Ivy was raised by immigrant parents and a Chinese grandmother. Her grandmother taught her to steal and deceive because no one would ever suspect the average innocent looking Chinese girl. She used this skill to find her place within the rich, white kids at her private school. Ivy desperately desires to play the part of the wealthy, carefree, ideal token immigrant. Especially to impress Gideon Speyer. Ivy grows up, still completely desires wealth and status and admiration from those around her. She builds a beautiful facade that she's "just like them" She reconnects with Gideon and her life seems to finally be in the place that she wants. Until someone from Ivy's past enters her world and knows the real her. The one that steals and lies and grew up poor and wanting.

This book was much more of a character examination that I expected. There was a slow moving plot but it never really kept my attention as much as seeing what Ivy would do next or how her brain was dealing with the conflicts around her. She is the epitome of an unlikable character in my opinion. Her motivation for relationships was so shallow, never built on more than what she could gain from there whether that be money, status or sex. I kept waiting for her to have a light bulb moment but it never really came. We did see her struggle with the direction of her life towards the end of the novel and she makes a big decision to make sure she keeps the life she wants. Surprisingly though, I didn't dislike the book because of this. Not all books are going to have likable characters but I do realize that can be a deciding factor for some readers.

I don't know if I would necessarily recommend this book to others but I would share my opinion and then let them make of it what they would. It's a tricky book because it is so quiet and understated with such a devisive character.

White Ivy by is a slow burn coming of age tale and if you have the patience for slow burners, then I think you would really enjoy this book. Ivy is a Chinese American and very complicated and disconnected from reality type of wreck who is taught from an early age by Meifei her grandmother on how to steal and deceit to get by in life. This little bit of “wisdom” is the base that Ivy builds her life and dreams on. From the elite school she attends with predominantly white children to the life choices she makes as an adult, Ivy’s obsession goes from innocent to really desperate when a certain person from her past comes back into her life. I had a love and hate relationship with Ivy as I couldn’t decipher if I liked her or pitied her. However, through all the differences I still understood the reasoning behind her ways and it’s a real eye opener as to what POC experience especially immigrant children who have to pretty much live two lives. The cultural but very different life at home, and the culture that they are simultaneously growing up in. In Ivy’s case, when the two mix it becomes a recipe for disaster and some dark times. This honestly is a great book and a great debut, however some parts were definitely a bit too slow for my liking. I’m a manic and a thriller lover who loves fast paced non stop action so that would be my only complaint. There were lots of twists and turns, odd characters, and even a love triangle. There was never a shortage of drama that’s for sure. Regardless, I’m very glad I read this and I look forward to more books by this lovely author :)

🌻 REVIEW 🌻

🗣 AHH-MAZING 🗣

I finished White Ivy last night and 🤩🤩🤩 THIS IS A MUST READ!

This is by far one of the best books I have read all year! The story is spellbinding, complex, and there are so many twists and turns! 👏 This novel is such a breath of fresh air for the thriller genre! Easily could have binged this in one sitting if work, grad school, and life weren’t competing! 🤣

It’s glitzy and glamorous with subtle reminders that not everything is what it seems. Fans of Janelle Brown’s Pretty Things and Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians will devour this book. ✨

The structure of the story, told in parts throughout Ivy Lin’s life is expertly woven, the storyline beautifully crafted in a voice that is purely its own. So many significant themes are peppered throughout - cultural perspectives, heritage, family loyalty, success and money, greed, identity. Exploring the human desire for status and success, or perceived success and the lines someone is willing to cross to achieve that notion of success is expertly done. There’s an interest here for everyone!

This is Susie Yang’s first book and I will be lining up to read her future masterpieces! This beautiful book is gracing shelves ⭐️ November 3, 2020! ⭐️

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻/5

Thank you @netgalley and @simonandschuster for this ARC!

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This is a good story. I’m not exactly sure whether I liked it or not. I was invested in the slow suspense presented. It was interesting but weird at the same time. I am having a hard time with this review, I am not sure if it makes sense but just an interesting and weird story at the same time. Would recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Susie Yang for the ARC of White Ivy in return for my honest review.

The author puts forward a very interesting story of an immigrant family managing their lives while working towards the "American Dream" Overall I enjoyed the style of writing and the storyline but I found it difficult to care or be invested in any of the characters in the book, although this may be intentional on the author's part. I also found the ending a bit unsatisfying with a predictable plot twist.

