Crazy Rich Asians is a humorous novel about rich Chinese and their obsession with the wealth and ancestry of other people. It’s short on plot and long on dialog that pounds you over the head to emphasize the main theme of shallow snobbery. I felt like I was listening to a modern version of The Gilded Age on steroids, and with Asian characters rather than insufferable New Yorkers.

I read Crazy Rich Asians as part of the 2026 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. May’s challenge was to read a book that takes place at a wedding since so many people get married in May. Crazy Rich Asians doesn’t just have a wedding, it has Singapore’s wedding of the year between two very rich socialites.

Here’s a quick Crazy Rich Asians summary.

There are a couple of different plot threads in Crazy Rich Asians. The primary one is Rachel and Nick’s story. The two are college professors in the United States. Rachel has only known the American way of life, where people are admired for their accomplishments, and class structures are subtle and somewhat fluid.

Nick, on the other hand, comes from an old money, Chinese family who are part of the very upper crust in Singapore. Rachel doesn’t know this about her boyfriend, but she’s about to learn a very hard lesson when she agrees to travel to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding.

Nick is the best man at this wedding, which is shaping up to be quite an expensive spectacle. It’s the kind of wedding a woman needs three outfits for, and the guest list includes royalty and members of the upper crust of society. Rachel is astounded by the upcoming event. Nick hasn’t prepared her for the over-the-top opulence.

Nick also hasn’t prepared Rachel for the blatant and cruel snobbery of his family. Nick reserved a hotel room for them instead of staying with his parents or grandmother, and with good reason. Bringing Rachel to Singapore and to this wedding is a signal to everyone that he is serious about Rachel, and sure enough, despite her many accomplishments, she was found to be grossly lacking by Nick’s horrible relatives.

Her reception among Nick’s peer group is a mixed bag, with some immediately accepting her and others looking down their surgically enhanced noses. The young women are especially catty, angry that Rachel has snagged one of Singapore’s most eligible bachelors. The bride-to-be clicks with Rachel and invites her to attend her Bachelorette party trip, during which Rachel is subjected to petty pranks, such as a dead fish in her tote bag.

By the time the wedding is over, she’s exhausted from being the target of outlandish snobbery. She and Nick head to Malaysia to get away from it, but unfortunately Nick’s mother and grandmother show up to intervene in Nick’s plan to propose. When his mother shows Rachel a dossier of her background that a private detective put together, that’s the last straw for her. Unable to imagine a future with Nick’s family in it, Rachel breaks up with him.

Don’t worry – there is a happy ending.

I’m not a fan of Crazy Rich Asians. At first, the extreme gossiping and snobbery were mildly amusing. The characters spend an unusual amount of time criticizing others and getting all into their business. Wealth and family trees are of the utmost importance to the snobby ones. I thought it was interesting to put a fully westernized young woman into that culture and witness the results of the doomed social experiment.

However, the theme soon became tedious for me because it was way overdone. I would say a high majority of the scenes and dialog involved the extreme snobbery. There was nothing subtle about – the author used a sledgehammer over and over and over again to get his point across. Okay already, I get it!

The pacing was also a little off. I found the second half more engaging than the first. Perhaps because there is some activity and not just nonstop dialog.

The reader of the audio version of Crazy Rich Asians did a nice job. The book has a ton of characters and an excessive amount of dialog, elevating the importance of a strong narrator. She managed several different accents very well, but I must admit it took some adjustment on my part to be okay with hearing someone mimic a Chinese accent in a crazy lady voice. I’ve been conditioned to think that’s not okay. But in this case, it was appropriate given the context.

While Crazy Rich Asians wasn’t really my cup of tea, it’s pretty popular. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your opinion!

And if you read a book that takes place during a wedding, tell us about it in the comments section.

**Reminder – June’s challenge is to read a book published the year you turned six.