Sex and Vanity: A Novel
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
If you enjoyed the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy as much as I did, you will find some things to like about this book: the lush settings, the OTT rich people and their ridiculous behavior and affectations, and multiple people and buildings to google. However, this book lacks what was, for me, one of the main strengths of CRA: a believable and likeable protagonist. Lucie is pretty chill and grounded for someone as privileged as she is, but she also lacks self-awareness and several times veers hard into wtf territory. The story fell apart for me by the end and I just didn’t care what happened. This book was just also harder to buy into for me. I almost put it down after a few pages when it is revealed that a character works for Condé Nast substitute Barón Snobbé (what??). Multiple characters were one-dimensional, confusing, and/or under-developed, and the only people I liked were Lucie’s mom and brother. I found out after finishing that it is a modern retelling of A Room with A View, which had been on my list for a long time, but I guess I can take it off now because from what I saw, this is pretty close retelling, and I don’t think that was a good thing. In my experience, the best modernizations are the ones that keep the spirit of the original and don’t worry about the details (see Eligible wrt Pride and Prejudice), because so many of the motivations for characters’ choices just don’t make sense in 20-whatever. My guess is that Kwan tried to stick too closely to the source, because Lucie’s explanations (even to herself) seemed weak to me. Overall: if you’re a huge Kwan fan, go ahead. If you haven’t read his other books, pass on this and pick up Crazy Rich Asians. (And if you haven’t read E. M. Forster’s A Room with A View, I have to think you’d be better served by reading the original—or even watching the movie.)
Beschreibung
Beiträge
If you enjoyed the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy as much as I did, you will find some things to like about this book: the lush settings, the OTT rich people and their ridiculous behavior and affectations, and multiple people and buildings to google. However, this book lacks what was, for me, one of the main strengths of CRA: a believable and likeable protagonist. Lucie is pretty chill and grounded for someone as privileged as she is, but she also lacks self-awareness and several times veers hard into wtf territory. The story fell apart for me by the end and I just didn’t care what happened. This book was just also harder to buy into for me. I almost put it down after a few pages when it is revealed that a character works for Condé Nast substitute Barón Snobbé (what??). Multiple characters were one-dimensional, confusing, and/or under-developed, and the only people I liked were Lucie’s mom and brother. I found out after finishing that it is a modern retelling of A Room with A View, which had been on my list for a long time, but I guess I can take it off now because from what I saw, this is pretty close retelling, and I don’t think that was a good thing. In my experience, the best modernizations are the ones that keep the spirit of the original and don’t worry about the details (see Eligible wrt Pride and Prejudice), because so many of the motivations for characters’ choices just don’t make sense in 20-whatever. My guess is that Kwan tried to stick too closely to the source, because Lucie’s explanations (even to herself) seemed weak to me. Overall: if you’re a huge Kwan fan, go ahead. If you haven’t read his other books, pass on this and pick up Crazy Rich Asians. (And if you haven’t read E. M. Forster’s A Room with A View, I have to think you’d be better served by reading the original—or even watching the movie.)