BloMo30: Musings on Crazy Rich Asians....
Has anyone else read the "Rich Asians" series, of which Crazy Rich Asians is the first book?
It has been a very, VERY long time since I've read general literature. I'm a die-hard genre reader, but for the last 4 years, all of my reading power has been keeping up with the news.
Between our 4-year national horror show, terrible endings to series I was invested in, and genre series books dragging out with no end in sight, I just haven't been inspired to read much for fun.
The movie Crazy Rich Asians has become a comfort re-watch lately, taking over from where My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding left off. I think CRA has been on the TiVO for a year and a half, if not two years, and I've run it almost weekly since I first watched it.
The movie is so bright and colorful and full of energy. I've spent much time wondering if the world depicted in the movie could possibly be real. Eventually, I picked up the books, looking for more insight, but, if anything, the books paint an even more decadent lifestyle than the movie. I am starting to believe that most of what the author writes about has to be true. I can't imagine anyone making that level of spending up outside of a genre book!
Also, I've been surprised at the format and shape of the books. There are dozens of characters given a point of view. And not all the thoughts are finished or even picked up in the next book. Some characters never seem to grow. But isn't that like life? People rarely change, rarely learn lessons from important moments. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing a character is always going to be the way they are no matter what they go through. I'm left wanting more, but I don't think there is any more...The rest is up to my imagination.
I bet there's a thriving Rich Asians fandom somewhere writing epic FanFic about how Eddie learns to give his children a break and Peik Lin finds love of her own (I'm still reading the last book, in the first 1/3, so shhhh if this happens).
BTW, the movie is vastly different from the books, but this is yet another case of me being glad I saw the movie before reading the book. They are each good stuff in my eyes, but if I'd have read the books first, I would have expected the movie to be closer to the books. I always assume books embody their own space in the fictional realm, so I never expect a book to be like a movie. Only the other way around, so why put that kind of pressure on a movie by reading the book first?
love, lore