Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians is a 2013 romance comedy novel by American author Kevin Kwan about a young Asian American woman who travels with her boyfriend to his native Singapore and finds herself suddenly thrust into the cutthroat world of Asia’s uber-rich. Kwan based the novel loosely on his own experiences growing up in Singapore. It is the first novel in a three-book series, followed by China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017), all of which became New York Times Bestsellers. In 2018, Crazy Rich Asians was adapted into a romantic comedy film of the same name, directed by John M. Chu.

This guide uses the First Anchor Books Mass Market Edition published in May 2020.

Plot Summary

Crazy Rich Asians is divided into three parts, each sectioned into chapters that chronicle the events leading up to and directly following Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee’s wedding. The chapters are narrated from several characters’ perspectives.

The prologue is a flashback to 1986. Nicholas Young is a child and travels to London with his mother, aunts, and cousins. At the hotel, the manager pretends not to find their reservations and kicks them out, insinuating that the Chinese family aren’t the right sort of people to stay in such an exclusive place. Felicity, Nick’s aunt, calls her husband Harry, who knows the owner of the hotel and buys it from him. The family goes back to the hotel and the former owner relays to the manager that Mrs. Felicity Leong is the new owner. Felicity casually fires the manager, dismissing him the same way he dismissed them earlier.

In Part 1, Nick is grown up and living in New York City with his girlfriend and New York University professor, Rachel Chu. Nick invites Rachel to spend the summer with him in Singapore, his home country, as he’s returning to be the best man at his friend Colin’s wedding. Rachel, a Chinese American who has never traveled to Asia, is hesitant but ultimately decides to go. A Singaporean girl spots Nick with Rachel and shares the gossip that Nick is returning to Singapore with a new girl.

Astrid, Nick’s cousin, discovers an illicit text message on her husband Michael’s phone and her jeweler informs her that Michael purchased a bracelet that wasn’t for her. Meanwhile, Nick and Rachel arrive in Singapore and go out with Colin and his fiancée, Araminta Lee. Nick spends the next day with Colin while Rachel spends time with her friend Peik Lin’s family. They are floored to learn that Nick is best friends with Colin, who is from a famous and wealthy family, and that Rachel is attending his wedding. Colin warns Nick that once he is married, Nick will become the most eligible young man in Singapore, and he needs to be mindful of “dark forces” plotting against him, referring to unmarried women.

Rachel and Nick are meeting at his grandmother's home, and Peik Lin drives Rachel there. They are shocked to see the sprawling mansion, and Rachel realizes that Nick comes from a prominent, wealthy family. Part 2 begins with the party underway at the mansion, where Nick introduces Rachel to the upper crust of Asian society. Shang Su Yi, Nick’s grandmother, invites Nick and Rachel to stay with her instead of at a hotel.

After the party, Astrid gets into a car accident while trying to speed home to catch her husband cheating. She ends up hospitalized, but she confronts Michael when she returns home. He suggests that they break up, which leaves Astrid depressed, looking for answers, and trying to save face with her nosy family.

Rachel and Nick attend Colin and Araminta’s bachelor and bachelorette parties and find themselves subjected to their peers’ extreme behaviors. Colin’s friend Bernard Tai throws a debauched bachelor party with illegal dogfights, drugs, and a wild yacht party. Colin, Nick, and their friend Mehmet escape by pretending Colin is sick, and they commission a helicopter to take them to the peaceful Australian desert. Rachel is targeted by Araminta’s stuck-up peers. The women grill her about her background and her relationship with Nick, implying that she is a gold digger. Rachel becomes friends with Colin’s sister, Sophie, who is down to earth, and Rachel finally feels comfortable opening up. Rachel then finds a bloody, gutted fish in her bag and a threatening insult written in blood. She goes to Sophie for help, who recommends ignoring the bullying.

Back in Singapore, Nick introduces Rachel to his parents, Philip and Eleanor. Eleanor brings several friends to dinner to back her up against Rachel. Everyone is nice to Rachel at dinner, but when she and Nick leave, Eleanor’s friend Francesca suggests that Eleanor get rid of her. Some of the others agree, but Philip excuses himself, annoyed with them. Eleanor decides that she will get rid of Rachel, but that she should do it subtly.

Araminta and Colin’s wedding events fill the next few days. The wedding is star-studded and opulent, which garners criticism from the old-money crowd. Astrid attends with Shang Su Yi, not Michael. The wedding makes Nick realize he wants to marry Rachel. He takes her to a cave that used to be his hideout when he was young. He starts to tell her that he wants to marry her, but they are interrupted by Mandy, his ex-girlfriend. She is nice enough but seems territorial over Nick.

Later, at the wedding banquet, Mandy and Francesca imply to Rachel that they had a threesome with Nick. Rachel is mortified and wants to leave Singapore. Meanwhile, Astrid reconnects with her ex-fiancé, Charlie, and they realize they both have failed marriages. Charlie offers to fly Astrid to Hong Kong to confront Michael, whom she believes is off meeting his mistress. After the banquet, Rachel packs her things and Nick tries to convince her to stay. She tells him about the bullying she has faced since they arrived, and he promises to take her away so they can just be together. Before they leave, he tells Eleanor that he intends to propose to Rachel and doesn’t care if she approves.

In Hong Kong, Charlie helps Astrid track down Michael. He initially agrees that he is having an affair, but when Astrid starts crying, he admits that he made the affair up; the “mistress” is actually his cousin and he pretended to have an affair to give Astrid an excuse to leave him. He wants out of the marriage because he can’t handle being Astrid’s husband.

Rachel and Nick go to Malaysia, where he plans to propose, but his mother and grandmother are waiting for them there. Su Yi refuses to give her blessing because Rachel isn’t from a proper family. Rachel believes her father, Zhou Fang Min, is dead, but Eleanor pulls out records showing that he is in jail for negligence that killed multiple people. Shocked by the news, Rachel faints. Nick tells off his mother and grandmother and carries Rachel out. He apologizes to Rachel and drives her away, but she leaves him and goes to stay with Peik Lin.

Devastated, Nick stays at Colin’s place and tries constantly to contact Rachel. Eleanor laments that he won’t speak with her after she sabotaged his relationship. Colin returns from his honeymoon out of concern for Nick and suggests that he keep trying to get Rachel back. Rachel calls her mom to ask about her father, but she hangs up in anger before her mother can offer a proper explanation. The morning that Rachel is set to go to China to meet her father, Nick arrives with her mother, Kerry, to stop her.

Kerry explains that Zhou Fang Min isn’t her father and that her real father is a kind man named Kao Wei. Zhou Fang Min was her cruel husband, and Kao Wei comforted her and protected her against her husband’s violent outbursts. She started a relationship with Kao Wei and worried for her safety when she became pregnant with Rachel. Her family was upset that Rachel was a girl and wanted to blind her so the government would allow Kerry to have another child. Kao Wei helped her escape to America without ever knowing that Rachel was his daughter.

In Hong Kong, Astrid is heartbroken over Michael and still loves him. Charlie realizes that she can’t reciprocate his feelings for her. He buys Michael’s company for far more than it’s worth, hoping that it will help Astrid. Back at Peik Lin’s place, Nick and Peik Lin are happy that Rachel and Kerry have reconciled. Rachel thanks Nick for going to California to get her mother; she is impressed that someone would do that for her, and they kiss. With everything resolved, Peik Lin and Nick argue about where they should take Kerry and Rachel to eat. Rachel explains to her mother that this is the Singapore way.