Butlers, bridezillas, and Below Deck: How the real lives of the ultra-wealthy inspire author Kevin Kwan

Fans of Kevin Kwan know he's a master of writing opulent storylines. In fact, the "Crazy Rich Asians" author takes opulence to a whole new level, including in his latest novel, "Lies and Weddings."

Without spoiling anything, you know you're in for a wild ride when a bride-to-be is assured, "Valentino cannot hurt you." I've got to say, I never thought of a Valentino wedding gown as particularly oppressive. Kwan knows this, though. As a self-professed voyeur of the ultra-wealthy, he's seen it all.

He makes a point of going to the beautiful destinations he describes — of which there are many in "Lies and Weddings," from Hawaii to Morocco — and talking to the professional staff who have to deal with the whims of their well-to-do guests.

"I love looking behind the scenes, what's happening in the kitchens, what's happening downstairs," he told KUOW. "How do people, especially people in hospitality, really create these seamless experiences? Because that's how they get paid: for making problems go away and for creating the fantasy. And these little stories, they work their way into my stories."

"Lies and Weddings" begins with one such story, told through the fictional bride-to-be who was dismayed about wearing Valentino. Kwan spent six weeks in Hawaii on a research trip for the book, visiting lavish resorts that hosted huge destination weddings.

"There was a bride that wanted it to seem like she planned the whole wedding. So whenever she was around, the team literally had to hide. She didn't want to see them," he recalled. "They needed to preserve for her the fantasy that she was creating this wedding herself, this mega wedding... but also entertain the bride's fantasy, to make her feel like she had done it all herself."

Honestly, after reading "Lies and Weddings," I felt a little bad for the bride inspired by this encounter. She, like her siblings, was perpetually at the whim of her mother, a former Hong Kong supermodel who married into a once noble English dynasty — and who is willing to almost anything to maintain her family's stature in society. That becomes difficult as she tries to marry her children off to suitably wealthy families, and they rebel.

Chaos ensues. Affairs are had. Money is spent. A lot of it.

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At the heart of it, Kwan said, "I'm trying to make you laugh. And maybe by making you laugh, I'm also making you think right a little bit, and you can think whatever you want."

Some of his characters will make you feel scandalized. Some will make you cheer. Others will make you cringe. OK, most of them will make you cringe at least once, sometimes because they can't seem to just admit their feelings and sometimes because they offer a woman millions to come to a party.

"I'm trying to give the nuances and facets of these worlds and these characters, right?" Kwan explained. "Every character is different, and every character is dealing with their challenges differently. What happens to a child that has to grow up literally living on airplanes, private airplanes, being shuttled from school to school? Your dad, your mom, everyone is too busy. You're raised by nannies.

"I've actually seen so many cautionary tales of these kids who really they're in an extreme situation and they don't know how to deal with it. They don't have the tools, and I think neither do their parents. No one teaches you how to manage this, right? That too much money is not a good thing, and you have to have limits and boundaries."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kwan is a big fan of the reality TV show "Below Deck." The show takes place on a series of yachts, following the lives of their wealthy owners and the young crew members who put up with them.

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Like Kwan's research trips (which he promises are not as luxurious as they may sound), the show depicts wealth in all its messy glory.

It's easy to imagine some of his characters aboard those yachts for better or worse. (No spoilers, again, but I think that's especially true of "Lies and Weddings" character Freddy Farman-Farmihian, who makes his first appearance upon his own yacht, "Baby Shark.")

"I can definitely picture my characters in 'Below Deck.' They would be the ones behaving badly on yachts and treating the staff badly," Kwan said with a laugh. "There are fantastic characters with great hearts who know how to behave, and then there's the really obnoxious people. And that clash, that conflict is what, to me, is interesting human nature."

Seattle Arts and Lectures will welcome Kwan to Town Hall Seattle on May 29.

Hear more from Kwan on KUOW's Meet Me Here.