Tammy hosted August Book Club at the "ponderosa". It was a beautiful August night. We are having very mild weather for this time of year. We had our meal inside but, took the discussion outside as the sun set. The moon was working its way to full, there was a mild breeze and we were surrounded by 4 o'clocks and Humming Bird moths.
Tammy kept our meal in theme with this month's book; Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. She made Chicken Satay, pork stir fry with rice and Asian broccoli. Carla Gibbs brought lettuce salad with Mandarin oranges, and Diana and Sherrie contributed spring rolls. Laura brought lemon bars and Singapore Slings (say that real fast 3 times! haha. I almost typed Slingapore!). Terry brought sugar free blueberry pie and we had fortune cookies and fruit.
Lou was able to join us this month but, we missed Lis, Janie, Darby, Pam, Denise, Arnora and Leslie.
The book rated a 3.2 for those who read it and, a "I liked it just fine," by Carla A. Tammy said she liked it find but, didn't feel the need to read the sequels.
Lis missed out on book club but wanted to contribute her review here - as I did not read this month's selection, I give you her review below.
Next month's book is Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." For Hulu subscribers, this has been turned into a series.
Our October read is "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.
Ala may!!! There are so many anecdotes that I cannot list them all.
This was a fun read to me when accepting it as a comedy and a mockery to Asian High Society. The book is, like Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, written as a satire to make fun of ultra-rich people’s excess and societal interactions, where there are “normal rich” and “stuck-up rich”. I couldn’t help but think of the Kardashians, The Hiltons, or even the Trump empire with their glitz, glamour, and control. This Beau Arts social circle draws a big difference between “new money” and “old money” and everything is about being accepted or having more than someone else.
Like a teenager’s love fantasy, the book is about a self-made woman, Rachel, of good standing falling in love with a good-looking college-grad and professional, Nick, that, she later finds out, is actually super rich, born into money of which the sum can hardly be exhausted. When Nick invites her to accompany him on a trip to Singapore and his family for a local wedding, she is unknowing and unprepared of the family’s wealth and social standing. Through friends and family members, she gradually figures out that Nick is extremely wealthy, that he is a highly sought-after bachelor, and that she is seen as a moneygrabber. Nick is completely oblivious and thinks that his family will love Rachel for her friendliness and openness, just like he does. Rachel is thrown into a whirlwind of this society, sometimes as the entertainment to be made fun of, sometimes as a tag-along. Nick is taking the opportunity to catch up with old friends and family. Both are not ready for the obstacles that their relationship is creating.
The reason for the trip is the wedding between friends Collin and Araminta. To unsuspecting Rachel, this would be just an event, while to the Singapore high society it turns out, it will be THE EVENT OF THE YEAR between two extremely rich families. All local gossip columns are lit up with it. What a shame that, after spending $40 million on the wedding, the guests still judged the event by what was NOT offered. A circle of would-be friends snub the exquisite dinner for a quick flight on their private jets to get, what they deem, decent food. Not even Araminta can enjoy it because she is too distracted about Astrid, Nick’s cousin and Araminta’s friend by reason of wealth, not wearing her latest purchases to the events. Since Astrid is known for her up-to-date Haute Couture wardrobe, this makes it difficult for the bride to know what she needs to look for to bring her own wardrobe up to the latest fashion. While Araminta seems very nice to Rachel at their first meeting, I felt like the author eluded to a sinister side that might have had Araminta set Rachel up as “entertainment” for her bachelorette party, given that she, the bride-to-be, might have known how her friends would react to an outsider and how unprepared to the financial excesses Rachel would be. Rachel doesn’t realize what bucket of worms she is opening up when she, without afterthought, refers to her meeting with Nick as a “catch”. To the money-grubbing single girls of the party, this reference confirms their opinion of Rachel and she instantly creates jealous enemies and a nightmarish encounter with a dead fish. (SPOILER ALERT) I wondered how many readers guessed that the fish had been planted by jealous Francesca – who has her eyes on Nick for his money - being in cahoots with Eleanor, Nick’s mother. Francesca’s last resort for trying to break up Nick and Rachel comes at the wedding, when she drops the bombshell of a long-past threesome between herself and Nick, coming as a surprise to all. While Nick’s mother goes above and beyond to break up Nick and Rachel, I held out hope for Rachel throughout the story that she would be accepted – until even Nick’s revered grandmother spoke and turned Rachel away.
