User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
There’s a lot of merit in showing the protagonist’s struggle with her half-white/half-Asian identity, how other people have treated her because of her more Asian features, and her rejection of Asian culture. Unfortunately, the message of embracing yourself as you are gets muddled by the flat characters and rushed execution. The protagonist is appallingly immature and behaves like a rash child (especially in the last half of the book), and most of the side characters act insufferable and annoying throughout the entire novel. I’m sure they’re kooky and exaggerated on purpose since it satirizes the vapid lifestyles of the rich, but the emotional parts of the book (that we’re supposed to take more seriously) are just as insipid. Some characters start spouting long monologues that straightforwardly tell you the message you’re supposed to take away from this, which is unrealistic, jarring, and has little emotional payoff in character development and wrapping up the story.
Rating: really liked it
*takes deep breath* *prepares for pitchforks*
Okay. Okay okay okay okay OKAY. I'm sorry to say it, but...I wasn't a fan of this novel.
Retellings of any sort are difficult. I should know; I'm the bitch who read
four different Pride & Prejudice retellings in the past two months. (I hate me too!) One thing I've learned from seeing how a variety of authors reinterpret past literature is that the best adaptations are those that don't just shuffle a few things around and give the source material a fresh coat of paint; they really seek to rebuild that work from scratch and keep its essential lessons while providing a new landscape.
When I was reading
Sex and Vanity, I intentionally tried not to compared it to Kevin Kwan's
Crazy Rich Asians series. However, that's impossible to do here: This novel is written with the identical dishy tone and footnotes as Kwan's first three novels, and while the characters are different, a lot of the overarching messages and world-building were very similar.
But when I thought about it, what was much more difficult to overlook was that
Sex and Vanity's arc was much like
Crazy Rich Asians' narrative in many ways, except I think Rachel Chu made for a much more captivating heroine than Lucie. Some of the themes that Kwan touched on were good, but again, we've seen many of them before in other iterations of his previous work. If I was going to write a dissertation on this (Lord help us), it'd be that
Crazy Rich Asians could possibly be seen as the more elevated and enlightened retelling of
A Room With a View in some aspects than the novel that's supposed to be an adaptation.
That said, I definitely think this book will be a great summer beach read for many people; it's light, the characters are airily unlikable at worst, and you can hit a fun fashion designer name on every page. Perhaps some people will find its similarities to the
Crazy Rich Asians series to be its greatest strength. I just think it lacked that extra little something to take it to the next level, and I'm sad I didn't like it more.
Rating: really liked it
Hey! January 2021 Reading Vlog is up!!
The Written Review 
Lucie Churchill has lived her life within a very narrow box thanks to her
stifling family.You'd think that being incredibly rich would lead her to a
life of glamor and excitement but instead she's constantly petrified of stepping one foot out of line.
During a visit to the Capri island, Lucie (for the first time) steps outside her family's boundaries thanks to the irresistible George Zao.
Unfortunately,
she's quickly discovered and the gilded cage clamps more firmly down than ever before.
Years later, Lucie is now engaged to an "appropriate man" and her life is set for a steady (if not a bit boring) path.
And then...
HE comes back into her life. What ever shall Lucie do?
So.
Sooooo.
I LOVED Crazy Rich Asians and will adore that book to my dying day. And I've been eagerly awaiting Kevin Kwan's latest book for years now.
But this one?
I feel like it
missed its mark for me a bit.
I mean on the one hand, it had the opulence and grandeur and petty/entertaining squabbles that I love but the way they were written...it just
felt too similar to Crazy Rich Asians. It felt like I was in the same world as his other series rather than somewhere entirely new.
And the other thing that drew me out of the series was...I had
a hard time liking Lucie.In the beginning of the book, I adored her. But as time went on and as more of her antics came it light, I felt myself pulling away from her.
She just ended up being vindictive and mean, and I didn't enjoy reading that.
Lowkey, I wish her love interest was with someone else cause gosh...
he deserved better. A huge thank you to DoubleDay Books and Kevin Kwan for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
Rating: really liked it
Two different aspects are colliding each other and giving me painful headache about this book. It’s not something between hate and love. It is just mostly between hmm okay, not Crazy Rich Asians kind of humorous, smart, entertaining but it is “meh” kind of read and “Oh,no!” It’s a true crime to call this book retelling of “ A room with a view!”whirling opinions take tours around my overused brain cells.
