Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

From the iconic internationally bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy: A forbidden affair erupts volcanically amid a decadent tropical wedding in this outrageous comedy of manners from the iconic author of Crazy Rich Asians.
 

Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, and behind all the magazine covers and Instagram stories manors and yachts lies nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus’s scheming mother, is for Rufus to attend his sister’s wedding at a luxury eco-resort, a veritable who’s-who of sultans, barons, and oligarchs, and seduce a woman with money.
 

Should he marry Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress with honey blond tresses and a royal bloodline? Should he pursue Martha Dung, the tattooed venture capital genius who passes out billions like lollipops? Or should he follow his heart, betray his family, squander his legacy, and finally confess his love to the literal girl next door, the humble daughter of a doctor, Eden Tong? When a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst, the Gresham family plans—and their reputation—go up in flames.
 

Can the once-great dukedom rise from the ashes? Or will a secret tragedy, hidden for two decades, reveal a shocking twist?
 

In a globetrotting tale that takes us from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech, from the glitzy bachelor pads of Los Angeles to the inner sanctums of England’s oldest family estates, Kevin Kwan unfurls a juicy, hilarious, sophisticated and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex, and the lies we tell about them all.

Full disclosure, I shockingly had neither read nor watched (apart from a few short clips) Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians, so went in completely blind to Lies and Weddings. TLDR, I found Lies and Weddings to be solidly written, well-researched, tightly plotted, and at times, genius in its satire and social commentary. Following (from what I’ve been told) similar themes and commentary as his previous works, Lies and Weddings was a great book that wasn’t quite for me. I was stuck between a 3 or 4, objectively it’s good but my enjoyment was much lower. However, my reservations and disinterest with the novel’s content are all subjective reading preferences and despite not personally enjoying the read, I have to commend it on its story’s strengths and accomplishments.

It took me a long time to grow interested in the main plot and I think most of that could potentially be attributed to the book’s synopsis and description. While the printed description does an excellent job at highlighting the zany and drama-filled moments, I found it to be a surprisingly inaccurate summary of Lies and Weddings. Yes, there are lots of lies and several weddings and yes, Rufus Gresham is put into a terrible familial predicament that impacts his future. However, debatably Rufus isn’t even the main character in this book marketed as a romantic comedy. While the book does have many chapters written from Rufus’s point of view, there are equally many other chapters focused on the rest of the cast including his Countess mother Arabella, her husband Francis, their family doctor Thomas, a host of supporting side characters, and Rufus’s childhood friend and neighbor Eden Tong. Contrary to the description, Eden is more of the main character than Rufus in-terms of meaty content and number of pages, and I can’t help but feel this was a purposeful ploy to hook Crazy Rich Asian Fans. And that’s a real disservice to Eden who is a far more developed and interesting character than Rufus.

Questionable marketing aside, I found Lies and Weddings to be at its strongest when it repeatedly and ruthlessly dragged all of the unspoken stereotypes, culture war, and maniacal old-school Asian culture (specifically those of Chinese and Hong Kong origin) and lets it stew under the spotlight as the reader looks on in fascination, laughter, or horror. The social commentary is sharp and pulls no punches, and I absolutely loved how far Kwan runs with it at the complete detriment to Eden and Rufus. I can’t go into them too specifically without major spoilers, but themes of White, Western perceived superiority over Asian looks/culture, societal class status, the excess of wealth and the numerous problems that come with, the viscous monster of fame, harsh judgment by one’s own family; these are themes that have been done before but the way they’re weaved together coherently is impressive. The latter half of the book also delves into self-hatred and discrimination against one’s own culture and background which is a theme I don’t see nearly enough in novels that tackle these types of culture-heavy stories. The way Kwan foreshadows this in the early chapters, only for it to come crashing in at the climax was great.

While the plot took a while to get going, once it reaches around the 60% mark, all hell breaks loose and it’s a wild ride. You would think that the Gresham’s financial ruin is the major turning point in the story, but it’s the hacked up solution to their debt that causes everything to break down epically, and this fall from grace was my favorite part of the whole book. Kwan’s portrayal of Arabella as the villainous Asian mother from hell is spectacular and the lengths and plots she and Aunt Rosina go to was very well-written. Needless to say, Arabella eventually has it coming and it’s absolutely gleeful to read. While all this is going on in the present day, there’s also a secondary story going on that starts in Hong Kong, 1995. Seemingly unrelated (and honestly somewhat difficult to follow, more on that soon), when all the pieces and plot threads come together at the novel’s conclusion on top of Eden getting the justice she deserves, it’s all very satisfying.

Another reason why I believe it took me a while to become invested is again, thanks to the misdirection of the book’s pitch. Categorized as a romance novel, I was surprised at how little romance there actually was beyond Rufus’s shenanigans at his sister’s Hawaii wedding. Rufus’s romantic interest was easily one of the weakest elements of the Lies and Weddings for me. While the book does a passable job at explaining why he’s hopelessly in love with Eden, their actual relationship feels quite lacking in terms of chemistry, content and growth. While the social commentary and family drama is so good, the romance feels more like a mere plot device in order to set-up the various conflicts in the Gresham estate, making it an odd element to focus on. Their relationship looks even worse from Eden’s point of view after Rufus’s feelings are flung at her unexpectedly, only for her to suddenly start dreaming about him without much development or internal self-discovery. While we’re given a good idea of why Rufus loves Eden, the reverse direction is a bit murky, which is disappointing since Eden has more screen-time/pages compared to Rufus. The various other relationships between young adults roped in as part of Arabella and Rosina’s plans are varied and solid (Rufus and Martha Dung being particularly interesting), but the actual romantic relationships across the board feel lacking.

The other element that knocked me off at the beginning is the huge cast of characters introduced back to back. Chapter 1 introduces a huge group of friends in the 90’s, followed by an even larger group at the Hawaii wedding in the present. The wedding venue also throws even more characters as part of the planning group, workers, celebrities and photographers that seem important when they’re introduced, only to have almost no influence on the actual story. There’s a lot going on and a good portion of it feels like added fluff; well-written and conceptualized fluff but still extra fluff. Having only one chapter to familiarize with the 1995 Hong Kong group only for some to not appear until half the book later when you can barely remember who was who, the beginning is a bit rough. In many ways I feel like this story could’ve worked a lot better as a movie or miniseries as it would be easier to visually tell who is who at the beginning. Once Part 2 kicks in where Rufus and Eden end up in LA, the cast balloons to be even bigger.

Speaking of parts, Lies and Weddings is roughly divided into six parts based on different cities where the story takes place. These rough parts make thematic and tonal sense with their separations, but the book had an unfortunate habit of derailing the momentum at each transition. Part 2’s focus in Hawaii was fun to read, but the abrupt shift to Part 3 in London cut the action just when I felt like the book was getting its stride. The London section, while generally slower paced, felt like a good slow burn that transitioned quite well into Part 4 in Morocco due to the clear direction of the narrative. However, the jump to Part 5 in LA was the most jarring, switching back to Eden’s perspective who was largely absent from part 2 and 3. Once the LA section got going, I spent a good portion of that section wondering what was happening and how any of it was relevant to anything that came before. The whole reading experience felt start-stop, herky-jerky at times until Eden and Rufus reunite towards the end of Part 4 and onward. Obviously LA’s section held necessary pieces for the big reveal and conclusion, but I certainly think some reordering or adjustments in the book’s outline could’ve helped immensely with smoothing out the story’s progression. I actually think that doing away with the separate city sections would’ve worked more effectively, with Eden’s LA misadventures nicely contrasting and connecting to Rufus’s discoveries in Europe and Africa.

At the end of the day, Lies and Weddings is a rough 4.5 star book, knocked down to a 3.5 enjoyment for me. The immense details and footnotes specific to each part (which I initially found excessive and unnecessary), added a lot to the story as it progressed, and each city felt fully realized and lived-in. I actually grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii where Part 2 takes place and the numerous references and details Kwan included, apart from a few romanticized liberties, were shockingly accurate and precise. I can’t vouch for the other regions but I’d imagine they are also quite detailed. For all its strong qualities though, I still struggled to enjoy this book. While I found the content intriguing and different from my reading norm, it just wasn’t for me; particularly its style of absurdist satire. Absurdist satire, or really absurdist fiction in general, generally has too much going on for my taste. Fictional novels depicting Asian culture are also not one of my preferred interests, so Lies and Weddings was fighting against the odds from the get-go. However although was not my cup of tea (still feeling like a banana sometimes when I read these, if you get the joke you know), this is an easy recommendation for anyone who interested in Western/Asian Culture commentary, particularly for Chinese culture and Cantonese speakers (there’s a lot of Cantonese lines and idioms included).