Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. As a member of an immigrant family I find myself drawn to stories in that genre. I enjoy reading about the struggles among families between the older generations who hold onto their traditions and beliefs and the younger generations as they try to assimilate with peers. This book has a spin on that as the main character Ivy tries so hard to attain that perfect family she herself did not have. It's easy to not like Ivy and all her wrongdoings yet when you understand the lifetime of longing she has had it is easier to root for her. All of the characters are complex and I would describe this book almost as a psychological mystery.

I hate to admit I struggled with this one. The writing was lovely, the plot interesting (albeit slow), the main character layered and flawed but somehow just didn't quite connect with me. Ivy is a Chinese immigrate who moved to America and wants the american dream of upward mobility. She comes across a former school girl crush and becomes intwined into his family. From the get go we get the understanding of Ivy wanting to be white and wants what goes into having white privelege. She seems to be willing to do whatever it takes to get there other than actually work hard. Her mind was an interesting one to be privy to. While I think her perspectives were intriguing, it amost seemed the author was trying to juggle too many things/thoughts and it made the story a bit less connecting. Or maybe it was the from the frustration with Ivy's decisions.

This would be a good one for those who like heavy character driven novels with a refreshing look into an immigrant view point from a character who is hard to forget. It felt little bit Secret Historyish to me.

Thank you to Simon Books and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh--my jaw dropped at the end of this book and stayed agape until the last page. What a wild story!
Ivy is a Chinese-American whose grandmother taught her to steal at a very young age. Right away you know Ivy is going to be an interesting character.
I will say the beginning is a bit slow, but stay the course because the book gets better. In the first part, we learn about Ivy's family and a bit about a family secret. Nan, Ivy's mother had a first love who tragically died before marrying Ivy's father. The story also shows the reader how Ivy's family perceives America, money and status.

Ivy spends the entire book trying to make her way, as she puts it, to the top. She buys the best clothes, goes to the best restaurants, put herself in astounding credit card debt and convinces her rich high school crush to propose to her.
She is manipulative and a bit crazy, but you become addicted to her character.
Her journey to "the top" is slow and at some points cringe-worthy. But Ivy stops at nothing and literally takes people out to achieve this specific life she has envisioned for herself.
Susie Yang does an incredible job of portraying the convoluted lens of success and wealth. There is always a price to be paid.
I love a book that takes me by surprise, and I have to say I was shocked at what unfolded in this story. It will be stuck in my head for a long long time.
This will also be a November W+W Buzz Book. Be on the lookout for a giveaway on my IG and a chat on this novel.

White Ivy is quite an interesting coming of age novel following the adolescence and adulthood of Ivy Lin, a Chinese-American immigrant. Ivy has a tumultuous relationship with her family, specifically her mother, Nan, and grandmother, Meifeng. From a young age, Ivy's need for affection and nurturing from her adult figures is met with lukewarm responses or rebuffed altogether, which leads her to seek validation and attention from external sources, and not always in the most healthy of methods. She often makes reckless decisions based on the opinions and actions of other people.

As a whole, this book kept me entertained and invested in the plot. Ivy isn't the usual heroine of stories I tend to read, so when her unconventional decisions took the story in directions I didn't (sometimes did though!) expect it to go in, I would gasp and rant to a friend about what I was reading before jumping back in to see the outcome of Ivy's whimsical choices. Susie Yang's writing does well to show how Ivy is truly a product of her environment and upbringing in how she sees herself and others. It's also clear how Ivy's parents and grandmother behave how they needed to survive in China as well as in America as a poor immigrant family.

If you like realistic fiction that touches on the nuance of the immigrant experience, self-identity, family, and survival as a woman I would recommend you try it out! It is a pretty chaotic read, but I did enjoy it.

Susie Wong's debut novel is a story of immigration with all the suffering and sacrifices I expected. Ivy Lin didn't move to the USA with her parents. She stayed back in China until they could afford to bring her and her brother over. Ivy learned how to survive under her grandmother, Meifeng's tutelage. Ivy became an expert pickpocket and petty thief. When Ivy arrives in America, she knows that she will never fit in but sets her sights on a rich blond boy named Gideon.
Ivy can attend a private school because her father works there, and she is a scholarship student, a fact she desperately tries to hide. Ivy and Meifeng find yard sales a heavenly deliverance of treasures sitting out to be pocketed by each of them. Ivy doesn't have a good relationship with her mother, Nan. Their fights often end up with a slap in the face or worse corporal punishment. Ivy is quite miserable all the time, and the idea of how she wants to live her life begins to take shape.

I understand how Ivy viewed all those lovely homes in Massachusetts with loving families. If you drive down the street on an autumn night, the houses are aglow with warm light and show what appear to be perfect families around the dinner table or the fireplace, snug and secure, happy. Ivy decided that she would have that life, no matter what she had to do to get it.

Ivy hit loads of roadblocks to her goal, but when she had the opportunity, and Gideon reappeared in her life as a young adult, she went for it. Ivy would not lose her man even if other people in her life were closer to her heart and soul. Ivy's future is not absolute, but the story was believable even though the narrator was so unlikeable.

