Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Crazy Rich Asians |
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When Rachel was born the Chinese prison husband (who wasn't in prison at the time, and who believed he was the father of the child) was very upset. He had wanted a boy. But under Chinese law only one child was allowed, unless the one child was a cripple or a retard. So Rachel's dad planned to blind Rachel with acid so he could bone Rachel's mom again, this time with a boy.
When Rachel's mom heard about this plan, she ran away to America with Rachel, and when Rachel was old enough told her that her dad was dead. Just remember that the prison guy still is not her father, it was the next door neighbor.
But the bottom line is, Rachel still has never met her father and probably never will. What kind of dopey resolution is that?
Click here to see the rest of this reviewMeanwhile Rachel has to decide whether to break up with Nick. She realizes that Nick has flown across the world, gotten her mother, and flown back with her. Nick took two long airplane trips for her! Nick loves her! Rachel realizes that Nick is so whipped that she could get him to cut off his own nuts and eat them for breakfast. She decides to stay with him.
The story closes with Rachel ordering Nick to take a sharp blade and cut off his nuts and feed them to the crocodiles. Nick obeys without question.
Kidding!
But Nick was so obsequious, so servile, he just as well might have.
The end.
Literary Criticism:
You know you're going to have problems with a book when the first two pages are a family tree showing the names of dozens of characters, each members of Nick's large extended family. Most of them are not really relevant to the story, you do best if you keep focused on Nick, Astrid, and Nick's mother (as well as Rachel and Michael), but it makes a much harder read when we are bombarded with all these secondary characters.
Most of the book really has nothing to do with anything. The first 350 pages are basically an exposition, over and over and over again, of how rich Nick's Singapore family is. Look, they live in a fancy mansion! Look, they have a lot of servants! Look, they have fancy cars! Like I said, this goes on for 350 pages or so. I kept waiting for something, anything to happen in this story.
Events got cooking in the last 50 pages or so. The drama between Rachel and Nick's Mom played out as described. But most of the book felt like filler.
This book could have been written much differently. It could have been a Chinese "Game of Thrones" style book if each family member had been given different personalities and different agendas. That's not what we got here.
What we got here, besides the basic absence of plot, was characters acting illogically. Michael thought he was acting valiant by pretending to have an affair? Charlie offered to spend a few hundred million dollars to make Michael happy and wealthy? None of it makes any sense.
If you take out the 350 pages of "look how rich these Chinese people are" the remainder could have been written as a short story.... which is probably what it should have been.
