Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin KwanMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Jacket Blurb: When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.
On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.
Read as an audio book. Greatly enjoyed the narrator - she had lovely intonation, separated the characters with enough distinctive accents I could follow who talking, and she had just the right emotional inflection to bring the characters to life.
While this is not a typical read for me, I watched a delightful interview with the author who described how this book came to life. I was intrigued so I checked it out from the library.
First two-thirds of the book was great fun. This was an interesting glimpse into a totally different culture, society, and social stratus than I've ever experienced. It almost bordered on fantasy. The overall romantic plot was a bit like watching NASCAR race and waiting for the Big Crash to happen. There was enough foreshadowing (and cliched genre writing) to leave NO doubt as to what was coming for our lovebirds Rachel and Nick. No doubt. It's a matter of finding how and when.
Last one-third of the book completely fell apart for me. While the first two-thirds of the book had an entirely plausible - if somewhat mind-boggling view of Singapore to this western girl - the separate plot line endings totally warped into unbelievable. It was like that NASCAR race leapt the tracks and turned into the Monty Carlo in the streets of Las Vegas.
Overall, while I was happily entertained on my daily commute, I probably won't be reading the next books in the series.
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