In the romantic comedy Lies and Weddings, Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians) delivers another sly, hilarious comedy of manners about the high class, the low class, and the rich with no class.
Hong Kong native Arabella, the Countess of Greshamsbury, is a former model and current luxury hotel mogul who is finally embarking on the grandest campaign of her life, marrying off her three adult children to rich minor European royals of her choosing. Unfortunately, her eldest daughter's extravagant Hawaiian wedding is thrown for a loop when a volcanic fissure opens in the middle of the ceremony site. Additionally, during the proceedings, a hot mic broadcasts a confession of love from Arabella's son, international heartthrob Rufus Gresham, to down-to-earth doctor Eden Tong, the last person Arabella has in mind as a future daughter-in-law.
What follows is a class-driven comedy of errors to make Jane Austen proud, as Kwan dishes out another juicy, satire-tinged romp about the lives of the opulent class. The characters behave to the standard his fans have come to expect, dressing in couture from epically curated closets, globetrotting with the casual air of someone walking into the next room, and dealing out deadly insults in only the poshest, politest tones. The third-person omniscient narrative voice follows each character's movements with the chattiness of a gossip columnist. It creates enough remove to emphasize the untouchable nature of the fantastically wealthy even as it invites laughter at their eccentricities. Readers hungry for an escapist tale with a soupçon of social criticism and a dash of true love overcoming obstacles should find Lies and Weddings a delicious diversion. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads