White Ivy
By Susie Yang

White Ivy by Susie Yang is a fabulous debut and a fantastic coming-of-age contemporary fiction with a complex character that you will enjoy reading about. I enjoyed the lyrical writing that explored Chinese American culture and appreciated all the details and nuances in this book as an #ownvoice reviewer – these were really fun to pick up on. The story explores being a young woman raised by very Chinese immigrant family as she finds herself seemingly in between two very different worlds and trying to succeed in both.
Thank you @librofm and Simon & Schuster for the ALC – all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed White Ivy although it was hard to like any of the characters. It was well written and even though I didn't necessarily like Ivy, I found myself invested in her story. I took a star off for the ending - it was predictable and another element (that I don't want to spoil) seemed like overkill and lacked explanation.

White Ivy by @susieyyang is a classic coming of age in an immigrant family story. We catch up with Ivy, who recently moved from China to Boston, and was taught at a young age to shoplift and steal but her grandmother. Her father gets a good job at an elite prep school and Ivy gets to there. But she has a very difficult time fitting in. This is the basic theme of the book. Ivy’s always the one on the outside.

In grade school, Ivy develops a crush on Gideon, a blond hunk whose father is a senator. She sneaks around to see him more and everntually her parents catch her. Her parents send her to her cousin’s in China and when she is away, they move the family to NJ. Ivy moves to Boston for college and stays there when she runs into Gideon’s sister and finagles her way into a party where she connects with Gideon again. The story follows the rest of Ivy’s life and her relationship with Gideon.

The book starts a little slow, but I found the look into Chinese American culture fascinating. The different ways they parents their daughter and their son were really compelling to me. I found the meeting of Gideon’s parents and Ivy’s parents to be one of the highlights of the book.

The genre of this character driven novel has been a little incorrectly categorized as a thriller and I would disagree. I would call this more contemporary fiction or even women’s fiction. The twist at the end sort of puts it in the thriller area, but wouldn’t call this a thriller.

I read multiple books at a time, picking up whichever suits my particular mood when I have a chance to read. White Ivy made me put down everything else.

It's difficult to explain White Ivy, because the layers -- having to do with class, race, gender, heritage both cultural and familial -- are so deeply intertwined you could.write an encyclopedia's worth of literary interpretation on the novel and still not be bored. If that sounds boring, that's only because I lack the formidable authorial powers of Susie Yang. You could not be bored reading this book. Ivy is an anti-hero, the narrative subversive. Crushed under a variety of family myths and familial oppression, she's driven by the combination of a desperate longing for material wealth and a certainty in her own lowness to lead a double life. Paranoia and guilt seep from the underhanded one to the bright, false one she hungers for but cannot make true. The repercussions of family rot, rotting outward, turn up in her and her counterpart, the infuriatingly good and opaque Gideon, her high school crush-turned-fiance, for whom she lusts symbolically.

When the pace suddenly changes from slow coming-of-age story to thriller in the final act, we see that Ivy has never been wrong about herself -- yet she finds a way to triumph, and we can't help being in awe. Utterly delectable. Top 3 fiction releases of 2020!

The story follows Ivy Lin born in China to parents who left her behind while she was young to live with her grandmother and moved to the US. Once they were settled they sent for her and her grandmother; and by then her parents had another baby, her brother Austin.. ⁣
Ivy is basically a little thief her entire childhood, stealing all the things she wants that her parents will not give her.. oh her grandmother was the one who taught her how to steal and not get caught.. ⁣
Ivy when in middle school had this massive crush on Gideon Speyer a very well off boy.. ⁣
Ivy befriends Roux a boy just like her who loves to steal and get into trouble and someone she gives her virginity too..⁣
Years later when Ivy is gown and is now a teacher she runs into Gideon's sister who reconnects Ivy with Gideon.. but the world is super small and she is also reconnected with Roux who is now a millionaire and is dating Gideon's sister.. ⁣
Ivy soon finds herself in a love triangle because she starts dating Gideon and sleeping with Roux; but Roux honestly loves her even if their relationship is dysfunctional.. ⁣
An ultimatum is finally given to Ivy from Roux after she and Gideon are set to be married, she is to tell Gideon about the affair, but can Ivy who is still desperately greedy deep down in her soul do that and risk losing everything she has always wanted with Gideon? ⁣
I so badly want to tell you how this amazing books ends but it was totally mind blowing and I will not ruin that for anyone who has not read this book yet and wants to read it.. ⁣
What I have to say is that Suzie Yang totally blew my mind with this book.. I literally was left with my mouth gaping at the end.. ⁣
If this was on your #tbr list I hope you get to it soon.. ⁣

In this book we follow Ivy Lin, who is a questionable woman with even more questionable morals. Ivy Lin gets what she wants, when she wants it. Even if she doesn't deserve it.