While this was not a highly rated book for my taste, I did enjoy the author's flow of writing and would be interested in exploring her future efforts.

I'm finding that in my journey to read more OwnVoices books, I am enjoying them more and more as I stumble upon (or actively search for) them. White Ivy is told in the third person from a woman we meet in a precarious "growing" time of her life. We follow her as she remeets a man from her youth, they become engaged, and we get to hear all about this woman and her complete and utter sociopathy. Ivy is cruel, heartless, selfish and unflinchly rigid when it comes to putting herself first and foremost. It's gross, and honestly, I could not have asked for a better book.



I hated Ivy, and yet, I needed to know what BS she was gonna do next. Who she was gonna hurt, and what bomb she was about to drop. Most everyone she comes in contact with hates her too, yet they seemed to be as intrigued with her as I was. It's almost like they kept their enemy close, just so they could see her calamities.



It's all full force amazing. READ. THIS. BOOK.



White Ivy publishes 11.3.2020.



5/5 Stars

Very interesting book about a Chinese immigrant family and how they create a new life in America. Each family member has a different experience and it is interesting to see how each views their new life and what the outcome is. The main character, Ivy, ends up entering into Boston society while still keeping one foot in her old world and her reaction to that kind of life is interesting to watch. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC. From the beginning, this book drew me in. The characters and the writing were excellent. It was interesting to follow Ivy as she grew up, and see how her past affected her. I liked how her past caught up with her. I was sorry that the way things were 'wrapped up' at the ended up being meh and unsatisfying. Based on what we know about Ivy, it wasn't surprising, but I feel like it al could have been better and less pat.
I did enjoy the writing and would read another book by Susie Yang.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to read this title before its publication date.

White Ivy has a pretty simple premise: young immigrant Ivy goes to private school on scholarship where she develops a crush on one of her classmates, Gideon. But after her family moves away she assumes she'll never see him again. As a adult she is able to reconnect with Gideon and his family, essentially lying and (literally) cheating to try to become the high class trophy wife she's always wanted to be.

I wanted to like this and I think I went into it thinking it would be darker. By the time it got "dark" I think I was just ready for the story to be over. Even though this was less than 400 pages it took me foreverrrr to get through. Nothing was ever really compelling me to pick it up. The writing was great but the story just lacked something for me. I think this definitely leans more into literary fiction than "suspense/mystery" which was what I originally thought.

The things I loved about this was the complicated relationships between Ivy and the members of her immigrant Chinese family as well as the commentary on immigration itself, Chinese culture (Ivy does go to China for a time in the book as a teen and sees a few different sides to life there), the stain of "new money", success, class, and status. I hear a lot of readers complain if characters are not likable so just as a warning going in: this book does not have a single likable character. Which is fine with me, but just as a heads-up for those who need to find at least someone likable or relatable to enjoy a story.

3/5 stars

While the pacing of this book was a little slow for me, I loved the coming of age tale and the absolutely beautiful writing. A great glimpse into life as a Chinese American.

When we first meet Ivy she is a young girl, obsessed with well-to-do classmates and yearning for lives like theirs. She lies and steals to get what she wants and as she grows she never really changes. Her desires just get bigger and the lengths to which she’ll go to get them do too. This one is going to take a little while to process, as normally I would be disgusted by Ivy’s character hut for some reason I just really feel for her.

Another brilliant entry in the literary thriller genre. Susie Yang is an excellent writer and slowly lets us into Ivy’s life and head which are often at odds in a slowly building plot questioning white privilege, family and love. I loved the generational story of the women in Ivy’s family and could have stayed in that aspect of the novel for ever. The plot has other plans and takes us into other difficult and different directions. Ivy is often headstrong, deceptively making right and wrong, choices and Is often so flawed, she would be unlikable in another writers arms but we stay firmly in her corner no matter what. And there’s a lot that matters in this book. Ivy creeps up on you.

Despite not being what I expected from reading the description, White Ivy was a decent read. I originally anticipated more of a coming-of-age novel, however the bulk of the story focuses on Ivy's adult life. While the novel left a good impression of author Susie Yang's writing—she seems to be a wonderful storyteller—I was not particularly fond of Ivy as a character. However, I understand that this is how Ivy is written to be, and I do believe that the author's writing is quite good.

