* No copyright infringement intended for the image below *
I said it before and I’ll say it again the real MVP is Charlie Wu! I cannot get over his character. Wu is the ex-fiancé turned confidant of Nick Young’s cousin Astrid Leong Teo. I need to re-read the first book to see if Kwan, the author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, ever explained why they broke up in the first place. Charlie essentially worships the ground Astrid walks on. In the first book, when Astrid is distraught by the disintegration of her marriage–her husband Michael created a whole subplot where he was “cheating” on her, he wasn’t, to force Astrid’s hand in divorcing him over his own insecurity of not being rich enough for her–Charlie secretly invests in Michael’s tech start-up which catapults Michael’s net-worth and seemingly repairs the rift in the marriage that stemmed from his lack of self-confidence.
But wait, there’s more to this story. As the saying goes: “money doesn’t change a person, it simply reveals their natural self.” No clue who said it, and I may be paraphrasing, but good lord if it isn’t right on the mark when it comes to Michael’s weakling of a character. Michael becomes an emotionally and psychologically abusive spouse and father who’s constantly trying to impress people, and prove himself as being a self made man. He even does a magazine spread about his life and willingly accepts the father of the year title.
*no copyright infringement intended*
When Astrid finds out about the magazine spread–mind you her and her whole blue blooded family value privacy–she’s less than pleased. Ultimately, in this book she’s had it with Michael and his unreasonable behavior and says she’ll divorce him (even if it took her the whole damn book to come to her senses about the situation). We also learn Charlie’s divorcing his wife at the end of the book. I really want Astrid and Charlie together. Neither have cheated on their spouses with the other (which makes me appreciate them even more as characters); they have an unbreakable bond, and honestly while Kwan makes it very clear Charlie never got over Astrid, I feel deep down Astrid never got fully over Charlie either, or at the very least she fooled herself into believing she had.
In this second installment, China Rich Girlfriend, there are so many storylines and yet they all tie together. There’s Rachel and Nick who get married and have their honeymoon in China where a whole lot of unnecessary shit goes down. There’s Kitty Pong turned Katherine Tai trying to make it in Chinese high society while her husband Bernard Tai and their daughter are living a bizarre life in L.A. We also follow the story of these multibillion dollar mainland Chinese families like the Bings, the Baos, and the Yangs. I literally spent my Friday and Saturday engulfed in this book that delivered on the drama, humor, and wit chapter after well written chapter.
Allow me to be frank, I am not going to summarize this book or analyze it because that is not the purpose with which I began it. I simply wanted to enjoy the book and enjoy it I did. If you like reading fiction (although the series is loosely based on Kwan’s experiences in Singapore), and imagining the lives lead by the ultra-rich, then please pick up a copy of the trilogy and start from book one. You will not regret it!
…By the way, no I am not making any money recommending this book. But if you know how I can, feel free to hit me up lol. Until next time!
Your work in progress,
Celeste 🙂