Literary Treats

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Review | China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan

Posted on 15 June 2015 by Jaclyn

There’s rich, then there’s crazy rich. And then there’s China rich. As Eleanor Young explains to her son Nick, “Aiyah, these people aren’t just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich! We’re talking billions and billions.” And in this spectacular sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan takes us into an even more deliciously decadent, ostentatiously opulent world.

I absolutely adored Crazy Rich Asians, so when I saw that a few ARCs of the sequel were available at the Random House Canada Spring Blogger Preview, I immediately dove for a copy like Carrie Bradshaw at a Manolo Blahnik sample sale. I then pushed the rest of my reading pile off to the side and settled in for an escape into the glitzy glamour of the 0.0001%.

China Rich Girlfriend brings back a lot of the beloved characters from the previous book. Rachel Chu and Nick Young are all set to marry. Singapore’s It Girl Astrid Leong is slowly discovering that her husband’s recent financial success has gone to his head. Former soap opera star Kitty Pong is unable to climb to the upper echelons of Hong Kong society, despite her billionaire husband and efforts to fit in. We also meet new characters, billionaire bad boy Carlton Bao, his girlfriend celebrity fashion blogger Colette Bing, and the catalyst that sets this novel’s plot in motion: Rachel Chu’s birth father.

China Rich Girlfriend has a more soap operatic feel than Crazy Rich Asians. While the first book focused on Rachel’s relationship with Nick and her introduction to his world, their story almost takes a back seat in this sequel. Instead we get drawn into an almost dizzying array of subplots, and I strongly suggest reading/re-reading Crazy Rich Asians before this book. Getting acquainted/re-acquainted with the large cast of characters felt confusing at first, but once you’re settled in, it’s an exhilarating ride.

My favourite plot thread by far is that of Astrid and her friendship with Charlie Wu, who I see from my review of Crazy Rich Asians also stole the show for me in that book. He still holds a torch for her, yet manages to maintain a respectful distance and provide emotional support while she struggles with her husband’s personality shift. The affection between them is beautiful, and after some particularly jerky behaviour by Astrid’s husband, I was on Team Charlie all the way.

As with Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend skewers the materialism of the super upper class. The sequel has a bit less affection and therefore a bit less bite than the original, but is just as much a pleasure to read. A Paris shopping spree scene made me yearn so badly for a shopping trip myself, and only -40 degree weather (I’m writing this on a February day in Toronto) saved me and my credit card from doing anything we regret. This scene of course was closely followed by a luxurious spa scene, which again made me long for all the treatments the characters describe. Despite his satirical treatment of the characters’ behaviour, Kevin Kwan does for high end shopping what Devil Wears Prada does for fashion, and it’s hard to read all those brand names and celebrity mentions without wishing you could experience such a lifestyle, even for just a day. Reading Kwan’s fiction allows us to live vicariously through these characters, lampooning their excess while imagining ourselves in their Louboutin heels (presented personally by their dear friend Christian, of course). That being said, the truth behind a much lauded white linen dress gives hope to us all and makes for one of the funniest moments in the book.

The food is just as gloriously described here as in the first book, and I’m not ashamed to say I ordered Chinese takeout for dinner after finishing the book. Sweet and sour pork may not quite compare to the delicacies described in these pages, but again, a fantastic scene featuring ramen in Paris shows us that at times, the rich really aren’t so different from you and me.

I’m so glad Kwan decided to write a sequel to Crazy Rich Asians. This is such a fantastic world to visit, and his writing is just hilarious. Reading it feels like watching a particularly glittery soap opera, where the jewels are ten times as large and the outfits a thousand times more expensive. Look beyond the glitz and glamour though, and at its heart, this novel is about love and family. How does a young woman deal with finding her birth father? How does a sudden increase in income change a man? And how can a privileged young man deal with having caused a terrible tragedy? Kwan refrains from delving too deep into the sad aspects of the plot, but they add some measure of reality to the story, and remind us of the human beings behind the dollar signs.

Thank you to Random House Canada for an advanced reading copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Review | Boo, Neil Smith

Posted on 13 May 2015 by Jaclyn

On the first week of school in 1979, thirteen year old Oliver “Boo” Dalrymple dies in front of his locker while reciting the periodic table. A shy, socially awkward aspiring scientist, Boo wakes up in Town, a bit of heaven populated by thirteen year olds. A few days later, he is joined by his classmate Johnny, a friendly popular boy who reveals that both he and Boo had been killed by a school shooter.

Despite technically beginning with death, Boo started out almost whimsically. It was fascinating to see Neil Smith’s vision of heaven for thirteen year olds, and it was great to see Boo, who was friendless on earth, fitting in with the other souls in Town. There’s something reassuring about having an afterlife that’s so similar to our own world, yet there’s also something disquieting about how the old souls (thirteen year olds who’ve been in Town for decades) act older (some of the female souls are referred to as “mothers), yet are still kept childlike in some ways, dependent on god (called “Zig” in Boo’s narration) to provide the basic necessities. Once in a while, something discordant arrives, like a photocopier, and the teens are left to wonder what Zig wants them to do with it.

This foray into a thirteen year old heaven is what I expected when I began the book, and if it remained on that storyline, with perhaps a romance or two sprinkled in, I would have called Boo charming, a fun, entertaining read.

