Book Review: Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell

Alright, for those who don’t know me on a personal, real-life level, I would like to inform you right now that I’m a cheapskate. I don’t spend money on things when I can get them for free or borrow off someone else, or unless I can get them at really low, discount prices. And when I say low, it’s the two to five dollar range kind of low. No double digits, etc.

So when I decide to buy a book that only recently came out and thus, no paperback issue as of yet, with absolutely no discount on it whatever, with my own money that I didn’t somehow get my hands on from somewhere else (Not that I steal or anything… Ahahah.) then my friends can come up with the conclusion that a) I have gone completely bonkers b) there was an alien invasion and I’m just a poser or c) it’s the end of the world. And I wouldn’t blame them for it. I hardly believe I went and bought a twenty-over dollars hardcover book without so much as blinking an eyelash myself. (Okay, so I cried a little inside when I forked over that twenty dollar bill… Ah, technicalities.)

Did I read it beforehand and checked to see it was any good and/or worth my money? Did I at least check the reviews for this book before I went and spent my money on it? Nope, and nope. Did I even know the author before my eyes fell upon said book? Definitely nope.

Then, you might think, what-on-earth-possessed-you-to-buy-that-book????

It’s simple. One word: Malaysia. M-A-L-A-Y-S-I-A. Malaaaaaaaysiaaaa.

I can do this forever.

Seriously, when was the last time you came across a novel that was set in Malaysia anywhere within the story? I sure as heck can’t remember any. (Know one? Just name it and I’ll buy it.)

Note: I was born in Malaysia, though quickly immigrated a year or two later. Still get the chance to visit every odd summer. It is gorgeous there, beautiful night markets and holds the best cuisine in the world. If you’ve never been there, you’re missing out on life!! (That may explain my bias a bit. Just a little.)

And thus, I bought it, and devoured it all within one night.

It was better than I imagined.

Let’s give a little background information so we have a clearer image of what this story’s about. Vassar, overachieving, stuck-up, girl with equally overachieving parents, was sent off to Southeast Asia (with one of them being MALAYSIA <3) due to some secretive blackmailing over the phone from her Grandma directed towards her parents in order to convince them to let their little precious daughter go. What follows are hilarious, barely plausible hijinks involving her meeting a Malaysian cowboy, the appearance of Durian, and staying overnight at an opium den.

Must I repeat myself? Malaysian cowboy, durian, and an opium den!!! All rolled in one!! It’s so beautiful, I can cry. I need no other reason to read a book that this.

Also, Vassar learns more about herself, falls in love, and grows to become a more well rounded, likeable person. I love my flawed protagonists. It’s highly amusing to see and watch them grow. (Another great example of this I can think of off the top of my mind is Jacob Have I Loved You by Katherine Patterson and A Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Especially A Secret Garden, which, by the way, if you missed out on, your childhood must have been a dark and dreary age. If you haven’t read it yet, never fear! It’s never too late! There are online copies of A Secret Garden everywhere! Go, read it, buy it, borrow it, whatever. You won’t be disappointed.)

But the characters that really stole the scene was definitely Hanks, Malaysian cowboy yours truly, with Grandma Gerd coming a verrrrry close second. I never knew how hot a 5’6 Malaysian Chinese cowboy wanna-be could be till Hanks entered my life. Ah, Hanks. How I love thee. So hot, so manly. And thelove!betweenVassarandHanksistrue!!! They’re just so cute together, with Hanks gallantly saving Vassar from all those toilet accidents like the great cowboy hero he is. I don’t care if Vassar is taller than him, theyaremeanttobe.

And Grandma Gerd. Oh, Grandma Gerd! I admire anyone who tells their grandchild to totally just bribe the security guard when caught holding a prized ancient artifact with money. And has no scruples with using blackmail, lying, and confiscating other people’s luggages just to get her way. Sigh, how I wish she were my grandma. Vassar is so, so unbelievably lucky.

So read Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell!! Granted, it ain’t your high-and-mighty literary novel, but its great fun, and I repeat, Malaysia, Durian, Opium?!?! Read it. Now.


::EDIT::Found another novel that has the setting in Malaysia at one period of time within the novel: Certainty by Madeline Thien, which I'm planning on promptly buying tomorrow, or more accurately, later on in the day, since it's too late in the night. Will probably post a review sometime this February.