Really interesting but I still didn’t like the book. Give me Jane Austen any day!
While I appreciated the author’s writing ability (and command of punctuation*) as well as his satirical portrayal of materialistic, self-impressed, shallow people who equate a title with having true class, I did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped. Up to the end of chapter 7, I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish it. However, at that point the story seemed to pick up and have a plot outside of just the family tree details. I was glad to have some characters mulling over real life emotions, as Eden did on page 110. I was very curious to see how The Big Island was going to be represented and am glad Kwan included the island detail about climate zones. In the end, I was glad that I received a copy of the book; however, I would struggle if I had to give it a star rating.
*I am someone who cringes at the proliferation of apostrophes in simple plural words and the increasing use of it’s instead of the possessive pronoun its.
1 Like
This was a fun ‘beach read’. It was typical Kevin Kwan style with lots of drama, interesting characters and opulence. I loved how it all pulled together at the end.
I agree. Eden’s “I became a billionaire and my first impulse is to save the fortunes of people who have treated me badly” was a bit much.
I was entertained by it! I loved the family drama! I read it in a few days!
It was a very fun book. I do love a fun book, and I don’t expect it to be deeper than it is. This particular style of fun is, I think, highly accessible to readers, and worth spending time with.
The book was an easy read with very little depth. It took a while to get into the hang of reading the footnotes. Once I did they added humor and a little sarcasm.
Wow Ann! This is great! I love Jane Austen but didn’t pick up on any of this which really surprises me.
1 Like
I loved the footnotes! I thought it added a fun element to the book and often gave background info not included in the actual story. I did miss some of the asterisks as well but I didn’t mind hunting for them.
Overall, I found it difficult to care about many of the characters. I often felt overwhelmed by the conspicuous consumption and obscene excesses. I think I would enjoy a movie of the same story rather than reading about all of the schools attended, designer names, artist names, etc.
I enjoyed reading Lies and Weddings…it was definitely light but had enough depth and twists to keep things interesting.