I have to admit when I start my reading I had no clue this book was retelling of E. M. Forster’s “ A room with a view” which is set in England in early 1900’s . Well, to prove my point, I have to summarize the story of the book: this is the story of English woman named Lucy Honeychurch whose life has been transformed after her visit to Italy. She is accompanied by her fussy cousin Charlotte Bartlett. As soon as they arrived to their hotel In Florence , they found out their room didn’t have a view of Arlo as they expected which made them disappointed but at the dinner, they met Mr. Emerson, a British man who loved to attract attention, offered them to switch their rooms.
After a few “Oh, that would be inappropriate!”, “ What would people think”, “No, thanks” later, they finally accepted the offer. But after Lucy and Mr. Emerson’s son George’s paths’ crossing and sharing a passionate kiss, Lucy realizes her life completely changed.
And let’s get back to our retold story. Lucie Tang Churchill, 19 years old, attends her friend’s destination wedding on Capri and she meets with charming George Zeo. After being caught in an humiliated situation, cousin Charlotte helps her whisk away. And 5 years later, two of them meet again but now Lucie is engaged with Cecil who is coming from wealthy, powerful family. But is he truly in love with her or is he attracted of her powerful social media impression?
I actually found characters, flat, boring and irritating. But the author’s approach to racism, class differences were the best parts of the book. Of course the sarcastic look to the extremely rich people’s lives and tone of exaggeration make you entertain.
But overall: as a retelling the book is disappointing. So I wanted to consider this as a stand-alone, entertaining, romantic , thought provoking novel which didn’t fit my expectations. So I wanted to stay at my Switzerland territory which means I didn’t like or hate it, I think I’d better forget it after finishing kind of three starred read.
One more time I’m thanking to NetGalley and Edelweiss for rejecting me because I was expecting something more enjoyable, vivid but unfortunately it’s a mediocre and forgettable read for me!
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Rating: really liked it
I bought a trilogy of Kevin Kwan books and this single-shot after having my expectations absolutely not being met with the first book Crazy Rich Asians, this book (even though I have giving it Three Stars, like I did the first book in the trilogy), met my expectations and surprised me a bit. It felt like all the ultra-rich shenanigans of CRA cast were here again, as well as the formulaic main romantic plot, but what surprised me was a sometimes serious looks at the East Asian obsession with looking at the world through a Western lens.
For lovers of this writer, this story has a smaller cast than CRA, and is just as mainstream-y (in my opinion) funny, cutting and outrageous with the added bonus that the main cast are far better fleshed out and less archetypal like they were in CRA. Enjoy! 6 out of 12.
2022 read
Rating: really liked it
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
I requested this thinking I was a total longshot at getting approved. I mean this Kevin guy might have a career in writing, know what I’m saying? If you know me you know I’m not super big on books in a series so I’ve been awaiting the day Kwan would break out of the Crazy Rich Asian world and introduce us to some new characters. I about pooped myself when I received the approval and couldn’t wait to start. Especially after coming off a book high with The Heart’s Invisible Furies I was 100% interested in something light and fun in order to cure my book hangover.
This may not have been a Rachel and Nick story, but from the cover alone I knew I was going to get to experience the opulence my real life contains zero of. You know what I’m talking about . . . .
What I did not know I was getting? A modernization of my favorite book of all time . . . .
That was like “pass the smelling salts please ‘cause momma ‘bout to pass out from excite.” You might want to take my rating with a grain of salt, because I am absolutely biased here. That being said, I read
a lot of modernizations (usually P&P, but I do mix it up with Shakespeare retellings and others occasionally) and thought this one was well done and oh-so-much fun. It doesn’t come out until July (sorry), but that’s the perfect time to soak up some sun and read about rich people vacationing in Capri and the Hamptons anyway so add it to the TBR if you need to treat yo self.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
Rating: really liked it
*sigh* This was sadly a disappointment.
Most of this novel was simply describing the opulence of Capri and New York life for the wealthy elite, from their fashion to their food to their cars, in excruciating detail which got old after the first two hours of listening to this novel that had very little actual plot.
I was expecting a romance similar to Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians but instead was given glimpses into Lucie's brief interactions with George which didn't convince me of their romance that lasted throughout the years of their 20s. Because the majority of this story was focused on describing the air of wealth around these characters rather than actually exploring their personalities and drives, I felt disconnected to each character, although I did like the discussions around racism and microaggressions towards Lucie who is biracial, I wish there was more of an actual story embedded in this novel rather than it focusing so heavily on how rich everyone was and what they were wearing, driving, and buying. It felt very superficial and left much to be desired of an engaging story.
