Sex and Vanity

This may even be closer to 2.5, I'm not sure yet. I picked this because (like many others) I enjoyed CRA. In a lot of ways this book gave me what I wanted in terms of rich people drama, exciting locations and generational conflict. I also found the way race and racism was handled was interesting. As a white person I cannot say how accurate that aspect was but I felt it was one of the few areas the really fleshed out the novel. In other words: I could tell Kwan cared about that sub-plot. I also liked that it gave us another perspective on the old vs new rich. It handled in a fresh way and was not a copy paste from CRA.

Unfortunately, the book really suffered in other areas. It's possible part of the issue is Kwan is more used to writing about older people who's relationships have history? The only interpersonal relationships I fully bought into were friendships. The romances just didn't have time to breath. I never felt l knew why these people were in love with each other beyond sexual tension. I mean, George seems preferable to the alternative but I never felt like I knew him. I felt like I knew Auden better!
Additionally, Lucie seems stuck in a permanent state of immaturity, where she can't handle anything in her personal life. At least one of her decisions the letter writing fiasco comes out of a 16 year old's playbook. Which would make sense in the first half of the book, but it happens in the second half. I understand the way she was raised plays into this, but I feel like we never see her adult business woman side. It's like Kwan forgot to mentally age her up after the time jump.
Conclusion: I enjoyed this book and read it really quickly. Yay popcorn reading. But it's lower quality popcorn than I was hoping for. If Kwan writes another book I will certainly give it another chance. Everyone has a dud at some point.