Hard to believe this is a debut! So well done!! Being an immigrant from China, Ivy desperately wants to fit in. When her parents send her to a prep school she is drawn in by the kind of life her peers are living and sets out to someday have that kind of life. Ivy is an enigma and unlikable at times, but vulnerable at others. Later as a first grade teacher, she runs into an acquaintance from her youth, the sister of the boy she was in love with in school. As her dreams start to come true, she makes an error in judgement and now she will stop at nothing to attain the life she has always dreamed of, but will she get her happily ever after? Looking forward to more from Susie Yang!!

Ivy immigrated from China to Massachusetts as a young girl but never felt she fit in. She never looked right, dressed right, talked right. As an adult, Ivy reconnects with the golden boy, Gideon, who she had a crush on as a kid. Amazingly, he seems quite smitten with her and Ivy may just be able to have the life she always dreamed of.

This was such a sad tale about such an unhappy person--hard to read but at the same time I couldn't stop reading.

This suspense novel begins as a coming-of-age story about Ivy Lin, a Chinese immigrant whose parents maintain high aspirations. In sixth grade, Ivy transfers to an elite school where she meets the enigmatic Gideon Speyer. She becomes obsessed, trailing him around school. He is a far cry from Roux, her rough-around-the-edges neighbor. Ivy aspires to greatness but can’t seem to shake her penchant for pilfering items at stores as her grandmother taught her to do. Years later, Ivy reunites with Gideon and is steadfastly focused on becoming part of the Speyer family legacy, but Gideon is not the only man who is back from her past. This book was a refreshingly unconventional thriller – the way time moves felt unique and natural to this particular story where so much of Ivy’s persona is informed by her early years and the ways in which she’s caught between two cultures. While none of the characters in the novel are wholly likable, this didn’t make it any less readable. The novel weaves in discussion of race, class and immigration and even though I anticipated the big reveal at the end, it was still a captivating read. Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Ivy Lin is complex. Raised by her immigrant family and their rules, her life is tragic in her own eyes.

As a teen Ivy is drawn to Gideon Speyer. Wealthy, attractive and completely outside of the rules her parents have in place. Once her mother realizes what Ivy has been up to, she is sent to China and she returns to a new home - far from Gideon and the few friends she once had. She's also had a glimpse into the life that she wants to live.

But as an adult, Ivy runs into Gideon again and isn't about to let go. She knows what she wants and is not about to let anything (or anyone) come in between her dreams and reality.

When I went into White Ivy, I was expecting a very dark Talented Mr. Ripley situation. Ivy was born in China and felt like her family was second-class compared to those of her private school classmates. When she reconnects with one of those classmates, she seizes the opportunity to gain access to his world, but eschews her own past and family in the process. While this didn't exactly turn out to be the twisted thriller I thought and was a little uneven at times, I really enjoyed Ivy's story and the exploration of what a marriage and family means, and what is worth sacrificing to get it.

Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up
Recommend? Yes!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut by author Susie Yang. We meet Ivy when she's in middle school, struggling to make friends and catch the attention of her crush, Gideon, given the strict rules her Chinese parents have set for her. Gideon is the son of a senator and he's rich, kind and smart; from the beginning, it's clear that Ivy's crush has just as much to do with a longing for his lifestyle as it does with Gideon himself. After Ivy's parents catch her at a sleepover party at his house, they send her to China for the summer and then move the entire family to New Jersey, and Ivy assumes she'll never see Gideon or her other middle school acquaintances again. Fast forward ten-ish years, and Ivy runs into Gideon's sister, who invites her to a party where Gideon will be, which changes the course of her life and forces her to confront what lengths she'll go to to chase the things she desires.

I loved this book. Ivy is one of those characters whose actions you disagree with, but also have sympathy for. The book itself is an easy read that has the suspense of a thriller and the cattiness of a campus novel, but doesn't fit perfectly into either category.

While the two books are different plot-wise, I'd recommend this book for people who liked Pretty Things.

