# Counterfeit

By Kirstin Chen

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/counterfeit-92bf47d9/

Former lawyer Ava Wong is frustrated with her domestic life when her college roommate Winnie Fang reappears with expensive tastes and an illegal opportunity. Winnie sells counterfeit luxury handbags, and Ava joins a business that depends on buyers believing in the label.

## What makes it funny?

Winnie's reinvention comes with a conspicuous prop: a Birkin bag replaces the awkward student's rhinestone slogan T-shirt. In a factory scene, a guide jokingly asks that Prada totes remain a secret, exposing the embarrassment around where luxury goods are made.

### The comedy at work

The women exploit expectations of Asian respectability while dealing in fake status symbols. Chen uses their wit and self-awareness to question the model-minority myth and the prestige attached to a handbag.

### Try this if…

The appeal is a confidence trick with social satire: two women maneuver through assumptions about money, identity and good behavior. The criminal business crosses San Francisco, Hong Kong and China.

### Good to know

Ava begins by telling her story to a detective. Another perspective complicates her account, so her explanations deserve attention as well as the mechanics of the fraud.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary · Crime & thriller
- On the shelf: Crime caper
- Kind of humor: Satire
- Format: Novel
- Length: 288 pages (ebook)
- Published: 2022

## A few distinguishing details

- A luxury-handbag counterfeiting business
- A confession whose perspective comes into question

## Sources & further reading

- Book information: [Apple Books lists Counterfeit: A Novel by Kirstin Chen as an English ebook, 288 pages, published by William Morrow.](https://books.apple.com/us/book/counterfeit/id1588883515)
- Author commentary: [Kirstin Chen interview](https://lithub.com/kirstin-chen-on-shattering-the-model-minority-myth)
- Author commentary: [Author book description](https://kirstinchen.com/counterfeit)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kirstin-chen/counterfeit-chen)
- Book information: [Apple Books edition record](https://books.apple.com/us/book/counterfeit/id1588883515)