But the story gets darker, much more disturbing than I expected from a YA book, and so much more powerful because of it. It begins with Johnny’s revelation that he and Boo were killed by a school shooter, who had then killed himself. Then the question: what if “Gunboy” had been reborn in Town as well? Haunted by nightmares of the shooting, Johnny becomes obsessed with this possibility, and takes Boo with him on a quest to track down their killer. The story then turns into a very Lord of the Flies type tale, with the Town residents cobbling together their own law enforcement and justice systems. In the afterlife, what could possibly be a fitting punishment for murder? And how far can a desire for revenge go before it descends into madness?

The search for Gunboy and the ensuing trial are among the book’s most disquieting scenes. The Town’s other murder victims see their own desire for justice in Johnny and Boo’s situation. In a particularly chilling moment, while discussing what to do with Gunboy, someone mentions that the other murder victims don’t just see Gunboy, they see their own murderers and abusers, the people in their own lives who caused their deaths and towards whom they are powerless to exact revenge.

And still the story progresses beyond this Lord of the Flies stage. We eventually do learn more about Gunboy, but more than that, we learn about Boo and Johnny and the lives they led before these were so violently cut short. We learn about inner demons, voices in people’s heads who say things people don’t want to hear. We learn about loneliness, and alienation, and all the things that at thirteen, we desperately want to believe “gets better” over time. And above all, we learn about friendship, about the power of a kind word to resonate with someone even beyond death.

Ultimately, I’m not sure what to say about Boo. It’s such a textured, multi-layered story, and I feel that if I read it again, I will parse something new each time. There’s not much going on in the plot, yet so much more happening between the lines, such that any pithy phrase I’d choose to describe it feels inadequate. I don’t even know how I feel about this book. I just know that it made me think, and that several days after I’ve turned the last page, I’m still thinking.

Thank you to Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review and Giveaway | Free Days with George, Colin Campbell

Posted on 11 May 2015 by Jaclyn

Heads up, dog and animal lovers! You’ll definitely want to check out Colin Campbell’s charming memoir Free Days with George, about how his giant Newfoundland dog George changed his life. I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I heard about it at the Random House blogger preview, where to my relief, I also learned that unlike so many dog books, George does not die at the end and in fact will be accompanying the author on his book tour.

According to Campbell’s grandfather,

A free day is when you spend a whole day doing things you love to do — like building sand castles, flying kites or going swimming. And when you do those things with people you love who love you, you don’t grow old that day. [p. 6]

Later on in the book, Campbell observes that he’d just spent a free day with his dog, and he didn’t quite realize it until that moment. Perhaps that’s another important aspect to note about free days as well — they kinda sneak up on you, and it’s only looking back when you realize how amazing an experience you’ve just had.

Free days can sometimes be hard to come by, though. In Campbell’s case, his story with George begins when his wife leaves him for no discernible reason. He insists on couples therapy, but the truth is, she simply doesn’t want to be married, and there’s not much he can do about that. A friend suggests he gets a dog to help stave off the loneliness.

Enter George, a black and white 140 pound Newfoundland labrador with soft brown eyes and a deep-rooted mistrust of men. Campbell learns he may have been mistreated by former owners — likely men, as George has no problem warming up to women. Apparently, because Newfoundlands are such a large breed, many people want to train them to be guard dogs, not realizing that they are extremely gentle creatures. And once they learn that no amount of abuse will turn this type of dog vicious, they give them up to shelters. It’s a tragic situation, and it was almost painful to read Campbell’s first encounter with George — at the foster home, while all these other dogs frolicked and played with a little girl, George stood apart, alone, and watched.

Because of George’s past experiences, he is naturally wary around men, and at first even refuses to eat in front of Campbell. I loved reading about him gradually opening up, and learning to trust again. I love how something as simple as a hug could have such an emotional impact on both dog and human.

There’s also a really great scene at the dog training school, where the owners hide behind screens and their dogs have to find them. All the dogs in the class are having trouble with this exercise and, with George having the most trouble by far with the other lessons, Campbell isn’t too optimistic about his chances with this one. The way that scene turned out actually brought a happy tear to my eye, and is quite possibly my favourite moment in the entire book.

The narrative momentum dips slightly in the second half. There are great scenes of George and Campbell surfing — yes, George can surf! — and it’s all very heartwarming, but the emotional intensity of their first few months together has definitely dialled down. And while the book ostensibly begins with the author’s need for emotional connection, and has some really strong, poignant memories of the author’s grandfather, the story ultimately doesn’t delve too deep into this beyond a few slogan-esque lines.

I think a big part of that is we don’t get much of a sense of the author beyond his relationship with the dog. Getting the dog to trust him was a huge emotional surge that peaked much too soon, and the part about surfing competitions, while entertaining, never really built up any narrative tension. I love how the author at times linked his experiences with his dog to his memories of his grandfather, who clearly was a major influence in his life, and I wish there had been a lot more of that in the story.

Still, this is a very charming read, and particularly if you’re a pet owner yourself or at least an animal lover, George’s story will certainly strike a chord. Read this book, and be sure to connect with George on Facebook or at www.freedayswithgeorge.com.

WIN A COPY!

Want to spend your own “free day” with George and Colin’s story? Enter this contest for a copy courtesy of Random House Canada!

Thanks to Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.