These books aren't so much 'how the other half live', but how the ridiculously rich who have more wealth per family than a small country live. It's over-the-top, decadent, verging on sickening at times just how much money these characters have, but they are SO. FUN. If you need a dose of drama then please pick up Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians trilogy!

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The second book moves away a bit from Nick and Rachel's storyline, which I for one was glad about because for some reason I found Rachel a bit annoying in this book. I was SUPER happy we got to spend more time with Astrid, who is without a doubt my favourite character in this trilogy! My heart seriously bled for her, and I'm excited to see where her arc in the final book takes her.

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There is still the extensive cast as in the first book, with the introduction of even MORE uber-wealthy characters, including the Bao family and Colette Bing. There's more cattiness, more back-stabbing, more hilarious old ladies who drop millions on a grandfather clock and then refuse to pay $25 for a meal. But Kwan also explores some of the prejudices among Asians, as Laura @whatshotblog pointed out to me. Singaporeans are hostile towards so-called Mailanders, Rachel is referred to as a 'banana' by another character ('yellow on the outside, white on the inside'), and the new rich and American-born Chinese are also regarded with disdain by the wealthy old families of Singapore.

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Once again I loved the inclusion of footnotes to explain certain customs, traditions, and phrases included in the story in Hokkien, Malay and Mandarin - that always gets the language nerd in me fired up! But I did think the drama went a little top-heavy towards the end of the book. The first book was like a melodramatic soap opera, and this was even MORE excessive.

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Still, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Rich People Problems and see how Kwan finishes the trilogy!