Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Title: Crazy Rich Asians
Author: Kevin Kwan
Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: New Yorker, Rachel Chu, is invited by her boyfriend of two years, Nick Young, to be his date to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. What he doesn't tell her is how wealthy and judgy his family can be. Learning more about Nick's family causes Rachel to question if she really knows the man she has been living with at all.

My Thoughts

I decided to read this one because of its crazy popularity. I figured it was going to be a superficial Cinderella type love story, but set in Asia. I was so excited to be wrong. Not only is this novel funny, but it really dives into complex family dynamics showing that enormous wealth does not make life perfect. The author explores the mother-child relationship, relationships between in-laws, and also marriage in an extremely traditional and wealthy family. The reader gets the "money can't buy happiness" theme, but it is not at all preachy. I felt especially drawn to the storyline following the character Astrid. Everyone who knows her thinks her life is perfect; perfect clothes, son, husband, and she never has to worry about money. Instead, we find an incredibly complex woman dealing with her own issues.
While some of the storyline is predictable, there are plenty of surprises to keep the reader on their toes. I particularly enjoyed the footnotes which defined Mandarin and Cantonese colloquial phrases in literal terms, but also with added humor, related them to similar English colloquialisms. The footnotes also provided context for schools, businesses, and groups of people, again with delightfully funny asides added in. As you know by now, I love when I can enjoy a great story but also learn something about history or culture along the way. 

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in modern Asian culture, stories about family, or who is looking for a good laugh.
 Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!


To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

The Winter Station by Jody Shields

Title: The Winter Station
Author: Jody Shields
Genre: Historical Fiction


Synopsis: It's 1910 in a Russian occupied town in the Manchuria region of China. An aristocratic Russian doctor who, unlike many other Russians in the town, has great respect for the Chinese culture, starts to notice mysterious unreported deaths of Chinese people. It starts with two bodies abandoned at the train station and slowly starts to grow. Government officials want to ignore these deaths, but the Baron will not let this go uninvestigated.

My Thoughts

From the back cover, I thought that this would be presented as a mystery with lots of suspense. Unfortunately, the first few chapters come across more like, "oh dead people, the government won't care because they aren't Russians. Oh, more dead people, let's send in more doctors to investigate. Oh, its a plague." And then the rest of the book documents the horrors of the plague and how the doctors can't agree on treatment or mode of transmission, the incredible number of deaths, and people trying to avoid quarantine. When it finally gets interesting and the reader is invested, it just ends with the Baron trying to help one of his colleagues to leave the town. Talk about anticlimactic. 
It is based on a diary kept by the Baron, who is the main character, so that is interesting. It is also a part of history that was buried because it was embarrassing to the Russian government how poorly it was handled. But, in the end, it seems like the author tried to take a diary and make it fiction, but didn't add enough meat to make it the truly enthralling mystery it could have been.

I have not gotten into the last couple of books that I have read. Let's hope my next read, Crazy Rich Asians, will live up to the hype! As always, I will keep you posted.

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!


To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above