Design and the University of Houston, Kwan spent much of the 1990s working for Martha Stewart Living, Interview Magazine, and M&Co, the legendary design firm founded by Tibor Kalman. With Kalman, Kwan developed commercial and cultural projects for such clients as The Museum of Modern Art, The New York Times, and the iconic Swiss furniture design company Vitra.

Over the past decade and a half, Kwan has managed to balance three diverse lives—as a writer, a fine art photographer, and a creative consultant. Kwan was a contributing writer to SOMA Magazine and was Fodor’s Travel Guides' “Man in the Bahamas.” His evocative nighttime color photography has been exhibited internationally and acquired in public and private collections, including the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In 2000, he established Kevin Kwan Projects to pursue a diverse array of publishing, commercial, and cultural projects. He has served as a creative consultant for clients such as The New York Times, Rockwell Group, and TED.com, and has produced acclaimed visual books for Oprah Winfrey, Gore Vidal, Larry McMurtry, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few. He is the author of I Was Cuba (Chronicle Books, 2007), named one of the Top 10 Art Books by Amazon in 2007, and the co-author of Luck: The Essential Guide (Collins, 2008), which has been translated into nine languages. Kwan lives in Manhattan. 

PRAISE FOR CRAZY RICH ASIANS:

"A dizzily shopaholic comedy of crass manners . . . Crazy Rich Asians offers refreshing nouveau voyeurism to readers who long ago burned out on American and English aspirational fantasies. Mr. Kwan either knows, or does a good job of pretending to know, how the very rich of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai show off their lucre . . . Hilarious . . . This book name-drops about many different Asian cultures and mixes rude slang from Malay and the Cantonese and Hokkien dialects of Chinese . . . Mr. Kwan makes the most of them . . . A grand tour of a humorously grandiose and showoffy world. Mr. Kwan knows how to deliver guilty pleasures. He keeps the repartee nicely outrageous, the excess wretched and the details wickedly delectable."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Deliciously decadent . . . Rachel, an American-born Chinese (ABC), has no idea what to expect when she visits Singapore to meet her boyfriend Nick’s multibillionaire family. There, she discovers mind-blowing opulence--next season’s couture, palatial properties, million-dollar shopping sprees--and the over-the-top bad behavior that comes with it . . . This 48-karat beach read is crazy fun.”—Stephan Lee, Entertainment Weekly

“There’s rich, there’s filthy rich, and then there’s crazy rich . . . A Pride and Prejudice-like send-up about an heir bringing his Chinese-American girlfriend home to meet his ancestor-obsessed family, the book hilariously skewers imperial splendor and the conniving antics of the Asians jet set.”—People

“Mr. Kwan’s delightfully soapy debut, [is] set in the glamorous beau monde of Singapore—‘the Switzerland of Asia’—with excursions to Paris, Hong Kong and a private Indonesian island . . . It’s through Rachel, the wide-eyed interloper, that we view the extravagances of this ‘secretive, rarefied circle of families . . .’ Mr. Kwan’s book eats its chiffon cake and has it too, simultaneously tut-tutting many of its characters for their vapid materialism while reveling in the milieu’s sybaritic excess . . . Mr. Kwan skillfully engineers a good-natured story in which Rachel must overcome the schemes of Nicholas's disapproving mother.”—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“Crazy Rich Asians is like Dynasty on steroids with more private jets, bigger houses, and a lot more money. It is the very definition of a beach read. I finished it over a weekend and by the end was longing to see the ridiculously extravagant and over-the-top world that Mr. Kwan had created.... I predict this will be the 50 Shades of Grey of this summer.”—Michael Carl, VanityFair.com

“Crazy Rich Asians is both a deliciously satiric read and a Fodor’s of sorts to the world of Singapore’s fabulously monied, both new and old.”—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News

