The Most Rarefied Air

In which you realize you are never going to attending events with these people

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Stars: 4.5

52 Book Club Summer Prompt #9 - Fencing: Dialogue with Witty Banter

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was looking through the 52 Book Club Summer prompts and I saw the one about witty banter and my mind immediately went to Kevin Kwan’s latest book which was sitting in my NetGalley queue. Is there anyone better at combining banter and snarky asides while giving us an inside view of the most rarefied levels of society? The answer is no, it was a rhetorical question really.

In his newest book, Kwan introduces us to the Gresham family, the current Earl, Francis, and his Hong Kong born wife, Arabella. They are getting ready to jet to Hawaii to celebrate the nuptials of their eldest daughter, Augusta, to a European prince (not that one) but things are starting to unravel for the family. Francis needs more money to keep the family afloat and he turns to his best friend and neighbor, Dr. Thomas Tong, to see about securing a loan from Thomas’s friend and super secretive business tycoon, Rene Tan. While the volcanoes are erupting and Arabella is trying to pull off the wedding of the century, Rufus Gresham, the future earl, is trying to find the courage to tell Eden Tong, his best friend and Thomas’s daughter, that he loves her.

Kwan’s books are delicious, twenty-first century versions of the great eighteen- and  nineteenth-century novels of manners. These are homages to Austin, Bronte, Wharton, and James. They are stories that show us how the other half lives while exposing all the archaic traditions that they use to keep themselves at the top of the food chain. It’s like a print version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. And it is all so deliciously readable; Kwan is an excellent writer and he plots and paces a novel with ultimate precision. You can see where he is taking you and what the twist is going to be, but the joy is in the journey and you will love every minute of it. 

This is the perfect beach (pool/lake/yacht) read.