White Ivy is a gripping coming-of-age story by debut author Susie Yang. There's so much to unpack, as there are tons of moving pieces to this novel. First, I want to say that the pacing of the book was perfect. We saw all of the impactful periods of Ivy's life. When we first meet her, she's still a small child in China and being raised by her grandmother before moving to the United States, where her parents immigrated to several years earlier. Growing up she resents her parents for her strict Chinese culture and their socioeconomic class. As she grows older and leaves home, she tries to re-define herself into the person she always wanted to be, but she still faces an internal struggle that leads her to a complex love triangle. The character development is intricate and intriguing, which kept me turning the pages. Seeing everyone's flawed nature intertwine was the backbone of this story.

If I had to leave a critique, it's that at times I wanted more from the story. This isn't so much a critique is that I feel like I have so many unanswered questions, which might have been the point. There were a lot of choices in this book, and I felt as some of the consequences were a tad underplayed.

Overall, I thought this was a solid debut novel! Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster!

I’ve always been in awe of the clash of culture when immigrants make their home in America, raising their children in the manner of their home country and tradition. These children have internal turmoil as they attempt to assimilate into American culture, which in most instances is much less restrictive.
Susie Yang’s debut novel, “White Ivy” puts you into the teeny tiny shoes of a young Chinese girl as she strains against her parents’ restrictive culture. Ivy Lin’s young life was under the tutelage of her grandmother who trains Ivy to pilfer and steal, using her young innocent looks to her advantage. As Ivy enters her teenage years, she develops and strong love and desire for her school friend Gideon Speyer. Her parents intervene, stripping away everything American Ivy has accumulated in her attempts to fit in. They send her to China for a refresher course on proper culture, and when she returns they’ve uprooted and moved to a new city. The blow of this sudden change in her life, being forced to start over, sends Ivy into a cynical, destructive, and manipulative state of mind, one she never fully outgrows as the years pass.
The long term damage, the loss of innocence, the inability to ever truly be happy creates this sad story of Ivy as she struggles through the years, never losing sight of her initial goal, no matter at what cost. I couldn’t quit reading; each page struck me with compassion for this young girl, who at times behaves in a manner that certainly doesn’t deserve compassion. But because Ms. Yang does such a beautiful job writing you into Ivy’s life, you feel for her. You almost understand the woman Ivy becomes. At times sorrowful then shocking, the pain of Ivy will stick with you.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The release date is November 3, 2020.

3.5 Character Study In-Depth Stars
In The United States, we are a country of immigrants and yet it is this imposed otherness that can make it difficult for newbies to feel welcomed or included. All cultures have this bridge to cross and in White Ivy, we are given an intimate look at a Chinese young girl's struggles and determination.

An absolute treasure! I just could not put it down. Ivy was such a vivid, emotional, colorful character and I fell in love with her. Every chapter brought a different twist to the story and I did not see it coming. If this is the author's first book, please do not let it be her last.

WOW. Just.... WOW. This book blew me away and could end up being my favorite book of 2020. This story is so well-crafted, so well-developed, so interesting and engaging that I don't think I can do it justice to even attempt to summarize it. I did guess a pivotal reveal, but it didn't even matter- this novel isn't about the "omg moments" but is instead a thrilling, deeply thought-provoking book about human secrets and desires. The prose is genius- gorgeously crafted but also completely easy to read.... Five stars to this incredible debut.

I finished this book a little while ago, but have been ruminating on how to rate this book. My true rating is probably somewhere between a 4-4.5!

The premise of the book is fairly straightforward on paper: girl meets boy, girl has crush on boy, girl moves away but one day reconnects with boy, girl and boy finally fall in love but the girl’s past may impact that. But Susie Yang does a really incredible job at fleshing out these various parts of Ivy’s life (though it can seem a little disjointed from part to part - the disconnect between past and present scenes was my main criticism for this book). The things that Ivy goes through (illicitly going to a co-ed sleepover, losing her virginity in protest, getting sent to China for a summer, etc) paints the backstory, but it’s not nearly as important as her thought process throughout these events. Ivy is a learned thief and pickpocket, trained by her grandmother to take advantage of those who “won’t notice”, especially because Ivy and her family are already so disadvantaged. This thought process is deeply important to Ivy’s character.

