Book Review: "Sex and Vanity" by Kevin Kwan
“Sex and Vanity” by Kevin Kwan
Bookshop | Kindle
Publisher Synopsis: On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can't stand him. She can't stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can't stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can't stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte. "Your mother is Chinese so it's no surprise you'd be attracted to someone like him," Charlotte teases. The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George.
But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé , Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé , the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world--and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.
Rating (out of 5): 2.75
Review: Like millions of people, I read and loved “Crazy Rich Asians,” Kwan’s satirical look at the lives of, well, crazy rich Asians that came out in 2014. I loved the slightly less satirical, more heartwarming film adaptation of the novel that came out two years ago. So I was excited to read Kwan’s first novel since completing the “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy.
Unfortunately, what is supposed to a humorous, satirical look at the lives of the 1% rings very differently in 2020, when millions of people are unemployed, could soon be homeless, and a global pandemic is sweeping the world.
I found the first half of the novel, set in Capri, honestly quite ludicrous. The name-dropping of schools, designers, royals, wine, and so on and so forth felt less humorous and more gross in its display of ostentatious wealth. Lucie and her cousin Charlotte are in Capri to attend the high-society wedding of an incredibly rich Asian-American woman and an even richer Italian man. The weeklong events were each more lavish than the next, and, while the point of course was not to relate to it, I didn’t even enjoy reading about it.
The novel slightly redeemed itself in the second half, set in New York City (and the Hamptons) five years post-Capri. Here, we see Lucie interact more with her white relatives and understand how she has always been made to feel less than. We come to understand why she puts up with her ridiculous fiancé who doesn’t value her as a person, and why she looks down on ostentatious “crazy rich Asians” (vs her old-school WASPy family). Ultimately, her self-discovery journey felt redeeming (and upped my already low rating a bit), but wasn’t enough to make me fully enjoy this novel.
There were certainly some passages that made me chuckle (describing LA as “a place that’s devoid of culture and has no seasons,” among a few others), and a few characters seemed more self-aware about their wealth than others (primarily in the second half), but overall, I was not truly charmed by Lucie or the snotty secondary characters. Tt felt less satirical and more like nonfiction in an uncomfortable way.
I should also say that I’m not at all familiar with the 1908 novel “A Room With a View,” so perhaps that affected my dim view of this modern retelling.
If you’re looking for a modern romance with cultural nuances and humorous elements, there are many more I would recommend above this one (see below).
TL;DR: A satirical glimpse into the lives of the 1% that comes across as tone deaf during today’s climate of wealth inequity and mass unemployment. Slightly redeemed by its protagonist’s inner conflict about her dual heritage (American-Chinese and insufferable WASP-American).
If you liked this, try:
“Party of Two” by Jasmine Guillory (Bookshop | Kindle) (Elizabeth’s review here)
“The Royal We” by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (Bookshop | Kindle)
“Take a Hint, Dani Brown” by Talia Hibbert (Bookshop | Kindle) (Elizabeth’s review here)
“Meet Me in Monaco” by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Bookshop | Kindle) (Elizabeth’s review here)
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