Rich People Problems

“Kitty sipped her champagne [sic] and glanced at the ball gowns that were being paraded before her, feeling a little bored. Yes, it was so beautiful, but after the tenth dress, it was all beginning to look the same. Was it possible to overdose on too much beauty? She could buy up the whole collection in her sleep and forget she ever owned any of it. She needed more. She needed to get out of here and look at some Zambian emeralds, maybe.” 

Kitty’s boredom in the atelier of Giambattista Valli is indicative of the kind of boredom that often overcomes the wealthy when they can access all that they desire. What is meant to be extraordinary and opulent loses its patina of allure to Kitty who can arrange to mass produce otherwise rare dresses. Fashion, like most of the novel’s material goods, she realizes, can be produced in quantities. This is why her thoughts shift to rare gems—something that she and others can’t easily obtain.

“‘Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves.’ If you think you’re able to let things go without ever seeing her again, more power to you.” 

Rachel is helping her husband, Nick, understand the possible cost of never seeing his grandmother, Su Yi, again. Her comment is a subtle warning, coated in an aphorism, letting Nick know that he would only be hurting himself by not making amends with the ailing Su Yi, who was on her death bed.

“Nobody wants to hear that Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee have any kind of problems. We’re too rich to have problems. We’re the golden couple, right?” 

Araminta’s comment is an ironic play on the title but also addresses the legitimate problem that she has with depression. Though depression knows no class, Araminta believes that her feelings of despondency are a form of self-indulgence for someone who has had all of her advantages.