Lies and Weddings

Finished June 7

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

There and many lies and several weddings in this novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is definitely tongue in cheek at times, and the whole vibe of the novel was just great. 

It begins with a tragic scene in Hong Kong in 1985, and then jumps to the present day. As a reader, I gradually became aware of the way this early event related to the characters and actions in the present day. 

We get a list of seven characters who are the 'main players' in the story. They are an English earl, Francis Gresham; his Hong Kong model wife, Arabella; their three children, Rufus, Augusta, and Beatrice; Thomas Tong, a doctor, friend of Francis, and longterm tenant in a cottage on the property; and Thomas' daughter Eden, a newly minted doctor. 

Arabella is about to get married to a prince of Liechtenburg, on a new resort property of the Greshams in Hawaii. Then things begin to go wrong in a variety of ways from environmental to financial. 

I love a lot of the details of Kwan's writing. Things like the list of schools a character went to listed when they first appear in the novel; the inclusion of text conversations, announcements, invitations, and newspaper articles; and the way he uses language to hint at upcoming plot elements. But the best is the use of footnotes. These footnotes are done properly and seem serious, but are often hilarious in the way they make fun of the characters, situations, and general class system that is at play in the novel. 

Wealth and status in this novel are front and center, but despite the outer trappings of money or the character's title, one can never be sure whether the wealth is a facade or the real thing. I loved the role of Eden as a grounded middle class doctor who lives on the edges of the earl's family. Childhood playmate and friend of all three Gresham children, she doesn't have the designer clothes, the international travel, or the connections that they have. Accepted in some ways, and not in others, she finds herself seeing her situation in a new light here. 

The novel takes us from the English home of the characters to Hawaii for Arabella's wedding, to London, Paris, Marrakech, Beverly Hills, and Venice. We see the high life close hand, designer names dropped continuously, and ostentatious displays of wealth throughout. But they are always so ostentatious that they become objects of ironic humour. 

I will definitely be seeking out more books by this author.