What I especially enjoyed about the book is the nuance of being Asian American, but exacerbated especially so by socioeconomic difference. There’s a self-hatred in Ivy, as she’s grown up despising herself and where she comes from and idolizing the more white “norms”. And yet, she doesn’t react to life like a typical Chinese woman, or a white one. She reacts to life as someone who’s clawing to take advantage and betterment in any way they can, whether it’s through lying, stealing, or sexuality. Ivy is is compelling because she’s not really a heroine - if anything, she’s an anti-hero that’s hard to root for, but her thoughts and circumstances are what keeps the story so taut.

Alongside these nuances of social class, there’s a deeper one about family and inherited trauma, and the lies that we’re willing to tell in order to reform an entire life. I feel like this part of the book is deeply important, but lies a little under the surface, really only coming to a head when we have full-on comparisons between how Ivy sees her family, how her grandmother sees Ivy’s mother, and how Ivy’s mother views her duty; there’s a lot to be unpacked and discussed in terms of gender roles and identity, and carving out space within those limitations. On the less nuanced side sit the men - Ivy’s father doesn’t really play a true role, her brother struggles immensely over the course of the book (something that I wish was better fleshed out), and even the love interests are fairly flat, mostly there to serve their phallic purpose.

But my favorite part is the writing - Susie Yang spins a very tight story and without meaning to, I stayed up the entire night reading this book. I really needed to know what happened, and then I sat on the ending for days afterwards. It’s a really great read for the current season, and I especially recommend it to anyone who enjoyed character thrillers like The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Secret History or The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, or maybe even the more frothy Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan (though this obviously is much darker). Overall, enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. There’s a lot to be discussed and thought about, and even the ending isn’t really an ending - I think it repeats back to her family’s tendency to rewrite with lies: no one is truly happy, but the narrative becomes one that’s easy to tell. (Made me think a little about the ending of Gone Girl, where terrible people continue to be terrible to and with one another) At the end of the day, it’s not so much love as it is survival by any means necessary. Susie Yang does a fantastic job, and I’m excited to see what she’ll continue to write.

Disclaimer: I was given an ARC of this through NetGalley (my first NetGalley book!), but these are my honest thoughts on the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity!

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for giving me early access to White Ivy by @susieyyang in return for my honest review.

My favorite books are the ones that take you in a different direction than you initially expected from reading the summary. White Ivy tells the story of Ivy Lin, a Chinese immigrant who comes to America around the age of 5, once her parents are settled and financially stable enough to take her. From here, we explore what it is to grow up as a first generation Chinese-American living under very traditional Chinese parents.
As an adult, Ivy struggles to find who she is and what life she is supposed to lead. This story is told in a beautiful way, even if I didn’t always find the characters beautiful. This book had me tearing up at times, and audibly gasping at others.

I finished this book two days ago and I am honestly still not sure how I feel. Mostly sad for the characters. But I think the fact that I am still reeling marks this as successful book for challenging my opinions and views. As much as I always say I want a book without a traditional happy ending, I am still left torn in two when it’s not. I will be thinking of Ivy Lin for a while to come.

A different kind of coming of age story....Ivy is an immigrant from China, and will do just about anything to assimilate and infiltrate into what she perceives to be the perfect American life. Ivy is not particularly like able, but her character is so well thought out she ends up being very compelling. While most of us would never be like Ivy, maybe we can understand her actions. Very good book.

I loved, loved, loved this book. I found it addicting in the best way possible. I hate using the term "unputdownable" in reviews, but this book was truly that - I didn't want to stop until I reached the end. The character development, the writing, the plot twists, it was all just delicious.

At first, the story is dark. You're just getting to know Ivy Lin, our protagonist, and all of the backstory that makes her who she is - her grandmother taking care of her, moving to the US and hating it, her obsession with Gideon Speyer, her handiness at stealing things, her brief stint in China after her parents get fed up with her behavior. Yang epitomizes "show, don't tell" here - you hardly learn anything from Ivy herself; it's almost like she's a passive object, with all of these external things happening to her, informing her development as she grows up. Reflecting on it now, I still don't know that much about Ivy as a character - she has no sense of self, but an idealized picture of what she should be or what's desirable, and she's always striving to achieve that and compensate for her insecurities, family shame, and failures.