“Kwan is a modern-day Jane Austen, never mind gender or ethnicity, because he is writing about the same human pride and prejudices that consumed Austen 200 years ago.  In this comedy of manners about star-crossed lovers fighting against class distinctions and family pressures, the comparison between the Bennets, Bingleys and Darcys of 18th-century England and the Chus, Leongs and Youngs of 21st-century Singapore is most appropriate . . . Kwan comes across as an Asian Tom Wolfe . . . easily transports captive readers from Sex and the City New York and to sensual Singapore, lush with flowers, savoury with food, luxurious with designer labels and glittering jewels.  But beneath all this is the cruel menace of old money and unyielding traditional family mandates that aim to prevent the characters from living life according to their own desires.”—Christine Mazur, Winnipeg Free Press

“It’s impossible not to get sucked into this satirical novel about the jet-setting lives of an enormous busybody family and its infinite Louboutin collection.”—Glamour

“Mordantly funny . . . In Kevin Kwan’s winning summer satire, Crazy Rich Asians, a young woman discovers her boyfriend belongs to a milieu of unimaginable splendor—and snobbery.”—Vogue

“Jane Austen, or maybe Edith Wharton, goes to Singapore, turning in this lively, entertaining novel of manners. . . . Kwan’s characters are urban sophisticates par excellence . . . A diverse set of characters and a light, unstrained touch move Kwan’s story along. . . . An elegant comedy and an auspicious debut.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“High-quality first-time fiction . . . [An] instant favorite . . . Opulence and zaniness reign when one of Singapore’s richest bachelors invites his American-born girlfriend to travel from New York to vacation in his native country.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
 
“As spicily adventurous and lusciously satisfying as the renowned Singaporean street food Kevin Kwan's characters argue over; hot and sizzling, like the best satay, and dreamily transporting, like everyone's favorite dessert--goreng pisang. Feast on this outrageously funny and insightful novel of modern manners, and enjoy!”—Lisa See, bestselling author of Dreams of Joy and Shanghai Girls

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Kevin Kwan’s fictional debut, CRAZY RICH ASIANS, is the delightfully entertaining tale of a fairly everyday, happy couple who live and work in New York City. Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young share a loving relationship that seems to be heading toward the altar. When Nicholas invites Rachel to accompany him home to a wedding in Singapore, and to meet his parents, she is naturally apprehensive as any young woman might be. With Rachel being Chinese-American, this would, however, seem to be a good match for both of them so the trip is set. However, little does Rachel know what apprehension is until she finds out more about Nick’s family.

It turns out that Nick has failed to tell Rachel that he is the heir to one of the richest families in this Asian country he comes from. He is what we might think of as the golden child in his family, as well as THE prime catch for many a jealous socialite who would rather tear Rachel’s eyes out than give her a chance. Nick’s parents have great expectations for him and are also quite overbearing and unyielding. His mother wants no part of Rachel and Nick’s relationship and makes it her number one priority to find something in Rachel’s background to prove to Nick that she isn’t good enough for him. The situations Rachel finds herself in are almost unbelievable but they are also quite funny.

Rachel was raised properly by a single parent however she is totally unprepared to handle the kind of life the wealthy Young family lives. Their multi-million-dollar family estates, designer couture clothing, one of a kind luxury cars, and everything they touch being the most expensive made, is what they take for granted. Rachel meanwhile feels uncomfortable around it all. She meets Nick’s cousin Astrid, who seems to have Singapore revolving around her. Rachel is surprised, however, to find out that Astrid has her own private problems due to her choosing to marry below her stature “according to the family“. 

With all these extremes, Rachel finds her own world turned upside down as she almost doesn’t know what is real anymore. The pressure causes Rachel to  begin to question her own relationship with Nick.
With all this going on, will Rachel and Nick be able to survive? Will Nick’s family be able to destroy their relationship? In this really humorous, unbelievable narrative, and jaw-dropping setting, readers will delight in being as bug-eyed as most with all that is going on. CRAZY RICH ASIANS gives readers a fun end-of-the-summer read that might also question a society that still seems to judge people according to a social class system.

GIVEAWAY 
THANKS TO RICHARD AND THE GOOD PEOPLE
AT RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO BOOKS, I HAVE ONE
COPY OF KEVIN KWAN'S AUDIO BOOK,
  CRAZY RICH ASIANS, TO GIVE AWAY 
  TO ONE OF MY LUCKY FOLLOWERS 

  

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