Tittle: Sex and Vanity
Author: Kevin Kwan
Personal Ratings : 2.75-3/5 🌟
Format : Hardback
Pages: 368
Publications: Doubleday
Source: Times Reads
https://www.timesreads.com
Synopsis
(Taken from Google)
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 the view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Curzio 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. Daughter of an American-born-Chinese mother and 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, Lucy is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment, 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.My thoughts on the book
Sass. Glam. Fame.
I got the Glam. I got the Fame, and I also had gotten the Sass.
But what had made this book a miss for me was the lack of connection with the characters and some plot-holes that I find very disappointing, which was a shame as I had wanted to like this book so much.
So, for those of you who had loved this book,
proceed to read this review with Warnings and Precautions.
The story tells about Lucie Churchill, a half Chinese who has internal conflicts in terms of accepting her mixed blood. With the addition of her condescending WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) family, she has trouble accepting herself, and with the addition of George Zhao, the ever handsome boy from Hong Kong sweeping into her life, she had desperately wanted to push everything about her Chinese heritage away to be accepted in what society calls as normal.
It took me awhile to word out what I think about this book, and after seeing the notes that I made while reading, I had made the conclusion that whilst the book was just an OKAY for me, there were some points of the book that are important.
Firstly, let’s talk about the characters
To those who may not know, I am actually a very character-driven person. Personally, for me, a book can have a good plot but without the flair of characters, the book will still be a ‘meh’ for me.
For this particular book, I honestly wanted to like Lucie. I had empathized with her inner conflict of accepting herself. While I may not be a mixed blood living in the pretentious world of the upper-class side of New York, I do understand the condescending tones of families and how you have to live up to the family’s name. Lucie had been brainwashed by her paternal grandmother which comes from a long lineage of a White WASP family, and be seen as a “china-doll” which is the very form of racism itself. I might not be the best person to preach about racism, but I do find the micro-aggression going in the book was something that the author had wanted to portray on how people with mixed-blood is perceived in the eyes of the white community.
Lines like:
“When you look in the mirror, do you feel more Asian or more Caucasian?”
Or having your white relative having to explain how you are connected with each other
“Yes, her father was my uncle. Her mother is Chinese and her father is American.”
I appreciate how the author had dropped this lines and perceptions of the rich for Asians with money. People like Mrs Zhao who did not dress according to the “standards” of the whites were looked down upon which irked me so much. However, as much as I loved the portrayal of these issues, I felt like it had been just swept away and not highlighted as much towards the end of the book, which had been a tad disappointing.
Lucie, albeit being nice, she tends to become a bit selfish at times. I get that she’s in the midst of trying to find herself, but the way that she acted with George had changed my mind about her. Not to mention that the plot was a bit confusing and very abrupt to me.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually liked George Zhao. What I find most disappointing about this book is how the premise of the character was described nicely, but I felt that his character was not well developed and mentioned enough. Although I was rooting for the two of them, the romance felt staged at some point as everything that they did was either too sudden and left me utterly confused which also made me a bit disappointed; as George can be a character that I would really really like but felt bland towards the end of the book :”) While we may see more of their development with the next instalment of the book series, I honestly felt that the whole plot was a bit of a haywire, which describes my feelings towards the book.
Despite having some other issues with the addition of a character a Sultanah of Penang (which really irked me as Penang does not have a Sultan), and the plot of the story being a bit all over the place which left me a bit confused at times, I had find the book okay. I’ve made the mistake of expecting it to live up to Crazy Rich Asians but these characters have its own perks, which I had hoped the author will explore more for the next instalment of the books
All in all, the book was a light and easy read, especially for those who are looking for a quick pick up. One of the things that I had actually loved about this book is how it had transported me to Capri. In the midst of the pandemic, travelling is not an option and being able to travel by reading is a huge gain for me. I love how the author had explained the coolness of the waters in the Blue Grotto cave, or the beautiful hike of Via Tragara or even the beauty of Arco Naturale. Despite never having travelled to any parts of Europe, looking at pictures (courtesy to Mr Google) and imagining the island had been bliss, which was the plus point of the book.
Whilst this book had sadly, did not live up to my expectations, I know that a lot of you will find this book enjoyable. You’ll find the exaggeration of characters and plot a bit enjoyable at times, but sadly I had put too high expectations of this book which had in turn had left it to be a bit of a let-down.
Thank you to Times Reads for sending me this gorgeous copy of this book! I am absolutely in love with the cover!
This book is available in all good bookstores <3
I end this post with a quote from the book that I loved from the legendary Mr Bruce Lee
“If asked what I identify as, I think myself as a human being, because under the sky, we are but one family, it just so happens that we look different.”Spread love and take care everyone!
from all the Stars and Galaxies,
xoxo, Afi