Crazy Rich Asians

Nick Young is the direct heir to the Young family, a very wealthy Chinese family from Singapore. He is Rachel Chu’s boyfriend, and they met in New York City through a fellow NYU professor. Though Nick comes from an extremely wealthy family, he lives a humble life as a professor and fails to mention his wealth to Rachel. This is partially because wealth is unimportant to him; despite growing up with access to everything he could want and need, he was raised to see himself as a regular person and to never discuss his wealth with anyone. As a result, the humility and kindness that attracts Rachel to him are genuine. He is a good person at heart and judges people based on their character rather than their wealth and status.

Nick is a prince charming archetype. He meets and falls in love with the beautiful, normal girl and brings her into his royal world. While Nick isn’t actual royalty, his family’s position in Singaporean society along with their wealth makes them essentially royalty. Like prince charming in fairy tales, he is desired by most of the young women in the book but only shows interest in being with his Cinderella figure, Rachel Chu. His one mistake—failing to prepare Rachel for what she would face in Singapore—also comes from a place of naivety. He believes that because he doesn’t care about money and loves Rachel for who she is, everyone else in his life will feel the same way. His mistake also comes from his cultural fluidity, meaning that he can seamlessly transition between multiple cultures without feeling like an outsider. His ability to speak Malay is another example of cultural fluidity that Rachel did not know about. His multifaceted, international background is a foil to the monocultural nature of mainstream American culture and inspires Rachel to live a more culturally complex life.

Astrid is Nick’s cousin. She is described as an otherworldly beauty and is even referred to by other characters as “the Goddess.” She is the daughter of Nick’s aunt Felicity, which makes her an heir to the Young family fortune. Alongside her Young lineage, her father, Harry Leong, is often referred to as a “kingmaker” in the Singaporean government. Despite her good looks and financial privilege, Astrid is a kind and good-hearted person and is one of Rachel’s only lifelines in Singapore. She is married to a man named Michael Teo, who, like Rachel, did not come from a wealthy family.

Astrid’s romance with her husband Michael parallels Rachel and Nick’s relationship. Both relationships are colored by the idea that the less-wealthy person is somehow unworthy of their partner. Like Rachel and Nick, Astrid and Michael have had to contend with their wealthy family’s disapproval. However, as Nick’s relationship is budding, Astrid’s is falling apart. Astrid is like Nick in that she does not see wealth as a necessary factor in finding love; however, her relationship with Michael represents how wealth and class disparities could weigh on a relationship. Astrid is beautiful and fashionable, and she enjoys buying couture clothing and jewelry. For Michael, her lifestyle makes him feel small, causing his scheme to end their marriage.

She also expends a great deal of effort to make her relationships appear solid to outsiders; while she is not consumed by wealth and class in the same ways as her peers, she does care about maintaining appearances. Astrid is loyal to Michael until the truth comes out—that he is faking an affair to get out of their marriage.

Eleanor is married to Philip Young, the only son of James Young and Shang Su Yi, and Nick’s mother. This means she is the mother of the only male grandchild to bear the Young name, a position that she takes very seriously. She is a beautiful woman who Rachel says looks younger than her age, and she is extremely conscious of her appearance, both physically and socially. In many ways, Eleanor serves as the story’s antagonist. While Rachel and Nick face many obstacles that threaten their relationship, the greatest obstacle is Eleanor’s displeasure with Rachel as a potential spouse for Nick.

Eleanor’s negative reaction to her son’s romance is partially because he didn’t tell her about Rachel before she heard about the relationship through gossip. Above all, she fears the reaction of her mother-in-law, Shang Su Yi, should her son choose the wrong spouse. She longs for Su Yi’s approval and fears that Nick will lose his “rightful” place as the male heir to the Young fortune. This makes Eleanor cunning and deceitful, which ultimately strains her relationship with Nick.

Shang Su Yi is the matriarch of the Young family. She married James Young and is the mother of Felicity Leong, Catherine Young, Philip Young, Victoria Young, and Alexandra Cheng. This also makes her the grandmother of Nick, Astrid, Eddie, and Alistair, among others. She is an elderly woman who hangs onto tradition and is very particular about how her family is run and who is allowed to be a part of it. She seems kind, but underneath her sweet exterior, she is vicious.

