CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan

At first this novel turned me off with its mediocre prose and frivolous subject matter—rich snobs spending lavishly on everything from couture to private jets.  Then the storyline started to grow on me, and I decided just to sit back and enjoy the ride.  Rachel Chu and Nick Young are college professors living together modestly in New York.  Nick invites Rachel to join him for the summer in Singapore where his family resides and his best friend Colin is getting married.  He neglects to warn Rachel that his family is ridiculously wealthy.  Rachel’s lack of an appropriate pedigree leads Nick’s mother Eleanor to pull out all the stops to break up Nick and Rachel’s relationship.  She enlists the help of some exceptionally mean girls, but Rachel hangs in there until Eleanor crosses a line, delving into Rachel’s family history.  Nick is unwavering in his support of Rachel to the point that he is almost too good to be true.  A subplot involves Nick’s cousin Astrid, who happens to be married to Michael, a man who may be cheating on her and who, like Rachel, does not come from a billionaire family.  The conflict that arises from their net worth gap signals what may lie in store for Nick and Rachel as well. This book has a decent ending but certainly leaves a lot of territory to be explored in the sequels.  It may be a frothy confection, but sometimes you just feel like eating a marshmallow.