TW: Racism, antisemitism
Rating: really liked it
I am so bitterly disappointed. Just kidding. Unfortunately, I was so nonplussed with this book that it wasn't even painful when I didn't like it.
When an author hits it big with a debut (or series in this case), they have a lot of pressure when they're writing their next book and almost always, their sophomore novel or series is subpar.
This was the case with
Sex and Vanity. From the first chapter, I felt like I was reading
Crazy Rich Asians and that feeling continued all the way until the last page.
If this had been Kwan's debut and if
Crazy Rich Asians didn't exist, I may have rated it four or five stars but it just felt too similar. It almost seems like there may have been building pressure from the publisher, fans, or even Kwan himself to publish another book considering it had been three years since his last one (and he had been consistently publishing every two years since 2013.
Whatever the case, I didn't enjoy this book. It was pretty disappointing and unoriginal. I was really hoping for something new. Oh well.
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Rating: really liked it
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So I guess this is a loose retelling of A ROOM WITH A VIEW and I was excited about it ever since I heard Kevin Kwan was coming out with a new book because CRAZY RICH ASIANS was so addictive and I compulsively devoured all the books in that series, and I totally expected SEX AND VANITY to be more of the same.
Lucie, the heroine, is half-Asian and half-white. When we meet her, she's still very young and attending the (interracial) wedding of a family friend with her WASP-y white family and all of the prestigious attendees in Capri. There, she meets George Zao, a Chinese boy from Hong Kong whose showy mother makes all of the reserved and snooty white ladies (and other Asian ladies) cringe. But Lucie is intrigued by George and his quiet mystery and the fact that he doesn't really seem to care what anyone thinks about him. They end up having an encounter that goes horribly wrong and then we see Lucie as a fully grown adult, now an art appraiser and engaged to be married to a prissy man of Latinx heritage named Cecil. But then George walks into her life again and all of her old feelings come flowing back...
I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this book. On the one hand, I liked Lucie a lot as a heroine. She reminded me more of Astrid than Rachel (which is fun, because Astrid has a cameo in here!); she comes from a life of incredible privilege and everyone sees her as a cool trendy girl, but she really struggles with her biracial identity-- not being "white" enough for her white relatives, being "other" to her Asian relatives. I feel like there were also more discussions about the stratification of class and wealth in the U.S. Even though the U.S. does not have nobility the way some parts of the world still do, money does accord status and prestige, and the older your money is, the more respected you are. The oldest, wealthiest families in the U.S. have the same status as the lords and ladies of Europe, and no matter how much money you make influencing or whatever, you can't
buy that kind of respect.
That said, this book didn't suck me in the way the CRA series did. There were just way too many info-dumps about conspicuous consumption and I began skimming over all of the portions talking about labels, brands, etc. (The Gossip Girl books had the same problem.) There were a couple funny observations, which I noted in my updates for the book, but it took up WAY too much of the word count. It's also not really a straightforward romance/saga in the way that CRA was. There were way too few scenes between George and Lucie, which made me sad because I thought they had great chemistry. I liked Rosemary and Marian a lot, and was pleasantly surprised by the arc of Charlotte's character, but I just didn't really feel the depth of the secondary characters the way I did with the cast of the CRA books.
The thing that really vibed the strongest with me, though, was Lucie's struggle as an art adviser with promoting her own paintings. I felt that so strongly because I'm a book blogger who also self-publishes, and it almost feels like a breach of trust when I try to advertise or sell my own work to my friends because they trust my recommendations and I don't want to compare my own books with the greats, because who am I to make presumptions at the expense of that trust? This isn't really something that's talked about much within the art industry-- what it's like to be both critic and
artiste-- so it was very refreshing to see it here.
Overall, I think that this book is a bit better than a lot of people are making it out to be, but it doesn't match the quality of the author's debut at all and I can see why people were disappointed.
2.5 to 3 stars
Rating: really liked it
This was a big disappointment for me, as I LOVE Crazy Rich Asians and was expecting another gem from Kevin Kwan.
It's a modern retelling of Forster's A Room With a View (NOT of any Austen novel, for Christ's sake, there ARE other classic books), a book which I've read and hated. But I totally went in with an open mind. I didn't mind when I saw the book announcement, because I thought, if anyone can make me like this awful novel, it's Kwan. But no, it still sucks.
