When did multi-billionaires become a thing?
Just ask Kevin Kwan, author of the “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy, whose satiric novels of the excessively rich–adapted into one of the country’s most popular movies — has entertained millions of Americans, who rooted for the “normal girl,” an economics professor who unwittingly fell in love with one of the richest men on the planet. And that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Kwan’s new book, “Lies and Weddings,” reverses the plot line. This time, the family of the leading man, Rufus, is completely broke, thanks to their profligate ways. So his crazy, desperate mom schemes a way to marry him off to the next available heiress. The only problem is Rufus is secretly in love with a “normal” girl. In this case, a mere doctor.
If you think the mother in “Crazy Rich Asians” was a terror, wait until you meet the mom in “Lies and Weddings,” Kwan told me in an interview. He calls his new story the “Bridgerton of the 21st century.”
Kwan will be at the City Opera House at 7 p.m. on June 4 to talk about his book and kick off the National Writers Series’ summer season. Amy Tan of “The Joy Luck Club” fame is next on June 14 with “Backyard Bird Chronicles,” which reflect her path to solace. Legendary novelist Jane Smiley wraps up the month on June 25 with “Lucky,” a nostalgic time traveling novel through the ‘60s with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin and Joan Baez. Erik Larson, Peter Heller and Jodi Picoult finish off this sizzling summer season.
Kwan said his books stem from his own experiences living in all kinds of worlds. Until 11, he lived in Singapore where his well-off family moved in the circles of the super rich. He remembers going to a buddy’s house and watching baby sharks swim around a massive pond in his living room. Then there were the years of barely surviving in New York City as a freelance artist.
Our talk helped me understand how he came to create his characters and wanting the reader to feel empathy for all of them.
“I did grow up in privilege in Singapore. But I was young and didn’t realize it. It wasn’t until I moved to Texas when I was 11 and realized, ‘Oh wow, this isn’t how people live. I was thrown into a very middle class experience. I had to mow the lawn, do chores around the house, I didn’t have 10 things to choose for breakfast every morning,” Kwan said.
“I went to writing school and then to Parsons School of Design and was trying to make it as a fine arts photographer. For many many years, I was a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck, balancing a lot of freelance things and juggling credit card bills. But I was also observing so many people through the years, so many people like Eden [Rufus’s love interest in his new book], who are normal people and fall in love with someone from an abnormal world. And they have to make the decision. ‘Do I want to be part of this crazy family?’ It’s love, but it’s complicated by family and duty and commitments.”
Those who are born with a spoon in their mouth also have significant challenges, he said. Rufus wants to be an artist — but it’s the one thing he can’t do. He inherited lands and titles and responsibilities and is expected to be the next lord of the family’s estate.
“When you have an estate, you are responsible for families, real families … You are a landlord on a big scale. Your family has been tied to this land for generations and you feel the weight of it, this burden. He has to find his own joy and balance the expectations that are on him,” Kwan explained.
Amy Tan’s event, which was rescheduled to June 14, is nearly sold out, so buy your tickets fast. If you miss a chance to see her in-person, don’t fret. NWS has a high-quality virtual option that many have said is an excellent virtual show.
Tan came to write “Backyard Chronicles” in 2016 when the world took on a meaner edge.
“People now considered it almost their freedom of expression to say exactly what they thought about other people who were of a different race,” she told Morning Edition reporter Leila Fadel. “It was people ignoring me as if I were invisible in a store — everybody else being served, but not me. And it happened on an airplane not that long ago. And the first thing that comes to mind is: racism. Yeah, and I never had that feeling before, and it was horrible. So I needed to get it out of my mind, and I decided to go back into nature and also start learning how to draw… I was feeling so much despair that our world was turning uglier and uglier.”
Tan fell in love with her backyard birds, and told Morning Edition she spent nearly 10 hours a day learning how to draw them.
“Here I was in nature. And it was beautiful. It was in the moment. And what better antidote to be in a place of biodiversity as opposed to hatred of diversity?”
I also had the pleasure of speaking with Jane Smiley recently. She told me her inspiration for her novel “Lucky” came after attending a 50th high school reunion in St. Louis and decided it would be the setting for her next novel. She didn’t want her new book to be autobiographical, so she made her character, Jodie, a musician.
“But I gave her a parallel life to mine because my own life was pretty interesting,” Smiley said.
She spoke of her lucky years as a novelist, each decade bringing something new and interesting. The comfort and safety of the ’50s, the eye-opening reveals of the ’60s, and the complicated 1970s. Through it all, Smiley was one of those quiet girls who wore glasses and sat in the back of the school room. You’ll recognize her as the gawky girl in “Lucky.”
“Because I was introverted and didn’t know a lot of things as an only child and how to get along with other people, my real need was to watch how the other kids related to one other. That became a habit that lasted forever. I’m an avid eavesdropper. When I go into the store and walk down the sidewalk, I love to look at things, I love to watch things. It’s just a habit I had from the beginning. That’s a really good habit for a writer, and for people who write songs, too. Jodi can’t continually write songs about herself. She has to imagine what’s going on with other people.”
She ended the book with a one-of-kind ending.
“You’re trying to make your story as historically accurate as possible, but to make it work, you still have to make a bunch of stuff up, and that’s what makes it fiction.”