Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy 3)
Kevin Kwan, 2017
Knopf Doubleday
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525432371
Summary
Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend, is back with an uproarious new novel of a family riven by fortune, an ex-wife driven psychotic with jealousy, a battle royal fought through couture gown sabotage, and the heir to one of Asia's greatest fortunes locked out of his inheritance.
When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside—but he's not alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch’s massive fortune.
With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall Park—a trophy estate on 64 prime acres in the heart of Singapore—Nicholas’s childhood home turns into a hotbed of speculation and sabotage. As her relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but tormented by her ex-husband—a man hell bent on destroying Astrid’s reputation and relationship.
Meanwhile Kitty Pong, married to China’s second richest man, billionaire Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing.
A sweeping novel that takes us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping at Hong Kong’s most elite private school to a surprise marriage proposal at an Indian palace, caught on camera by the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan's hilarious, gloriously wicked new novel reveals the long-buried secrets of Asia's most privileged families and their rich people problems. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1973-74
• Where—Singapore
• Raised—Clear Lake, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Houston-Clear Lake; B.F.A., Parsons School of Design
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Kevin Kwan is a Singaporean-American novelist best known for his satirical Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy (2013-17). He was born in Singapore, the youngest of three boys, into an established, old-wealth Chinese family.
Background and early years
His great-grandfather, Oh Sian Guan, was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank, the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Arthur Kwan Pah Chien, was an ophthalmologist who became Singapore's first Western-trained specialist and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic efforts. His maternal grandfather, Rev. Paul Hang Sing Hon, founded the Hinghwa Methodist Church. Kwan is also related to Hong Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan.
As a young boy, Kwan lived in Singapore with his paternal grandparents and attended the Anglo-Chinese School. When he was 11, his father, an engineer, and mother, a pianist, moved the family to the U.S., eventually landing in Clear Lake, Texas, where Kwan graduated from high school at the age of 16. Kwan earned a B.A. in Media Studies from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, after which he moved to Manhattan to attend Parsons School of Design to pursue a B.F.A. in Photography.
Career
Staying in New York, Kwan worked for Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and Tibor Kalman's design firm M & Co. In 2000, Kwan established his own creative studio; his clients have included Ted.com, Museum of Modern Art, and the New York Times.
In 2007, Kwan edited I Was Cuba, a photographic "memoir" of Cuba; in 2008 he co-authored with Deborah Aaronson an advice book, Luck: The Essential Guide.
Then, in 2009, while caring for his dying father, Kwan began to conceive of Crazy Rich Asians. He and his father reminisced about their life in Singapore while driving to and from medical appointments. Hoping to capture those memories, Kwan began writing them down in story form.
Living in the U.S. since 1985, Kwan's view of Asia had become westernized—he has said he feels like "an outsider looking in." His goal was to change the stereotypical perception of wealthy Asians' conspicuous consumption, refocusing instead on old-wealth families more like his own, families that exude "style and taste [and] have been quietly going about their lives for generations."
Four years later, in 2013, Kwan published Crazy Rich Asians, the first volume of what would become his trilogy. Two years later, in 2015, he released China Rich Girlfriend and, in 2017, Rich People's Problems. In 2018 the first book of the trilogy was released as a film and became an immediate box office hit.
In August 2018, Amazon Studios ordered a new drama series from Kwan and STX Entertainment. The as yet unnamed series is to be set in Hong Kong and will follow the "most influential and powerful family" along with their business empire.
Recognition
In 2014, Kwan was named as one of the "Five Writers to Watch" on the list of Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors published by The Hollywood Reporter. In 2018, he made Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people; that same year he was also inducted into The Asian Hall of Fame. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/18/2018.)
Book Reviews
Flashy, funny.… Delicious, the juicy stuff of classic high-society drama.… Rich People Problems is a fun tabloid romp full of over-the-top shenanigans, like a society party brawl that ruins both a Ramon Orlina glass sculpture of the hostess’s breasts and "a special pig that had only eaten truffles its entire life and was flown in from Spain.…" A memorable, laugh-out-loud Asian glitz fest that’s a pure pleasure to read.
Steph Cha - USA Today
I gobbled all three volumes of Kevin Kwan’s gossipy, name-droppy and wickedly funny Crazy Rich Asians trilogy as if they were popcorn. (Really fresh, still-warm popcorn, with that good European butter… but I digress.) The novels, set among three intergenerational and ultrarich Chinese families and peppered with hilarious explanatory footnotes, are set mostly in Singapore but flit easily from one glamorous world city to another.… Irresistible
Moira Macdonald - Seattle Times
Kevin Kwan has done it again. The mastermind behind the delicious Crazy Rich Asians series has drawn a cult-like following with his extravagant tales of Asia’s upper echelon. He’s back at with the series’s final installment, Rich People Problems (rest assured, it’s just as enthralling as the trilogy’s first two volumes).
Isabel Jones - InStyle
[A] hilarious family drama.… This delightfully wicked family saga will have you laughing over your summer daiquiris at the long-buried secrets of Asia’s most privileged families and their rich people problems.
Redbook Magazine
There are a lot of lines in Kevin Kwan’s forthcoming novel Rich People Problems that will make you both roll your eyes and chuckle at the pure absurdity of the characters.… Pure entertainment. Think: Bravo’s Housewives but with a lot more money and, as a result, a lot more drama.
Taylor Bryant - Nylon
Thank god for Kwan.… In Rich People Problems—Kwan’s third installment in his Crazy Rich Asians series—even more insane family hijinks unfold when greed and jealousy get fortune-hungry schemers up in a wild tizzy. Catch up on the whole saga before the film’s release.
W Magazine
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Rich People Problems …then take off on your own:
1. A good place to start a discussion for Rich People Problems is perhaps here: what's wrong with these people? And another starting point: what's funny about them—plastic surgery for a droopy-eyed fish, maybe? (By the way, according to author Kevin Kwan, plastic surgery for fish "absolutely, 100 percent" exists in Singapore.)
2. Characters in all three of Kevin Kwan's novels define themselves by what and how much they own. Talk about the ways in which money and status permeate every social interaction in this book, even the most private relationships. Compare this level of class-consciousness with other well-known stories of the rich and privileged, say, Downton Abbey or even further back in time to say Pride and Prejudice.
3. Talking openly about expensive brands of clothing or cars is prevalent in the book—and in real Singapore high-society, according to Kwan. It's almost like talking about sports, he says, while in the U.S. it's considered flashy and vulgar. What do you think? Is brand-name-dropping simply being honest…or is it boastful?
4. Who is your favorite character and your least favorite? Is anyone authentic in Rich People Problems? Is anyone not obsessed with materialism?
5. The novel is clearly satirical. What is Kwan skewering? Who and what best typifies the object of his satire? What moments seem particularly barbed to you?
6. In China Rich Girlfriend (book two of the trilogy), a family friend tries to warn Nick against possible disinheritance should he marry Rachel: "in everyone's eyes, you are nothing without Tyersall Park," the woman tells him. What does that mean? Might Tyersall Park be considered a sort of character unto itself in this book?
7. This novel makes use of flashbacks to reveal Su Yi's backstory. What do we learn about her past life?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)