Nick’s cousin and confidant, Astrid, a nonchalant, more open-minded, character seems to not give much value to people’s wealth. She doesn’t flaunt it but she still is able to quietly take it for granted. She feels that it is perfectly normal for her to spend thousands of dollars on a new wardrobe each season, while she hides her purchases from her husband, Michael, – who is “just well to-do” (or rich in my circles) – to keep from making him feel bad about not being able to fully support her spending habits. While Astrid seems to be non-judgmental of wealth, she seems to have lost touch of what it means to be wealthy. Her spending worries are not about having enough food to eat but are about making Michael feel bad. Still, the author allows Astrid to have a sweet and sincere personality. One of the shocking parts in the story is the affair that Michael seems to have behind sweet Astrid’s back, that (SPOILER ALERT) later turns out to be an attempt of driving Astrid away because Michael can’t stand the pressure of being part of this extreme society anymore. I couldn’t help wonder if a marriage between the story’s heroes, Rachel and Nick, might turn out similar to Astrid and Michael’s, a strained relationship that cannot bridge born-into ultra rich with just well-to-do.
A small but entertaining character is “Radio 1 Asia” who the author wisely uses in the story, an objective gossip about everyone. This friend of the family could be easily swayed and used to pass on information with a smile. He helps Rachel through some of her tough moments just because he wants to be in the know and likes passing gossip. I felt like he was one of Rachel’s alleys just because he wasn’t interested in bringing her down.
Still, even with all that excess, the story shows that people aren’t happy unless they can cut each other down, or because they cannot keep up with someone else, or just because of the constant pressure to portrait some expected image. This is well displayed when we find out about Collin’s depressions that he battled since early childhood. I almost felt a little bad for Collin when we read about his bachelor party that turned into a disaster for Colin and Nick. But Collin had allowed it to be planned by a friend that was known for his excess in everything “manly” and was misusing it for trying to make an impression and keep the financial connections happy. The party ended up being a testosterone debauchery with dog-fighting, high-stakes gambling, and high-end hookers. I was actually proud of Nick, Nemet, and Collin for finally making the decision to sneak off and leave their own party.
After everything that happened to Rachel during the trip, I thought it was funny that the news of the three-some was the thing that finally threw her over the edge – not the sideways looks, not the judgmental comments, not the excess, not the jealous competition. A true teenage googly-eyed romance story. It deviates when Rachel, through Eleanor’s meddling and attempts to break up the relationship, discovers details about herself and her own parents. Had I to guess at the gender of the author, I would have thought the story created by a woman because I related so well to the female characters and didn't see trends towards males characters in the story that we often see from male authors. As long as the story can be read as a satire, I think that it is excellently done and I am looking forward to the other two books in the trilogy.
We kicked off our January Book Club with our annual Pajama Party at Diana's. Our book was "Cooking for Picasso" by Camille Aubrey. Diana found her website where she had posted several recipes from the book. Diana made for us the "Rustic Sunday Chicken" and Laura made the Easter Cheese-cake Pie. Tammy brought the tart salad, Lis brought a cheese plate. I brought mulled wine and there were other wines as well. The meal, as always, was absolutely delicious!
We missed Pam, who was enjoying warmer weather with her nursing students in Belize. Also, Janie, who was home sick, as well as Terry and Denise who were unable to join us. Lou made it back to Oklahoma on her way home to Florida from Denver and we were excited to have her.
Cooking for Picasso "is a tasty blend of romance, mystery, and French cooking," so says Margaret Atwood. It takes place in the French coastal town of Juan-Les-Pins and covers three generations of women affected by the abstract artist Pablo Picasso. Though the women in the story, and their connection to Picasso are fictional, the details of Picasso's life and the fact that he did, indeed, spend time in this very city, are all true.
