The best part of Five Star Billionaire is the end because of a surprise plot twist that I did not see coming at all. Getting to the end took a while but the slow build involved five complete life stories and skillful character development.
Most reviews I have read are heavy on the five main characters as is the front cover blurb, so I won’t spend my time retelling what you can find anywhere. The most brilliant character is a city: modern day Shanghai with its frenetic rate of change and its contrasts between old and new. A city like New York or Paris or London where people come to make dreams happen.
Whether his story is set in Malaysia (The Harmony Silk Factory) or Indonesia (Map of the Invisible World) or Shanghai, Tash Aw always addresses the effects of politics, Western influence, and uprootedness on his characters. His mastery of these themes grows more sure-handed each time and Five Star Billionaire is as big and ambitious as Shanghai, taking the reader relentlessly and progressively deeper into the lives of those five characters. Instead of one protagonist he gives us five of equal strength.
As they circle around one another it becomes clear that Walter Chao is the kingpin. He is wealthy and we learn from his own voice how he got there. His bestselling self-help book, written under a pseudonym and entitled Secrets of a Five Star Billionaire, was intended to help others achieve success. Like many supremely successful businessmen, he has secrets though they aren’t the ones he gives away in his book. The true motivations of Walter Chao, the reasons for the moves he makes, and what he wants from the other four characters make up the mysterious flavor coursing through the novel.
Rereading the first few pages, I discovered the clue to that twist at the end. So brilliant is the storytelling, I was mesmerized, misled and unsuspecting.
Five Star Billionaire was just long-listed for this year’s Man Booker Prize. I hope Tash Aw wins.
I loved this book and was very sad it didn’t make the shortlist.