Part love story, but also a social satire of the ultra-connected, ultra-rich of New York, with a twist: the heroine is half Chinese (via her American-born mother) and half WASP (via her father).
Reminiscent of the super-swanky, over-the-top families portrayed in Crazy Rich Asians and its two sequels, in terms of the clothes, jewels and homes, Sex and Vanity goes deeper and further and skewers WASP and Asian society along with the social climbers who aspire to the top.
There is a good deal of humor, extensive descriptions of couture and designer clothing, the homes and getaway places of the various characters, but Lucie Tang Churchill, the center of the book, comes off as a real young woman with real aspirations, problems and conflicts.
Kevin Kwan brings together inspirations from the work of Tom Wolfe, as in The Bonfire of the Vanities (on general principles), E.M. Forster's A Room with a View (for aspects of the plot line, and certain character names and personalities: Lucy, Charlotte, George and Cecil), and hints of Henry James's 19th century characters (the WASP Americans might be the modern equivalents of James's European gentry, and the Asians are James's brash Americans). The outrageous details, however, are completely Kwan's own, and he is a master of embedding them into the tale.
The novel can be read for its entertainment value, but is also a great coming-of-age story. There is bound to be an even more stupendously lavish movie adaptation than that of Crazy Rich Asians, and won't that be fun?
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