I shall now refer to time in my life as Before Kevin Kwan (BKK) and After Kevin Kwan (AKK). Lol, just kidding. But for real, my life has not felt so empty after a series like this since I finished reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have to say, the long wait in the digital library cue was well worth it.
This novel was told in four parts with an epilogue to boot, and to me the epilogue was everything. But let’s start at the beginning. In the 2nd book, China Rich Girlfriend, Nick wasn’t speaking to his dear grandmother–Ah Ma–because of the way she had treated his then fiancée–Rachel. In the final book of the trilogy Ah Ma is basically on her death bed and a reconciliation needs to be had. Nick should forgive his grandmother, preferably in person (she lives in Singapore ICYMI). As Rachel puts it, “Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. If you think you’re able to let things go without ever seeing her again, more power to you.” Spoiler alert, Nick goes to Singapore alone to patch things up with Ah Ma.
When Nick arrives at the airport his best friend Colin Khoo picks him up, and after some chit chatting he drops this nugget of wisdom, “Everything ends up seeming irrelevant in the face of loss”. This is true in the familial sense, but it also holds true for the other characters whose chapters are also inextricably linked to loss. Astrid and Charlie, FINALLY, get to together after separating and divorcing their spouses–the loss of a marriage. However there are even more losses in these characters’ messy lives. For example, Charlie’s ex-wife almost loses her life through an uncompleted suicide attempt and Astrid loses her privacy after an incident I’m not going to go into here. Then, there’s Kitty Pong turned Kitty Bing who suffers emotionally from the repeated Ls she takes from the hands of her step-daughter Colette. Of course there’s the ultimate loss, death. Ah Ma does indeed kick the bucket by the end.
Of course this book is far from grim. There are life lessons in the form of silver linings scattered throughout the parts like bread crumbs. One of them is from Ah Ma herself, “Sometimes the thing that at first appears flawed can end up being the most perfect thing in the world for you.” Oddly enough this was said in a conversation with Astrid, who takes the cake when it comes to imperfection. Her marriage to Michael Teo was flawed, but it led to Cassian’s birth. Her relationship with Charlie Wu experienced hateration from her family, her ex, and Charlie’s ex. But ultimately, all the hell Astrid goes through leads her to discover herself and lead the live she’s always wanted to live–one on her terms and not for the approbation of her family and peers. In fact, while in hiding from the outside world Astrid says to Charlie, “I’ve realized that so many of my fears aren’t really my own. They’re the fears of my mother, my father, my grandparents. I’ve just unconsciously internalized them, and I’ve let these fears affect every decision I make…Scientists talk about how we inherit health issues from our parents through our genes, but we also inherit this entire lineage of fear and pain–generations of it.” Allegedly humans are born with only two fears. They are falling, and loud noises. Everything else is learned. But don’t take my word for it, read this CNN article.
In part III, the bread crumb we get is from Professor Oon, the cardiologist in charge of Ah Ma’s health. Oon muses, “After all this time, with all the medical advances we’ve made, the human body is still an unfathomable mystery to us. The heart most of all.” When I say I was not expecting this, I mean I was not expecting this at all. Ah Ma had a beau while she was married to Nick’s grandfather. In fact, she even had a child with him. I was like, prim and proper Ah Ma stepped out on her husband? Oh my! And her beau plays quite an important role, which I shan’t mention here because you really aught to read it yourself. Anyway a few other hearts remained a mystery to me. For instance, Fiona staying married to Eddie Cheng who by all accounts was a horrible human being driven by greed, appearances, and self-interest. And by the end, Eddie himself has a change of heart and instead of being a verbally abusive man to his family becomes a bit of a marshmallow. There are two hearts left to mention, and those are the hearts of Peik Lin and Carlton Bao.
Peik Lin, Rachel’s BFF from uni, finds her prince charming and Carlton Bao, Rachel’s half brother, finds his better half as well. I’m not going to spoil who Peik Lin marries, but I do want to mention the woman I believe Carlton will marry (if Kwan decides to write a book to continue telling the story). The woman is Scheherazade, one of Nick’s cousin’s; she is an elusive beauty no man has been able to catch. What makes her interesting to me is how Kwan chose to write her character. Scheherazade is half Singaporean and half English. She never quite felt fully part of either half of her identity because of how other people perceived her: “I realized that the English didn’t really see me as I saw myself. I was this exotic, half-Chinese girl to them. So I felt like I was just absolutely screwed on both ends–I wasn’t Singaporean enough, but neither was I English enough.” Honestly, I can empathize being a first generation American born to Kenyan immigrants who became naturalized U.S. citizens. Back to Scheherazade though, I also love the fact that her name is from the 1,001 Nights tale. Idk why I find it so funny, but as if she didn’t have enough identity issues this half Singaporean, half English girl has a Persian name?! LOL. She can’t catch a break (by the way I am not dissing the name, I love the name, I just think it plays up the exotic card).
Hats off to the writer. The epigraph on part four from Leo Tolstoy was deep AF and apt AF. It reads, “I often think how unfairly life’s good fortune is sometimes distributed.” Ah Ma’s will made sure her family and her employees were taken care of, even if some family members were unhappy with certain sums of money and distributions. Ah Ma actually made sure to correct some financially skewed situations by taking care of certain female family members she felt had been overlooked in previous situations. There’s also a conversation that occurs between Charlie and Astrid’s brother Alex in which Alex says, “Peel away the veneer of wealth and sophistication and you’ll find extremely provincial, narrow-minded people. The problem is that they all have too much money, and it’s come so easily to them that they think they’re bloody geniuses and so they are always right.” Alex was talking about his parents and their racist, elitist leanings. However, Tolstoy’s view on the unfair distribution of wealth isn’t off the mark. We cannot deny the existence of people whose wealth was bequeathed to them. There’s nothing wrong with inheriting wealth, but there is something wrong in judging people for not being as well off, or far along in their financial journeys as you because they are self-made, middle class, working class, working poor, or poor.
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