Crazy Rich Asians

I saw the movie in theaters with girlfriends when it came out. Wow! I loved it! Then, I realized it was a book, and knew I had to read it. Spoilers ahead.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Nick Young and Rachel Chu (not to be confused with the Taiwan plastic Chu's) a young couple in love head to Singapore for a summer holiday to meet Nick's family and attend his best friend's wedding. There's one catch, Nick's family is rich... crazy rich. Rachel goes on a wild ride, through an outlandishly lavish bachelorette get-a-way, a party at a mansion of all mansions, and a wedding of the century with the most exclusive and elite party guests. She is wracked with unsettling news at every corner. Her boyfriend Nick had a strong love of his youth, an unsettling affair, and the bomb that destroyed her - her father, supposedly dead, is very much alive and may or may not be in prison for murder. After all of this, how could it possibly end on a good note. Well, Nick flies around the world to bring Rachel's mother back so they can talk and resolve their newly found issues.

I loved the book even more so than the movie.

Crazy Rich Asians the Movie

So, obviously as mentioned above, I loved the movie when I saw it in theaters. I haven't re-watched it until now after I finished the book. After reading the book, the movie was a bit over the top at times. And a lot of differences, some good some not so much.

In the book, during the bachelorette weekend, Astrid had a cousin who was there and befriended Rachel and consoled Rachel during the fish ordeal. In the movie, Amanda, Nick's ex (unknown to Rachel at the time), pretends to befriend her at the cabana bar and then Astrid comes and finds the fish with Rachel.

In the movie, Eddie and Alister were too over the top compared to the book. Alister seemed likable in the book and well reserved even though he had a promiscuous girl on his arm. Eddie also seemed very serious in the book.

Astrid's husband fakes an affair in the book - convincingly. She goes to Hong Kong to track him down through the help of an ex-fiancé. She sobs with him over the whole ordeal. In the movie, they don't say it's a fake affair and they add in her confronting him at the end. In the confrontation in the movie, she roasts him basically saying she can't make him a man when he isn't.

In the book, Rachel is confronted by the mean girls at Colin and Araminta's wedding. And then Nick decides to leave with Rachel and drive to his family's cabin - which he didn't reveal was his families until arriving. Quickly upon arrival they find that Nick's mother and ah ma (grandmother) are there waiting to forbid them being together and to reveal Rachel's mother's true past. In the movie, this happens during the wedding reception.

The ending was also different, Nick does bring Rachel's mother out in both. In the movie, they added Nick proposing, Rachel turning him down and then Rachel confronting Eleanor - Nick's mother. Rachel tells Eleanor that saying yes to Nick's proposal would make him lose his family and resent Rachel one day, and saying no would make him resent his family, and that in the future some day when Eleanor was enjoying grandchildren, or opening of flowers, that Rachel was the one that gave that to her. You see Nick with his mother right after that, but there is no conversation to it. Then Nick shows up on the plane Rachel and her mother are boarding to head back to the states. He proposes again but when he opens the box, he has Eleanor's ring symbolizing Eleanor gave her blessing. I loved that add in so much.

What did you think of the book or the movie?

Thanks for reading,

Brooke