Five Star Billionaire - Tash Aw

Thumbing through the chapter, I realised the name of this book had a meaning. It is like one of those self-help books by the ostensibly self-made millionaires who "sacrifice" their time to help the masses. Where the "self-made" part comes in might be questionable. Perhaps made by the books that they write, added with enough good flattery and PR work.

Deeper in it, however, it is not merely as the reviewers speak of, the encapsulation of Shanghai.

No, it is a story of Malaysia. The different social gaps in Malaysia. The 5 individuals are separated not by their lives in China, but their past in Malaysia. The rich tycoons son, trained deep in the world of deception and cronyism but fallen into hard times from the collapsing empire. The upper class girl, who can dream but has it shattered by uncontrolled events from that world of cronyism. The self-made con-man, vowed never to be poor again by the injustice of the country. The singer from a troubled family, an orphan who made it big but lost in the past. The gold-digger from the rural city, trying hard to escape monotony and reinvent herself from mediocrity.

They intersect not just in the present but also in the past. In Shanghai but also in Malaysia, perhaps more consequently in the latter.

I am biased, but in the end don't we all interpret stories from our familiarity?