Before I start babbling about a book I recently finished minutes ago, please take note that it's twenty minutes before midnight on May 22nd. With that in mind, I'm going to try as hard as I can to make it quick: China Rich Girlfriend turned out to be another Kevin Kwan's clever masterpiece following the same Asian socialites, though it was certainly more hilarious compared to the first one.
Disclaimer: This review will contain spoilers of Crazy Rich Asians. If you haven't read the first book yet, please consider turning around and picking it up first or you can read my review here.
Still following the drama in the Young, T'sien, and Shang clans, China Rich Girlfriend explores the story of a similar pretentious lifestyle starting with Nick Young who is secretly getting married to his girlfriend of years, Rachel Chu. His mother, Eleanor Young, has tried multiple times to stop his wedding but something even bigger catches her attention: a sudden discovery regarding her soon-to-be daughter-in-law turns out to be a life-changing experience neither of them would ever think of having.
Meanwhile, thanks to Charlie Wu and his secret devotion to Astrid, Michael Teo is now a well-known rich man in town. Even though the fact that their marriage is saved soothes Astrid, she now has to face Michael's ugly temperament whenever things don't go exactly the way he wants it to be.
A similar transformation happens to Kitty Pong also, who is now known as the famous Mrs. Tai after marrying the rich Bernard Tai. Even though all Kitty does is travel the world to participate in all kinds of social events, she more often finds herself in the gossip section rather than being adored for her good look, fashion sense, or the so-called good deeds. Desperate to be on top of the social ladder, Kitty decides to hire someone who can help her achieve her ultimate goal.
Major roles are played by some of the newly introduced characters too. Carlton Bao is the son of China's very influential politician while Collete Bing is the only daughter of one of the richest men in China.
I had anticipated some entertainment when I first signed up for this book that in fact while I was happy to find out that it was even more hilarious than the first one I wasn't at all surprised. China Rich Girlfriend explored an even more challenging family drama with a better perspective. While recognizing the characters wasn't big of a problem anymore, I found myself enjoying every bit of the drama thoroughly. It was also nice to stumble upon a new conflict apart from the family-related ones.
In addition to being freaking hilarious, the characters were even more well-developed here. I loved discovering how clueless Kitty was, how fun Nick and Rachel seemed to be in Shanghai with Carlton and Collete, how mad I was when Michael was being the biggest jerk ever (I stand on my ground that Astrid Leong, my role model, deserves better!), while Eleanor's rants were another reason I considered this book page-turner. All in all, China Rich Girlfriend was rich in development that even Michael whom I despised so much was unbelievably understandable (the only good thing that came out of him was the fact that I got to discover another side of Charlie Wu I didn't imagine I would see).
However, I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to see more of Nick and Rachel's marriage life which I hoped so bad would be more eventful, though I was pretty satisfied that they at least spent quite a lot of time together in Shanghai. Nick was very considerate of Rachel's feelings and I found him so admirable as the result. The same also went to Carlton who handled his own struggle quite well, though how he felt towards Collete was still a mystery I couldn't quite decide yet. Kitty, on the other hand, was as entertaining as ever. All along I was sure that there was something more to her despite the fact that people only saw her as a dumb former soap opera actress, which explained why the ending surprised me but in a way it also did not. Kitty was obviously smarter than we all gave her credit for after all.
In conclusion, China Rich Girlfriend was a charming guilty pleasure read I would be happy to visit again someday. The drama was delivered cleverly and thus it was an overall exciting experience for me as a reader. Since it's now 01:23 in the morning on May 23rd, I'm going to let the review ends here and get a good night's sleep before reading Rich People Problem first thing in the morning. Ciao!
