Point of View

Crazy Rich Asians is written mostly in the third person with an omniscient narrator. Each chapter marks a shift in perspective, and there are occasional shifts within some chapters. The novel mainly focuses on Rachel, Nick, Eleanor, and Astrid. However, sprinkled amidst these main four characters’ points of views are the perspectives of Philip, Eddie, Annabel, Peik, Dr. Gu, Michael, Jacqueline, and Stephen. Many of these characters, such as Dr. Gu and Stephen, are incredibly minor in the grand scheme of the novel and only appear in one chapter. The inclusion of these characters’ perspectives rounds out the novel by presenting an outsider view of Rachel, Nick, Eleanor, and Astrid, and Singaporean society as a whole. For example, Book 2, Chapter 16 centers on Dr. Gu, an old friend of the Lin family. Part of the chapter centers on his perspective and even includes his own stream-of-consciousness...