Su Yi is one of the richest women in Asia and inherited her fortune from her father. She lives at the grand estate of Tyersall Park, where she has lived since she was a little girl. Nick is her favorite grandson because she partially raised him. Su Yi speaks several languages and dialects, including Mandarin and English. However, she prefers to speak in Mandarin. Su Yi takes class differences seriously, and though she doesn’t always openly show her distaste towards people who aren’t like her, she will not budge on letting them into society in any meaningful way.

Peik Lin is Rachel’s college friend and a Singaporean heiress whose family is new money. Her family works in real estate, with each of Peik Lin’s siblings working for her father’s company. She is less conventionally attractive than a lot of the other rich girls in the book, but she is very fashionable and styles herself well. Peik Lin is obsessed with money and status, but in a way that is far less discriminatory than the old-money families. She is a loyal and generous friend to Rachel, and her family opens their home to Rachel several times.

Because her family is new money, she is not a part of the inner circle of extremely wealthy, old-money families. For that reason, she has no idea who Nick is despite his family being so prominent in Singapore’s high society. Her family also misses invitations to things like the Khoo wedding. Peik Lin is genuine and down to earth, and her friendship with Rachel is more important to her than Rachel’s status or access. Peik Lin’s personal life is unknown to the reader, and her only mentioned friendship is the one that she shares with Rachel.

Kerry is Rachel’s mother. A single mother and immigrant living in California, Kerry scraped by to raise her daughter. Her background is starkly different from Nick’s parents’. Kerry speaks Mandarin and English, though her Mandarin is stronger. She put herself through school to become a realtor and was able to earn enough money to help put Rachel through college. When Kerry was younger, she married a cruel, older man named Zhou Fang Min. While married to him, she befriended a kind man around her age and quickly fell in love with him. They conceived Rachel, and Kerry knew that she had to run away or she and Rachel would be stuck living with Zhou Fang Min.

Kerry exhibits traits of resilience, which contributed to the way she raised Rachel. She lies to Rachel about her father’s death, but only because she felt that she was better off not knowing the truth. However, the strength she showed when she ran away from her abuser and his family and to save her daughter from them is the same strength that she accesses to fly to Singapore to save her daughter after the Youngs hurt her. Kerry is much more of a mother figure than Nick’s mother, whose obsession with status causes her to be cruel. Kerry is kind and raised Rachel to be kind and honest, as well. She is also understanding toward Nick and treats him like family.

Colin is Nick’s best friend and a fellow heir to a wealthy family. He was considered one of the most eligible men in Asia before his engagement to Araminta Lee. Despite his wealth and good looks, Colin is a shy, anxious person. His wedding is at the center of the story and is the event that brings Nick and Rachel to Singapore. Colin is also a down-to-earth person, and he finds Rachel to be a good match for Nick without taking her background into account. Colin is a good support system for Nick, even when he lacks support within his family. His parents pushed him to have a grand wedding, but he loves Araminta and is quite happy to be marrying her. His relationship with her represents the intersection between the expectations of the old money families and the desires of younger family members to freely marry who they love.

Araminta is Colin’s fiancée and the daughter of wealthy resort moguls. She is a new-money socialite whose beauty and social status allowed her to cross over into old-money society. Araminta is just as fashion obsessed as her peers; however, she is much friendlier than them. She treats Rachel as an equal immediately upon meeting her. Araminta’s parents, Annabel and Peter, came from humble beginnings, and that is reflected in her personality. Though she can sometimes be shallow, she truly cares about her friends and loves Colin. Araminta is generous, but her generosity is often taken advantage of by her snobby friends.

Michael is Astrid’s husband and the father of their son, Cassian. Michael comes from a poor background but pulled himself out of poverty through education and military service. He works for the Singaporean defense ministry and is trying to build a tech company of his own. He portrays the image of the good husband and father, but his relationship with Astrid was mostly built on lies. Michael is a manipulator, creating an elaborate, false affair to sabotage his marriage. His insecurity about his financial and social position compared to hers leads to his emotional manipulation.

Bernard is the son of a Dato, a title similar to “chief” in Southeast Asia. He is a party boy who is out of control and very obnoxious. Bernard has no respect for anyone and freely uses vulgar language, including slurs. He throws the bachelor party for Colin; however, he plans a wild weekend of events that are more for his enjoyment than anyone else’s. Bernard is the archetype of the spoiled rich kid and embodies the corrupting influences of wealth. He is not used to rules or boundaries, so he has none.