Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan | Book Review
Penguin Random House
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
About the Book: On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte.
The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and, ultimately, herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world—and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.
Review
Reading this book is like lounging at a café overlooking the sea with sun and salt kissing your cheeks. Wearing oversized sunglasses and jewelry so heavy that your hand dangles over the armrest, you lounge unbothered. You aren’t fully aware of everything that is going on, but you don’t need to and you don’t want to. There is nothing deeper than the tanned, glamorous aesthetic.
The story is centered around Lucie Tang Churchill, daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, who is invited to the wedding of the year in Capri. Feeling like she never really fits wherever she is, she often tries to shy away from her Chinese side. When there is no room available for her at the hotel, a series of events leads her to cross paths with George Zao. As she keeps running into George, she finds it harder and harder to not fall in love with him. The story jumps forward years later where Lucie must balance between George, the old flame, and the wealthy American whom she is engaged to. In a classic love triangle, she must decide who she will choose.
Let me be clear, I don’t run in the right social circles to be invited to a destination wedding in Capri, so reading about it is like going on a bougie vacation. Though I could literally feel the sunshine on my face as I was reading this, compared to Kevin Kwan’s other series Crazy Rich Asians, this one is a bit of a sleeper. As a retelling of Room With a View, perhaps I expected more creativity or at least more compelling characters. Unfortunately, we are left a little unsympathetic to any of the characters, who are pretty one-dimensional at best. But hey, it still makes for a good beach read.