SEX AND VANITY by Kevin Kwan

Complete escapist fiction, silly and frothy, but entertaining and enjoyable. Not as good as Crazy Rich Asians, but same formula of two young people from diverse Asian backgrounds meeting, love story ensues with annoying and difficult family members thrown in, expectations and prejudices also in abundance. The author writes in a very chatty, gossipy way; his text full of footnotes that are more like asides and quips to the reader about the characters, events, historical accuracy and detail. I don't think they are necessary, certainly not adding to the story or to our perception of the characters. But they aren't doing any harm either. So take your pick as to whether you like them or not. 

Kevin Kwan has taken the 1908 classic Room With a View, setting it in the present, but with the same characters - Lucy, Charlotte, George and Cecil, their personalities essentially unchanged too. So then you wonder how original a tale this really is. I thought it more like Pride and Prejudice. The setting is also in Italy, but here we are on the island of Capri where the young and quite naive Lucy and her older aunt Charlotte been invited to Lucy's close friend Isabella's extremely extravagant and over the top wedding to some enormously wealthy young Italian man. Lucy herself is half Chinese, her aunt is not which creates some confusion amongst the guests. However Lucy and Charlotte are both descended from a blue-blood New York family which arrived on the Mayflower. Making them very important people in New York social circles. And very wealthy.  The opulence of the wedding festivities over a few days is completely intoxicating to everyone attending, and Lucy finds herself drawn to a young Chinese/Australian man George. And of course there is an upset of sorts which threatens to derail her social standing. 

Some years later Lucy has recovered her equilibrium, back living in New York, working for an art gallery and romantically involved with the boring, self absorbed Cecil. What a silly man he is. And horrors, his family is new New York blood, not of the same ilk as Lucy and Charlotte's line of descent! But oh so wealthy, beyond comprehension wealthy. He and Lucy become engaged, and then, wouldn't you know it, George reappears on the scene. Oh dear, what will happen now!   

It is a most enjoyable book to read, great for beach or curling up somewhere. I have added Capri to my list of places to see - it sounds like paradise not just with the money being tossed around, but in its natural beauty too. I still think Crazy Rich Asians is better, but can see this making an entertaining movie too.