China Rich Girlfriend (Crazy Rich Asians #2) by Kevin Kwan

Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians, is back with a wickedly funny new novel of social climbing, secret e-mails, art-world scandal, lovesick billionaires, and the outrageous story of what happens when Rachel Chu, engaged to marry Asia's most eligible bachelor, discovers her birthfather.
On the eve of her wedding to Nicholas Young, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Asia, Rachel should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond from JAR, a wedding dress she loves more than anything found in the salons of Paris, and a fiance willing to sacrifice his entire inheritance in order to marry her. But Rachel still mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won't be able to walk her down the aisle. Until: a shocking revelation draws Rachel into a world of Shanghai splendor beyond anything she has ever imagined. Here we meet Carlton, a Ferrari-crashing bad boy known for Prince Harry-like antics; Colette, a celebrity girlfriend chased by fevered paparazzi; and the man Rachel has spent her entire life waiting to meet: her father. Meanwhile, Singapore's It Girl, Astrid Leong, is shocked to discover that there is a downside to having a newly minted tech billionaire husband. A romp through Asia's most exclusive clubs, auction houses, and estates, China Rich Girlfriend brings us into the elite circles of Mainland China, introducing a captivating cast of characters, and offering an inside glimpse at what it's like to be gloriously, crazily, China-rich.

Format: ebook
Narrator: n/a
Performance: n/a
Story: 🌑🌑🌑🌑

China Rich Girlfriend is the second book of the deliciously gossipy Crazy Rich Asians series. It's more or less the same escapist, namedropping chick lit as the first book. What I particularly liked about these CRA books is that unlike other rich-centric books that  tend to focus on the merely rich or the nouveau rich, the trilogy talks about the old rich, those who are so stratospherically wealthy they are invisible to everyone else. It's fun to take notes and visualize the fine line delineating new money and the old money. If there's one thing the new money always do, it's that they almost always go for big and flashy. Understated elegance is the moral of the story. Let Corinna Ko-Tung (as in Ko-Tong Park, Ko-Tong Road and Ko-Tong Wing at Queen Mary Hospital) guide you in your quest to reach the pinnacle of society. For a fee, of course.

Kitty Pong does exactly that as she tries to move in Hong Kong society. With Corinna's help, she tries to transform her image as she struggles to get accepted in the rarefied circles of the rich. Throughout all these, rumors of what happened to Bernard and her daughter intensified. However at the end, Kitty, who has an uncanny ability to hook big fish, just moved from one billionaire to another. Try as I might to hate her, I couldn't help but admire her sheer audacity and skills at maneuvering the shark infested waters of the upper class. Corinna might think she is naive but I think girl knows what she is doing. 

Collete Bing, blogger and fashion icon, juggles male suitors while wowing everyone with her real estate projects. Collete, rumored girlfriend of Calton, befriends Rachel and Nick and takes them on a whirlwind shopping tour of China and Paris. Collete was nice enough in an entitled rich girl kind of way but I kept thinking there must be a catch somewhere. Rachel found out the hard way.

My only complaint is the perfectly nice, perfectly likable but dull as dishwater couple, Nick and Rachel. I know they are suppose to be the normal, down to earth ones among all the larger than life characters but I don't really want to read about the common people. If I did, I would have picked up any random contemporary book available. I got tired of Nick's schtick of slumming it and pretending to be ordinary. I'm not saying they should deck themselves out in bling and buy a megayatch. I just wished Nick and Rachel did something relevant. I mean, he's an NYU history professor but has he taken any interest on the historical and cultural heritage owned by his family? Rachel, too, is engaged in some boring research about microlending. There's simple and there's blah and these two are just flat.

That's why the ever so chic and classy Astrid is my girl. Astrid is like the poster child of old money cool. She knows she's privileged, she doesn't take it for granted and she does something with it, like being involve in the arts scene. Astrid was the only one who can appreciate the architectural details of an old house or who would casually wear a Zara dress accessorized by a museum piece. Astrid, who I have been shipping with Charlie Wu since the first book, tries to make her marriage with Michael work but I'm glad my ship sailed in the end. Charlie is the only straight guy I know who knows Ann Demeulemeester and those major points goes to his favor as the best male character in the entire trilogy.

There are footnotes at the bottom of the chapters. I liked these because they serve as extra snarky commentaries disguised as FYIs as well as translations of Singaporean phrases. If I lived in Singapore, Hong Kong or China, it would have been fun to guess who's who in the books. 

Satirical, campy and fun, China Rich Girlfriend is the kind of book you take on vacation or when you just want a a good laugh. It satisfied my curiosity of the ultrarich lifestyle while at the same time left me wanting more (because I am that nosy). Luckily, we still have Rich People's Problems.

SOUNDTRACK

Rich Friends
Portugal the Man
WoodStock

Hey man I'm cool to lean on
But I'm not your property
See I'm crushing down these problems
Cutting pain with poverty
I'm just tryin' to catch a free ride
From the temple to the tomb

I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you
I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you

Let me be your one-man army
I'll campaign for anarchy
I been slippin' through the cracks
Like I was clothed in Vaseline
Let me be your little sunshine
In all this gloom and doom

I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you
I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you

Crashin' on Chardonnay and Adderall
Driving head on into the Wonderwall
Every day holidays when daddy's gone
Livin' life like we're the only ones that know we're famous

From the Capetown coliseums
Cold disparity
Electric fences hummin' like a hive without a queen
We're all trying to catch a free ride
From the temple to the tomb

I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you
I could really really really use a rich rich friend like you

Crashin' on Chardonnay and Adderall
Driving head on into the Wonderwall
Every day holidays when daddy's gone
Livin' life like we're the only ones that know we're famous

Crashin' on Chardonnay and Adderall
Driving head on into the Wonderwall
Every day holidays when daddy's gone
Livin' life like we're the only ones that know we're famous

Crashin' on Chardonnay and Adderall
Driving head on into the Wonderwall
Every day holidays when daddy's gone
Livin' life like we're the only ones that know we're famous

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