Tragically, the writing in Sex & Vanity feels incredibly rushed and careless. Kwan wrote it in four months and it shows. The book honestly reads like fanfiction most of the time, and the characters are paper-thin. None of them feel like real people, which is crucial if we're going to care what happens to them. We're supposed to swoon for George, but he's mostly a blank canvas with chiseled abs (I mean, I still swooned, but...). Our main character Lucie has her issues - but she can also be a real cow. You can't root for her like you root for Rachel or Astrid in CRA. Sometimes you almost get a glimpse of real feeling, but mostly everything is about as subtle as a hammer blow to the head.
The trivia... the footnotes... the references... the name-drops... the fake name-drops that are actually references... what was charming and witty in CRA has turned into an absolute word-vomit all over this book. Perhaps Kwan's editor thought "here's a guy who's written 3 wildly successful novels - he doesn't need my help anymore". WRONG. Someone please rein this man's writing in. A lot of it reminded me unpleasantly of reading a fashion magazine or even a tour guide. It's like, Kevin honey, I know you have all that culture and know all that trivia, but I
just want to read a story. Please tell me all those historical facts and gossip at another time, perhaps in a non-fiction book just of these charming useless facts.
Anyway. It's so insubstantial, you can read through it in a day. Which I did. I'm not saying I hated the book or anything, but I didn't like it. However I can appreciate that it's the first book I've managed to finish in months of this goddamn pandemic.
Rating: really liked it
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I found this book to be very disappointing. The first part, set on Capri, was mostly fun, but even there the problems that would persist throughout showed. Lucie, around whom the story revolves, was bizarrely naive and sheltered for a rich American city girl in college in 2013 and her companion/cousin Charlotte was likewise bizarrely fusty and prim. Eventually realizing that this is a modern retelling of "A Room With A View" didn't help, because Charlotte's concerns about proper behavior and decorum and Lucie's inexperience seem incredibly out of touch for 21st century women not raised in convents.
All of the other characters are unlikable, except Lucie's mother Marian who appears late in the story and Mrs Zao, who is painted as flamboyant and embarrassing but clearly just has a good heart. If you're familiar with "A Room With A View" there are no surprises in the plot. If you're familiar with typical romance novel tropes, there are no surprises in the plot. If you're a fan of the over-the-top rich people nonsense from CRA, you'll enjoy the even more over-the-top rich people nonsense here. But if you're looking for a repeat of the fun of Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians series, look elsewhere.
Rating: really liked it
QUICK TAKE: the book is split into two sections: an extravagant wedding in Capri, and an engagement in The Hamptons. I loved the Capri portion of the book and the homage to A Room with a View. However, the book kinda lost me in part two and felt a little frivolous and less fun. I didn't quite buy into the romance (both men were duds to me), but the discussions on class and racism kept me engaged and invested in the story and I recommend this one for anyone looking for escapist fun this summer.
Rating: really liked it
Novels written specifically to be an "homage" to a piece of classic literature are always a risky venture for authors. You have to appeal to people who have never read the work that your book is based on, by making your story stand on its own merit and not just on its similarities to another story; and by the same token, you need to put enough of your own spin on the story so fans of the source material will still be entertained. And of course, the biggest risk comes from inviting - and almost encouraging - readers to compare your story to the much more famous book it's based on.
So Kevin Kwan set himself up for an enormous challenge by attempting to do an updated version of
A Room With a View, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that he biffs it, spectacularly.
EM Foster's heroine Lucy Honeychurch has been swapped out for Lucie Churchill - the half-Chinese, half-American daughter of an old-school East Coast WASP family. The Italian setting remains the same, although Kwan substitutes Capri for Florence, possibly because Capri gives him more chances to describe various lavish vacation homes (part of the fun of this book, I'll admit, is googling the different mansions and luxury hotels Kwan is constantly name-dropping). Anyone who has read Foster's book will already know every beat this story will take, and can rest assured that Kwan will not risk any truly innovative deviations from his source material. Readers who have no familiarity with
A Room With a View will probably spend most of their time wondering why an adult woman in the 21st century is so obsessed with protecting her "reputation."
