Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

Synopsis

“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.”

-Review from Goodreads

Review

*spoilers ahead*

Rich People Problems is the final book in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. It has everything we have come to know and love about this series: drama, drama, drama. My short take is this: as a fan of the series I was a little disappointed with this final book. It dragged in parts, the ending was pretty rushed but ultimately I think the novelty kind of wore off for me. It’s entirely possible that this wasn’t the right time for me to be reading it. (If you know of the perfect pandemic book, do tell!)

Likes

• Kitty Pong, ever the underdog, had a great character arc. I always enjoyed her chapters and getting to see her evolve throughout the series
• Astrid, one of my favorite characters, was featured prominently in this book and her story line with Michael and Charlie was one of the most compelling
• Su Yi is on her deathbed and keeps having flashbacks to her childhood and youth, which I thought was an interesting approach to showing her life, but I wanted to see more. Even though I found them intriguing, there weren’t enough flashbacks for me to really understand the purpose of including them

Dislikes

• If you, like me, don’t like Eddie Cheng, brace yourself because this book is 75%+ Eddie Cheng. As a side character, he fits in perfectly with all the over-the-top social-climbers in Singapore, but I’ve just never liked him and it was annoying to see him be such a prominent character. Sometimes there are characters you love to hate, and Eddie has never been one of those for me
• Rachel is hardly in this book, and neither is Nick now that I think about it. They are arguably one of the fan-favorite couples and the time spent on Eddie Cheng could have been spent on them instead

Final Thoughts

The main reason I kept reading was to find out who would be left Tyresall Park in Su Yi’s will. I assumed, like the rest of us, that it would be Nick but of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. The specifics of who it was left to and what ultimately happened in the epilogue were fitting, and since I am the type of reader who likes to have the ending tied up with a bow, it was satisfying.