Call me crazy, but could Kevin Kwan be the Jane Austen of our era? Cause from where I’m sitting, the similarities couldn’t be more striking.
But let's talk about the book first. Going in, I thought I was getting a zany romantic comedy. But instead of your typical white representation, we get two Asians, one of whom comes from an extremely wealthy though misbehaving family. And I would've been happy with that. At the time this book came out, it was extremely rare to see ethnic Chinese characters as the main love interests, so to get even that made me really excited. But this turned out to be so much more.
Because the thing is, this isn't a romcom. And it isn't chicklit either. Crazy Rich Asians is a social satire, and the distinction makes all the difference. The point of this story isn't to read it with full earnestness while cheering on Rachel and Nick and marveling at the opulent wealth and cringing at the excessive displays. Yes, you can do that, but it's also crucial to understand that the over the top extravaganza is simply a vehicle for Kwan to critique the social norms and structures of our time, and in the process, make us laugh.
I was amazed at how Kwan was able to peel back the layers and keenly sketch out all the characteristics of growing up Chinese, including the enormous pressure to succeed along the narrowest of lines, the expectation to bow to familial demands, and the emphasis on face and appearance. The juxtaposition of Nick and Rachel and the way they approach their families really highlights the difference between the East and the West, and how hard it can be for the two sides to understand each other.
And through it all, Kwan injected so much fun and humor into this. I normally can't stand to read about Asian family dysfunctions because it hits too close to home. But here, Kwan was able to take raw and tender subjects and turn them into comical events, all the while honestly examining the beauty and ugliness within. The strife and the feelings in here were spot on, but they made me laugh instead of cry.
It's worth talking about the film adaptation for a second. So this is another example where it pays to read the book because the film just doesn't do it justice. The book was such a carefully constructed satire, but the adaptation slashed out all the social commentary and ironic humor, and turned it into a heartfelt romcom. While there's nothing wrong with that and I'm a fan of the movie, it really doesn't hold a candle to the original material.
Now back to Jane Austen. She, too, was a satirist. Social satire was the backbone of her work, and she wielded her characters, her dialogue, her wit, all to critique social structures and norms of her time. And so Kevin Kwan does too, both of them exploring human nature and exposing all of its follies and foibles in the pages of their stories. They both focused a lot on class, wealth, and social hierarchy, using the romantic pairing of a poorer character with a richer one to showcase the extent that vanity, snobbery, and greed play in our lives.
I've been a fan of Kevin Kwan for some time now and have read most of his books, some of them more than once. But it wasn't until recently when I read a few of Jane Austen's that I finally put two and two together. And once I saw the resemblance, I couldn't unsee it anymore. Kwan must have been a big Austen fan, and it shows in the way he carefully crafted this tale. It is both a scintillating triumph in its own right, as well as a reverential nod to the OG of social satire.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
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