White Ivy was a long winding read. I enjoyed this new young talent and wish her every success with this and future books. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I read this in one sitting! Despite some thriller elements, this isn't so much a thriller as a true literary commercial crossover about class, identity, desire, family, and the immigrant experience. Ivy is a an unforgettable heroine and I love how the author never apologizes for her even as her story plays out with the tragic yet satisfying inevitability of an Edith Wharton novel.

Hey gang! I've only just started reading, but I wanted to get the vote in for LibraryReads before the deadline. Wish you success and looks like a GREAT title!

This book was twisty and strange and filled to the brim with morally grey characters, but there was just something about it that didn't quite click in the same way that books like this typically do. It was definitely enjoyable, and I'd love to see what Susie Yang does next, but I just wanted a touch more from this.

What a dark book! It took me a while to truly process my feelings. I loved that this book followed Ivy for the majority of her life because it showed all the ways a person can change and develop throughout their lives. I had trouble putting the book down because I was fascinated with what would happen next. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories that really explore the main character’s feelings and actions.

Thank you to Susie Yang, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Holy hell! This book knocked me out. A kind of modern Great Gatsby meets Parasite, White Ivy offers a look at the perversity of the American Dream and the unrelenting costs of upward mobility and social striving. I can’t remember the last time I read a debut where I felt like I was in such sure hands—the prose is deliciously sharp, the plot as tight as a drum, and the pacing (emotional and otherwise) is tuned to such perfection that the “oh shit” moments hit you right where it hurts. I ripped through this one because it’s just that good, but I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long, long time. God! What a book—can’t wait to go back and read it again.

White Ivy succeeded at making me turn pages with its well-developed characters and astute observations about class. But the thriller/suspense elements of the book were gimmicky. The ending was meh—a bit cliche.

In some ways this book reminded me of Free Food for Millionaires. Both books examine an immigrant family struggling to establish themselves as small business owners. Both books examine race and class, comparing old money, new money, and financial lower classes.

This book also reminded me of Pretty Things. Well-developed characters and scams and secrets elements. However. I have yet to read literary fiction focused on a scam that is done well. If you know of one, comment on this review! I’d love to read it.

Back to White Ivy, some elements I enjoyed were the observations about race and class. The author paints vivid pictures of a privileged Boston Brahmin family. I didn’t think that Ivy’s obsession with their son was dark at all. It was just good old social climbing.

Overall, I definitely would not call this a must read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advance reader copy of this book. White Ivy will be for sale beginning in November 2020.

Ivy Lin is a thief and a liar. She is also obsessed with things she cannot have. Raised just outside of Boston, Ivy's immigrant grandmother uses her innocent appearance to steal items from thrift stores and yard sales. Ivy learns quickly from her grandmother she can take what she wants to help her assimilate in school as an typical American teen and catch the eye of Gideon Speyer , the wealthy golden boy. He does have it all and that is what Ivy wants.

Years later Ivy has grown into a restless,unhappy but poised young women. When Gideon finally reappears in her life, she vows to make him her's whatever the cost.

This is a dark story about obsession and the frantic need for anything but what we already have. Its a story about taking what you want no matter the cost. It's more than that tbough, it is a story of immigrant experience , a love triangle and what it means to grow up unhappy and the ways we reinvent ourselves to become what we envision.

I enjoyed this novel. It was sad and gripping. I enjoyed the different characters and all of the development that was involved. I liked Ivy and at times I hated her. I enjoyed the cultural references and the stories of her parents and grandmother (who is a wonderful character) my only problem is I found it slightly predictable. I knew what was about to happen before it did and that was disappointing. All in all I would recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

WHITE IVY is a great first novel for author Susie Yang. Ms. Yang writes about what she knows, the Chinese culture. She brings you into the world of growing up Chinese while living in America. I always enjoy glimpses into other cultures; Ms. Yang did it really well, her words, her descriptions made me feel like I was learning while being entertained, on of the main reasons I am an avid reader.

Ivy Lin is not a good Chinese girl, she does not follow the template for a young Chinese girl learning to be American. She is a thief, a liar and not a virgin. Ivy becomes obsessed with the upper-class teens attending school with her, especially Gideon Speyer.


The book begins as a character study; Ivy is living in two worlds, one where she is comfortable and accepted and another where she has to work hard and always feels not good enough. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ivy’s journey and wondering what world she was going to choose.

Toward the end of the book there is a veer off from character study to thriller and it works in the hands of talented writer, Susie Yang. I will be anxiously awaiting Ms. Yang’s next novel, that girl can write.

Wow!!! There is nothing better than going into a debut and having it blow you away. ❤️ This seems to be the year of fantastic debuts and you just need to add this one to the list. This book is a slow burn that is so eloquently done that I could not look away. I could not put this down, it had an almost magnetizing element to it. Susie Yang has arrived my friends!

