Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
Narrator: Catherine Ho
Pages: 288
Published by HarperAudio
Publication Date June 7, 2022
Goodreads
For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.
Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.
Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.
Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.
Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.
I went through a phase where I read Reese Witherspoon’s book club selections. Reese Witherspoon’s so-called “tagline” was that she picks books that focus on strong female characters and stories. Sadly, that was not the case with Counterfeit. The main character Ava was anything but, Ava was easily manipulated, weak, and incredibly unlikeable. Typically, I enjoy books with characters I love to hate but this was not the case with Ava Wong, I could not get past how ridiculously stupid, and naive she was. At times I had to restrain myself from throwing the book against the wall.
Kirstin Chen’s novel Counterfeit was very reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians and a poor imitation at that. Like the opening cords to Vanilla Ice’s, Ice, Ice Baby the wool is pulled over your eyes for a split second before realizing it isn’t Queen’s Under Pressure which is by far superior. Counterfeit was a huge disappointment and will probably be my last Reese Witherspoon selection.
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