The lack of personal growth doesn’t stop at Rachel and Nick, either – Nick hasn’t spoken to his mother in two years, and Astrid is still married to her dirtbag husband, and is still maintaining an “I swear we’re just friends” relationship with Charlie Wu. Rachel and Nick are just now getting engaged (and I had totally forgotten that the book, unlike the movie, doesn’t end with Rachel accepting Nick’s proposal) and in that time, they don’t appear to have ever had any serious conversation about money and how their marriage will potentially be affected by Nick’s wealth – Rachel remains as confounded as ever by the obscene wealth of the people she encounters in China and Singapore, and Nick continues to refuse to discuss his family finances with her in any detail. The problem is that China Rich Girlfriend didn’t work for me, at all, and I’ll try to use this review to figure out why.įor starters, Kwan’s decision to have this book pick up two years after the events of the first book is baffling, because none of the characters have experienced any growth or change in that time. In China Rich Girlfriend, Kwan assumes that he can stick to the formula that made his first book such a hit, and doesn’t bother to deviate very far from his established pattern of “Nick and Rachel go somewhere luxurious, then we follow some other characters to similarly luxurious locations, repeat until you hit your required page count” because why should he? The first book was so well received, why bother trying anything new? (I should probably also admit that the movie version, which is one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book, is probably making me feel more positive about the book than when I first read it)

The first book was a fun, fluffy romp of a story about an Everywoman’s journey into Filthy Rich People Land – everything was beautiful and nothing hurt, and Kwan was adept at using brand names, luxury settings, and general wealth porn to distract me from the shallowness and mediocre prose of his debut novel. So, I’m a little baffled at the difference in my reactions to the first Crazy Rich Asians novel versus the second. If you haven’t read it, or have just seen the movie, proceed with caution because I am going to discuss the ending and crucial plot points for that book)

(warning: this review will contain spoilers for the first book in the Crazy Rich Asians series.

Crazy rich asians 2 book