It doesn't translate well, is what I'm saying. Kwan
almost sells us on the idea of a quick fling at a wedding almost ruining a woman's life, because he at least does a good job of demonstrating how strictly Lucie's behavior is dictated by her upper-class conservative upbringing. But Kwan can't even be bothered to make his version of George legitimately unsuitable for Lucie - the best he can do is have George be the
wrong kind of obscenely rich, oh and also his mother is tacky. The horror. (there's a bit at the end where Mrs. Zao gets a WASP makeover to appease the racist co-op board of the luxury apartment she wants to buy, and it left a
seriously bad taste in my mouth)
The easiest way to illustrate how
Sex and Vanity (oh my god, the LAZINESS of that title! Go girl give us nothing!) fails to live up to its literary predecessor is with the text itself.
First, we have the scene from
A Room With a View when Lucy breaks up with her fiance:
"When we were only acquaintances, you let me be myself, but now you're always protecting me...I won't be protected. I will choose for myself what is ladylike and right. To shield me is an insult. Can't I be trusted to face the truth but I must get it second-hand through you? ...you wrap yourself up in art and books and music, and would try to wrap up me. I won't be stifled, not by the most glorious music, for people are more glorious, and you hide them from me. That's why I break off my engagement."
And here's how Kwan updated that speech for 2019:
"And I know you think it's wrong of me to say this now, but I know you'll be miserable being married to me in the long run. You deserve someone who actually has an Instagram account with more than eight posts. You deserve someone who loves sitting in the front row at the haute couture shows in Paris, who loves wearing huge emeralds while sunbathing on your superyacht. Someone who likes tying you up in the gondola and reenacting the wrestling scene from
Death in Venice. ...For a while, I thought I was that person too, but I've come to realize I'm not."
Somehow, not quite as stirring.
The closest that Kwan ever gets to telling an actual story is when he examines the complicated relationship that Lucie has with her white grandmother, who raised Lucie in an environment where she was always treated more like a pet than a person - her grandmother's "little China doll." There's a scene where two characters discuss the idea that someone can love you and still be a racist piece of shit, and it's over far too quickly so Kwan can retreat back to his comfort zone of Rich People Doing Rich People Shit.
With this book, it's clear that
Crazy Rich Asians was a fluke. That book succeeded because of Rachel Chu - our Everywoman who let us into the world of the obscenely rich while still keeping the reader tethered to reality. Kwan's total disinterest in her character (she virtually disappears from the series by the time the third book rolls around) shows that he's no more complex as the spoiled rich people his books try to parody: Kwan really doesn't have anything more to provide as an author except an endless litany of designer brands, exclusive locations, and luxurious mansions. There even seems to be a tiny flicker of jealousy from the author when he describes Lucie's art career - even though she comes from an extraordinarily privileged background and has the world at her fingertips, Lucie is considered above the other characters in the book because she has a rich inner life, and real artistic talent.
And talent, unfortunately, is the one thing you can't buy.
(Also, Kwan missed a huge opportunity by doing
A Room With a View when I would pay real actual money to see his take on
The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton. Now
that could have really been something)
Rating: really liked it
Absurdly wealthy, mixed-race perplexity, whipped with snarky remarks in between lines, outlook to the inner life of elite class that comprises of mostly Asian or Asian American and the novel gave a perspective to the privileged class's inner livelihood that is whisked with extravagance while finding one's own identity, heritage, and root.
Set in Capri, Lucie Tang Churchills and George Zao met and then switched to Hamptons to change scenery. The chemistry was intense but intruded by the tragedy that tore them apart for many years. Charming in tone, swings of pomposity against racism, while snobbish in hilarity, this is a version of the novel that any impressionable reader could fall in love with though, one may find lacking in depths and substances. Kwan expertly shows off the inconceivably luxuriousness, over the top expensive brands, mentioning Ivy League schools, designers, celebrities, and incomprehensible name dropping of societal statuses can be flattering for readers who appreciate rich-people lifestyle but an annoyance for some others.
Rich or Poor, they have their own set of problems in life. That point was made pretty clear here. Money can buy its way into anything but not true love, true friendship, and kindred spirit. Certainly, money can't buy all things. Undoubtedly an entertaining read and got me hooked from the beginning to the end, and I like every bit of the snobbery, which turns out to be a good laugh that cheers up the day.
Rating: really liked it
YES YES YES!!
The other day I was thinking about how I miss the Crazy Rich Asians books and now we're getting new Kevin Kwan content!!
• Release Date: July 14th 2020 •(ps. this book is not part of the Crazy Rich Asians series)