On another note, I really enjoyed the author's incorporation of tidbits of Chinese culture. Ivy's heritage added a refreshing dimension to the story that I have not experienced in many other books.

Overall, this was an engaging read that I would recommend to anyone looking for something a little different!

Ivy is not white -she is Asian. Born in China, brought to America at 5 years, she soon learns that the right answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" is "a doctor." But Ivy turns all of the Asian stereotypes on their heads-she's not terribly smart, she's not driven, she's not too excited about marrying a Chinese guy...and she smokes like a chimney. Ivy does have a goal, which is to marry her childhood idol Gideon Speyer-who is as WASPy as they come. While Gideon is rather aloof but kindly, the guy that really knows her theiving conniving ways is Roux, another boy from her past, and he is dangerous. So how does she resolve this dilemna-both men want her but for entirely different reasons. Will she get what she wants or does she get what she deserves? An amazing read!

Ivy is a fantastic character. As a child she’s a squirrely misfit who learns how to gain things in life through stealing. Specially stealing and cheating at thrift shops and garage sales where everything is already ridiculously cheap.

Her grandma teaches her how to shoplift reasoning that Americans don’t see value and that it’s somehow owned to them that they do. But it sets a theme throughout Ivy’s life. That she deserves things, whether she earns them or not. And it really kind of goes against her culture, not willing to work for things. But she finds ways to skirt through life. She makes bad decisions, but none really catch up with her. She’s scrappy and smart. And doesn’t really give AF.

She meets Gideon in junior high and he is every bit a teenage dream. And he finally notices Ivy. Until her parents humiliate her in front of him, send her for China to the summer, and move while she’s gone.

A chance meeting years later, brings Gideon back into her life. And while a lot has changed and Ivy has grown up, a lot hasn’t changed. White Ivy is a fascinating book to read.

And I totally didn’t realize that it wasn’t just a book, but kind of a re-telling of a proverb. And if you really think about it, what does an ivy do? It clings to wood or stone, hiding the ruins of what it feeds upon.

White Ivy is a gem. And finding an amazing debut novel is just like finding a treasured jewel. I look forward to more from Susie Yang. Special thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a free e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out November 3. My review will be published to my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on October 9, 2020.

This was an interesting book, hard to pin down. For one, Ivy is horribly unlikeable but at the same time understandable. In a way, I'd have liked to learn more about her parents and brother but keeping them on the periphery so that only Ivy's skewed view of Nan and Shen is the one we mostly get until the latter part of the novel. Gideon was so one dimensional but I imagine that was the point; a projection of a person rather than one at all. Actually the entire book was characters like that: everyone pretending to be someone else while convincing themselves that they were at least honest when looked at in the mirror and even then it was a lie. Fascinating really, a good debut and promise for the writer. It's telling when you dislike every character and figure out most of what is happening and still need to finish it and feel satisified when you do

Susie Yang's White Ivy is a captivating debut novel. It's a story about two cultures. It's an immigrant's story. It's a story of jealousy and wanting what you cannot have. It's a story of desire. It's a story of consumption.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Lots of twists and turns - not exactly what I expected from reading the summary of the book - that being said, still an excellent read! Really made me think, which is a pretty cool thing for a book to allow the reader to do.

This book wasn't what I originally anticipated, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. It was less twisty and turn-y (although there was plenty of that) and more an exploration of the reasons behind the twists and turns. My problems with most conventional "thrillers" is that the characters are unrealistic and shallow, but that could not be said for any of the main characters in this book. I love that this was more of a deep dive into the histories that drive people's decisions and the unmet desires that lead to desperate people. The main character of this book wasn't necessarily likeable or smart, but I empathized with her and could understand where she was coming from. I loved the look into her family history and the experiences that shared her and her family. This was a thrilling book that read more like literary fiction, and felt equal parts character and plot driven. There were comments on classism, immigration, wealth, and marriage throughout.

Susie Yang's debut effort is a very well written, dark and provocative story using themes of privilege, shame and deception. I loved the way Yang employed social-economic background and culture to frame the characters and how she wrote the main character Ivy as a flawed, but granted her agency which made for interesting reading contemplating her motivation and actions.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and offer an honest review. Congratulations to Susie Yang on her debut and I really look forward to reading more by her!