Ivy Lin is a girl that pulled me in a million directions. On one hand I wanted to feel sympathetic towards her. Her family immigrated to America where she lived in a low income complex, her family struggling to make ends meet. As if Ivy didn't have enough personal turmoil trying to fit in, her family sent her off to a exclusive school- Grove Prep Academy. It is here that Ivy gets a taste of the good life and decides it will be hers no matter what the cost.

For some reason Ivy has that "something" about her that just draw people to her. They would see the good in her, yet she was filled with dark, disturbing thoughts. Her moral lines were not drawn in the sand, they seemed to move about whenever she needed something. Yet still...everyone seems to love Ivy. She is a master manipulator and knows her game well. She makes people want to do things for her.

As she struggles to make it to the top, stepping on people from her past, just how far will she go? The ending was one that I never saw coming! I loved it!

This book was SO GOOD! I thought it showed a really unique immigrant experience and the perils of aspiration. There were love triangles and plot points that I absolutely did not expect. It was a little bit slow at first, but that character-building time really paid off in the end! I will absolutely be recommending this book to everyone!

To be honest I didn’t get passed the tenth page. I don’t know what it was, I think the writing style didn’t work for me and it took me thirty minutes just to read ten pages. I felt like the descriptions were long winded and it was too formal for me to sit and devour.

This was a rather slow read with a main character - Ivy - who is impossible to like. She's deceitful and dishonest and yet I couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she was determined to get what she wanted. The immigration story was interesting and there were a lot of characters who weren't who they seemed to be.

I was surprised it took Ivy so long to realize something about Gideon that had been blindingly apparent to me from the beginning. Perhaps she wanted her fairy-tale life so much she had blinders on and couldn't see the truth. There were some shocking moments near the end that only served to further illustrate how depraved Ivy was. I expected her to somehow be caught - - and perhaps she will be someday.

I can't say I especially liked this book but it did keep me interested to the end so that speaks well for the writer.

Let me introduce you to Ivy Lin. A Chinese immigrant who just wants to belong and yet sees that people just feel sorry for her - especially her biggest crush, Gideon, who seems to be the perfect American boy of her dreams. But Ivy, with her poor family, has learned to make ends meet however she needs to. And Roux seems to be the only one who sees her fully and accepts her for who she is. But she's sent off to China for a summer and when she comes back, her parents have moved and now she has lost them both (the boys, not the parents).

When she gets back, fate has put her back in Gideon's path and she will do whatever it takes to finally "make it". Roux also comes back into her path and now a love triangle has blossomed into something that will take her down a path of much resistance. I'm not a huge fan of love triangles in a book but this one just works within the story being told here. 👏

This may seem like a slower read for some but I found the pacing perfect. We get to see Ivy trying to deal with her Chinese heritage and what is expected of her while trying to find her own fitting in the world she is growing up in. With this, she thinks Gideon is the answer and will mold and change every aspect of herself in order to make this happen. But how long can one person do this without being driven crazy? When you don't know exactly who you are, it's easy to just become a chameleon. And when something can potentially get in the way, you will do whatever it takes to ensure that something doesn't.

I personally loved watching Ivy's trajectory. Although I wanted to shake her at times, I actually completely understood why she was being the way that she was. I wasn't surprised by any revelations that came within the read, however, I did think one particular arc was going to go in a different direction that it did. I'm also SO CURIOUS AS TO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NOW! Yang, um, can you please advise? I need more!

This debut novel is outstanding. And can we just talk about how awesome Ivy's grandmother is? Yang brilliantly brings together these families and even in their differences, had some similarities. After all, no matter your stature, there are always some kind of issues happening within. Ivy learned some very hard lessons and I'm so curious as to how she's going to transverse the rest of her days. Can't wait to see what Yang has for us next.

I'm telling you....everyone is going to be talking about this one, “White Ivy”, by @susieyyang. You heard it here!

Ivy Lin is a Chinese-American girl growing up in Massachusetts. She is a daughter, a student, a girlfriend, a roommate, an immigrant, an American, a work in progress... and a hot mess. She is pathological, but in many ways, she is all of us. Ivy yearns to belong and longs to break free; the push and pull of this book is perfect.

This one has it all, and turns it all inside out: social hierarchies, family secrets, desire, power, prestige and most of all, perceptions: the way we perceive ourselves, the way we perceive others and most of all, the way we perceive other’s perceptions of us. I was sorry when it was over.

You can pre-order it now for its release on November 3 (if you pre-order the digital copy, it will load onto your device that morning!) I have a hunch we might need some distraction that day and this book is all that and more.

#netgalley #simonandschuster #whiteivy #amreading

A wonderful debut novel. 4 stars!

Ivy’s parents immigrated from China to the US when she was two years old. As a teenager, Ivy struggles to fit in with her peers. Her parents are strict and lack emotional intelligence which turns Ivy into a cold, dishonest very unlikable character. Ivy ends up picking up how to steal from her grandma and becomes obsessed with consumerism and the desire to fit in with the privileged. The novel spans her teenage and young adult years.

White Ivy is a refreshing and unique novel. A must read for 2020.