Kevin Kwan is a Singaporean-American author who is best known for writing Crazy Rich Asians, a comedic novel that focuses on enormous wealth, love, and family relationships. Kwan drew inspiration for his work from his own life, in which he was born to a family with already exorbitant wealth. His great grandfather, Oh Sian Guan, was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank (1). "I mean, everything is inspired by things I've seen, or experiences I've been part of in a roundabout way," he admitted in an interview with The Guardian. Despite this, Kwan maintained that his life was actually quite boring, and he needed to embellish his experiences to give a more detailed and interesting view of the social landscape he was covering in his work (2).
Despite growing up in a family of immense wealth, in an interview with Tatler, Kwan would describe elements of his life growing up. "It was a very Huck Finn kind of life," he stated when describing his childhood years of spending large amounts of time outdoors playing with his friends. He also states that creativity runs in his family, with fellow writers as well as architects in his recent lineage. One element of his life that surely inspired his work was his relationship between his grandparents and his social life. His friends came from wealthy backgrounds as well, living in high-rise apartments and being driven around in exotic sports cars. He laments that, at the time, he didn't appreciate his grandparents' custom-made Huan Pao Fang pieces. This undoubtedly helped spark his novels attitude on the relationship between old and new money.(3) (1)
Crazy Rich Asians is comedic novel that focuses on three Chinese families of extreme wealth and the social conflict between them when the heir to one of Asia's largest fortunes brings home his American-born Chinese girlfriend for the largest wedding of the season. Main character Rachel Chu is staying in Singapore for the summer with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, and his family. However, Rachel is surprised to find out that her boyfriend is actually one of the most eligible bachelors in Asia, with an opulent family. Dropped into this new world, she will have to navigate social conflicts, class struggles, and Nicholas' family in order to come out with her relationship intact. In this novel, Kwan covers topics of love, the Asian landscape of old vs. new money, and the experience of the enormously wealthy.
(3)
In the New York Times article, "'Crazy Rich Asians': Guilty Pleasure, or Cult of Opulence," Janet Maslin describes how Kwan's true purpose when writing the novel was to give the reader a peek into the world of the enormously rich, with Rachel and Nicholas' relationship simply a vehicle with which to accomplish this task. Maslin points out that a material object is rarely introduced without its brand name, which is used in many ways, from showing a rich character's insecurity to showing one's attention to detail. Overall, Maslin compliments Kwan's writing, which is seen best when she says, "Mr. Kwan knows how to deliver guilty pleasures. He keeps the repartee nicely dangerous, the excess wretched, and the details wickedly delectable" (4).
In, "The Postfeminist Cinderella Narrative in Crazy Rich Asians," Kaby Wing-Sze Kung describes how Rachel's journey actually fits that of a woman's journey accepting to take control of her life and to not be controlled by societal expectations. Throughout the review, Kung outlines how Rachel learns to get past her worries about herself fitting in and how she should take actions that are in her best interest, rather than pleasing others. This is best summarized when Kung says, "Like the protagonists in other postfeminist Cinderella films, Rachel does not passively wait for Nick to marry her. She turns down his proposal and chooses to leave because she does not want him to be torn between her and his mother." (5)
Overall, it was very interesting to learn about Kevin Kwan and his life's relationship with his writing. I discovered that Kwan lived a mixed life between relatability and extreme wealth, that made him the perfect person to tell this story. His book may be about extreme wealth, but telling it from the perspective of someone from modest means is central to the purpose of the novel. Kwan also wrote two more books following Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems, which complete a trilogy of these stories. I cannot wait to explore this books further and get the full story.
Works Cited
(1) Jose, MJ. “The Real-Life Story of Kevin Kwan That Inspired ‘Crazy Rich Asians.’” Tatler Asia, 17 Aug. 2018, www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/my-crazy-rich-asians-author-kevin-kwan.
(2) Iqbal, Nosheen. “Kevin Kwan: ‘With Crazy Rich Asians My Life Exploded and I’m Still Trying to Put It Back Together.’” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 June 2020, www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/26/kevin-kwan-crazy-rich-asians-novelist-publishing-diversity.
(3) “Kevin Kwan Books.” Kevin Kwan, www.kevinkwanbooks.com/.
(4) Maslin, Janet. “‘Crazy Rich Asians’: Guilty Pleasure, or Cult of Opulence?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 June 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/books/kevin-kwans-crazy-rich-asians-depicts-a-cult-of-opulence.html.
(5) Kung, Kaby Wing-Sze. "The Postfeminist Cinderella Narrative in Crazy Rich Asians." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Litterature Comparee, vol. 48, no. 2, June 2021, pp 219-36. EBSCOhost, https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy-commonwealthu.klnpa.org/article/803661.
I found it interesting that, although Kevin Kwan grew up in a rich household, he stayed modest and didn’t really know much about how wealthy his family was. Writing a book related to that experience is really interesting and provides a new perspective. Usually, people write about their struggles with poverty, but his twist on being rich and staying modest makes me interested to read the book!
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