Fast forward 10 years or so, and Ivy is a first-grade teacher at a prestigious Boston school. One day at pickup, she runs into the sister of her childhood crush, Sylvia Speyer. Ivy immediately sees an opportunity. She plays it cool and gets an invitation to a party that Sylvia is throwing. Despite their family coming from old money and Ivy still being poor and in debt, Ivy knows how to dress and act around the wealthy. She knows how to blend in with that crowd. She re-meets Gideon at that party, and they hit it off, eventually dating and getting closer to each other.

The rest of the book explores their relationship - the tensions of fitting in, and Ivy always striving to be someone she's not. She's almost like a con artist, but she can't decide what she truly is - she wants to believe that she truly is deserving of Gideon's family, that she's happy and stable and on the up-and-up. Then, an unexpected character from Ivy's past shows up and throws a wrench in everything.

I don't want to give away too much of the book, because part of what makes it so excellent are the little reveals and the big twists. I highly recommend this book as a coming-of-age story for a modern immigrant young woman, navigating two worlds that seem so far apart. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

I couldn't put this book down! There was something that felt unsettling about this book, and I couldn't tell if it was from the actual writing or from the perspective of people and life that the book ultimately concludes on. Susie Yang does an exceptional job of writing about otherness and the desire for inclusion in everyone, and does a wonderful job about exploring the peculiar aspects of it specific to the immigrant, or more specifically first gen immigrant, experience. As an Asian American, I found myself relating to a lot of Ivy's natural desires that she experienced growing up. The storytelling really does propel everything further and there is character development (though not necessarily in the direction readers naturally want it to go), but in an honest way for the narrative. I think it's a great read from both a narrative aspect as well as some of its commentary of otherness.

White Ivy is Edith Wharton meets Patricia Highsmith in a blistering novel about class and privilege as well as the push and pull of cultural expectations among first generation immigrants to America. It's amazing and absolutely one of the best books I've read in 2020.

I loved Ivy, who is sharp and full of wanting that her family doesn't understand. She discovers what and who she wants when she's young, partially in rejection of what she thinks her family stands for but mostly because she loves the idea of being at ease in the world, of having enough money to not think about it, and to have the kind of social clout that people come to you without you having to do more than simply be in their proximity.

And so Ivy, wanting this world, and Gideon, who she sees as the pinnacle of it, focuses everything she has on getting it and him. She will do (and does do) whatever it takes but is so blinded by her pursuit that she never sees Gideon as a person until it's too late. And, for me, the best part was that Ivy, in trying so hard to not be like her mother....ends up exactly like her.

Beautifully written, White Ivy is that rare blend of literary and commercial fiction--which means it will appeal to readers of literary fiction, women's fiction, mystery/thrillers, psychological fiction, and even YA (older teens will devour this) It's just remarkable and Susie Yang is most definitely a writer to watch.

White Ivy is absolutely one of the best novels I've read in 2020 and is very highly recommended.

This book is less outwardly spooky than I expected, but it's still horrifying in a more subtle way. Rather than a straight-up horror or thriller, White Ivy is a dark coming-of-age story that shatters the myth of the "perfect immigrant daughter" and outlines how Ivy's obsession with having an outwardly perfect American life--no matter how hollow it may be on the inside--destroys her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The beginning started off a bit rocky with a lot of exposition, but the narrative races along after the first quarter of the book--I couldn't stop reading it (I even swiped at the pages of my Kindle while cooking dinner, which I would not recommend...).

Oh man, was this book compelling to read. I went in expecting a thriller and found a stunning character portrait about a girl willing to do anything to achieve what she wants. Ivy wasn't a likeable character throughout most of the book, but I still found myself rooting for her, hoping she'd get what she was working so hard for. The ending literally made me gasp out loud, especially with the way it turned the entire book on its head. This debut was absolutely wonderful, and I look forward to seeing what Susie Yang has to write next.

I thought that this would be an immigrant story of the coming 0f age of a young woman who doesn't feel like she fits in. I liked the parts about her relationship with her grandmother and her rebellion against her parents. The characters in the story are well developed. I was impressed that this is Susie Yang's first novel. The ending threw me a big surprise. I didn't expect that Ivy would do such a thing. i highly recommend this book.