China Rich Girlfriend: A Novel

China Rich Girlfriend is the worst.I read Crazy Rich Asians because I saw the poster for the movie , and yes, I'm one of those snobs who generally believe that the book is always better than the movie.This was one situation where, as I read, I could see that here was a good idea which could be made great with the right team of screen writers and casting directors.China Rich Girlfriend takes what was horrible about Crazy Rich Asians and amps it up, with the effect of drowning out what was good about the first book.The use of footnotes in the first book was convenient, more like subtitles which allowed the characters to break into their native tongues quite naturally. By the time we get to China Rich, Kevin Kwan uses them as running commentary on the characters and situations. Like watching a movie with that friend who has strong opinions on everything and keeps chattering away as you're trying to immerse yourself in the experience.Also, I'm sure by this time, we get it. The characters are rich. The book degenerates into pages and pages of describing bathrooms and jets and handbags and shoes and cars... I think there is only about 25% of story buried in 75% explanation about how Astrid's style is deceptively simple. How charming! Bracelets from 650 BC and a dress from Zara! How does she do it! But wait! Michael's Ferrari!I'm giving it 2 stars because despite the atrocious writing, one dimensional characters etc. I'm still going to buy the 3rd book.Sigh.

I absolutely loved this book and of course must start by saying that you really need to read "Crazy Rich Asians" (Book One) before you even pick this up because some of the more subtle story lines will fall flat without that back drop. Above everything else, what I appreciated the most was that this mini series actually provided resolution to the most important stories.There were some characters from the first book who fizzled away without explanation, and a couple of twists that seemed to come out of left field, but none of that changed the fact that I devoured this 400+ page book and enjoyed every minute of it.

Author Kevin Kwan returns with characters from his earlier novel, Crazy Rich Asians: Nicholas Young and Rachel Chu who are about to get married, Nick’s cousin Astrid Leong, and Hong Kong soap opera star Kitty Pong who is now married to billionaire Bernard Tai. The plot has us bouncing around to various locations all over the world, a device which shows us how wealthy everyone is with their own jumbo jets, magnificent mansions, closets full of designer clothes, oodles of expensive jewels, and net worth in the billions of dollars. Kwan devotes plenty of ink to these trappings of wealth but unfortunately skimps on his characters and the story line. It gets rather tiresome after reading page after page of prose that resembles an inventory of valuables for an insurance policy. A big disappointment after enjoying Kwan’s earlier book.

I was so impressed to see that a single author had three concurrent best sellers that I ordered all 3 before I read the first one. The insight into the culture was somewhat interesting, but the narrative kept talking about all of the fashions and fashion designers that meant nothing to me. Please - just tell me a good story!

I thought this was better than the first of the trilogy (Crazy Rich Asians... which I also loved.) The drama started right away and you were quickly transported into the luxury scene of some of China and Singapore’s most elite families. This is a perfect beach read. Also great any time of the year if you’re just looking for something fun and entertaining. Be sure to read the whole trilogy!

I LOVE this series and cannot wait for the third book to come out. When I read the first book in the series it took me a little while to adjust to the writing style of the author before I started to really love the characters and the plot. The books don't necessarily have an ending, it's more of a continuation and makes you want more. Kwan thoroughly thought out the characters and you can't help but fall in love with Rachel, Nick, and of course, Astrid (!). The second book was laid out a little differently style-wise than the first but it's easy to adjust since most of the characters are the same but there are some plot twists and new characters. Overall an awesome read!

This book is like eating a milk shake with whipped cream. It will fill you up but there's not a lot of substance. It's just frothy fun but a little boring and not much to it. I'm on to the third book in the trilogy, though. I'm learning so much about this culture...I had no idea.

Not nearly as engaging as the first book. Rachel has suddenly become just another brand label noticing, spa attending, endless shopping and party-going blob. She has a lot of time off for a professor and never seems to have anything particularly intelligent or insightful to say about the worlds of wealth she's entered. I really liked the first book so maybe my expectations were too high. Kevin Kwan tells a good story and the characters are fun for sure. I wanted to love it. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. It was okay.

This follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians continues the story of Rachel and Nick - but also follows Astrid on a seperate plotline as well as Kitty Pong on yet another.The extravaganza moves to focus on the wealthy elite of China as Rachel meets her long lost family - and experiences a whole new spin on the rivalries of the rich and famous.I devoured this book a lot faster than the first book, probably because there is no movie (yet) for me to constantly conpare it to.One thing I noticed is that whilst this book retains the abundance of handy footnotes that were a staple of book 1 - they have switched from numbers to symbols in the main text and moved the footnotes from the end of the book to the end of each chapter. (This may just be a publisher difference) I preffered the number system as it was more noticable for me when my eyes were tired.Good book though, an excellent holiday read. (Not that anyone should be going on holiday at the moment.)

I have to admit, this is not the type of book I would normally pick up. I like varied genres although generally read thrillers / crime fiction. However, I saw the movie of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ on a flight recently and found it quite humorous and enjoyable and thought maybe ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ would be a good book to follow on with the story. I downloaded a sample to see if it was in any way interesting and upon finishing it I instantly downloaded the book to my kindle.The story is great, very engaging and witty from the start and very easy to get into. It’s a wonderful read for a bit of escapism and I loved the characters - they are all so well developed and there are some great bits to give you a giggle throughout the book. The story was an absolute pleasure to read and I’ve now bought book 3 in the series as I’m looking forward to seeing what they all get up to next!If you’re looking for a bit of light-hearted escapism with a good bit of humour - definitely give it a read! :-)

Well if you read my review of the first book in this 'Crazy Rich Asians' trilogy you will be aware, that it made me laugh enough to want to read the sequels and I have already downloaded the entire trilogy to My Kindle.A continuation of the stories of the atrociously behaved Chinese families that we were introduced to in the first volume. Did not find this quite as engaging as there was less character portrayal and much more food and fashionista detail. The latter I am not really interested in, although at times the food descriptions were mouth watering.Overall extraordinary descriptions of the extreme wealth of 'Crazy Rich Asians' with not much of a plot to hold it together.Just worth reading for a laugh.

I like this even more than the 1st book, perhaps because I learnt more about Mainland Chinese, as an overseas borne Chinese. I found the expressions hilarious and laughed out loud so many times while reading, although for some the expressions may seemed exaggerating, the image is so true I can just see them happening. Putting out the problems of fu er dai in China and third/fourth generations overseas borne chinese in a funny way don't make the social problems it is creating go away. Precisely that the "money" concept is so lost on the younger generation, rich or not. The teachings are the same. Younger generation is now borne into an age of abundance, less children, more precious, and automation just makes the next generation lazier and haughtier. A great book that I would recommend for anyone wanting to take a lesson about China chinese behaviour!

I enjoyed reading the first book of the trilogy which made me look forward to reading the other two books to see how the story unfolds, but found the second book below-par and lacklustre. The author throws in too many of these designer brand names which made it such a snoozefest to read. I get it that the author wants to paint the picture of just how rich these people are but found it too overdone. I didn't find the comedy as funny as the first book. I was more interested in Astrid's storyline than what was happening in Rachel's life. I think the story could've striked comedy gold if the author had focused the storyline on how Rachel tries to get along with her new mother-in-law Eleanor Young (perhaps this will be in the third book?). I hope the third book is better.