I went into this book with the wrong intentions. I was under the impression that this book was going to be more along the lines of a dark thriller. However, it ended up being a sort of "coming of age" story with darker undertones.

I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I loved the first 35ish percent of it, and then from there my enjoyment kind of wavered. I would recommend this book to others, but wouldn't necessarily pitch it as an "obsession" story.

I've seen a lot of pre-publication press for this one - online, as a Book of the Month Club add-on for November and even featured in People magazine - so I was definitely curious to dive in and see for myself what all the hubbub was about! Narrator and main character, Ivy Lin, makes for an interesting heroine/antiheroine. Her story is part coming-of-age, part immigrant experience literature, part love story and a big dash of thrilling tension - the latter half of the book kept me ready WAY late into the night (okay, early morning!). I absolutely could not put it down, even when I just new what Ivy was going to do next while hoping that she wouldn't... the book made me twist around in the covers, felt sick to my stomach but my eyes stayed glued to the pages!

Yang's debut novel is a downright impressive one - and certainly deserving of its pre-publication reputation! All of the characters really spring to life - even when they are not at their most likable. And as for Ivy herself, the book opens setting her up as an anti-heroine - the first line decrees her to be a thief and a liar - both learned traits from her upbringing. But despite all of her flaws, Ivy remains sympathetic - even when she's at her worst, it's hard not to root for her (and seriously, she makes all the wrong choices!!) I really wanted things to go a different way... and though the ending twist is a bit of a surprise, it's not really a total shock, either. I didn't want it to end quite honestly. And I am definitely going to be one the lookout for whatever Yang writes next! How exciting to discover a new author!

All her life, she had sought something she couldn't name. Love? Wealth? Beauty? But none of those things were exactly right. what she sought was peace. The peace of having something no one could take away from you.

This is a slow burn, suspenseful, character study yet coming of age novel all rolled into one. Ivy Lin is a Chinese American that wants nothing more than the American dream but she doesn't really want to work in order to earn it. She would like it handed to her lovingly.

Back in school she had a crush on Gideon the all American heart throb that came from a wealthy family. Years later she is reunited with Gideon and she isn't going to let him out of her life a second time. She will steal his heart one way or another.

Ivy was a complicated character that begs you to keep turning the pages. Even Ivy herself can hardly stand to look at herself in the mirror in fear of the monster that is gazing back. I especially enjoyed the scenes between Ivy and Roux her childhood friend from the same poor neighborhood that she can't seem to break ties with.

Susie Yang penned a cunning tale of love and deceit and what is more impressive is that this is her debut novel. Highly recommend! 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster the digital ARC.

Ivy’s parents have emigrated to the US from China, and after living with her grandmother, whose moral compass is slightly askew, she and Ivy move to the US also. A sense of situational morality appears to be a constant in the women of the family and they are remorseless in their quest for their goals.

*Disclaimer* I received a complement copy of this book from this publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

—————

Susie’s way with words is impeccable. I will for sure be reading more from her in the future.

Desperation is a running theme of this book. Ivy, her mother, Gideon, and maybe even Gideon’s parents. In a way, the book has a bit of a slow start, but it’s worth the investment of time. Each character is given enough complexity for the book to not be fully predictable; of course, Ivy’s is most dynamic.

The weaving of 2nd generation immigrant struggles and desire to attain what she sees as ideal whiteness never came across disjointed. The full story of her parents’ reality later on in the story was well-timed. I won’t go so far as to say that I think there should be a sequel, but I’d be interested in the Speyers lives for the same timeline — mainly because of the revelation at the end (that I should have seen coming!).

An addictive, but often confusing and haphazard, wallop of a debut novel. Yang certainly makes a splash with a twisty, unlikable character in Ivy who eschews her immigrant Chinese family for a life she thinks she deserves instead: married to a rich, yet aloof yuppie man who she has had a crush on since elementary school. This book is pretty nuts, and the ending completely threw a wrench into my thoughts about the book as a whole. Interesting and savvy, would like to see what else Susie Yang has up her sleeves!

Such a tense & riveting coming-of-age novel. I have issues with the marketing around this: it's not a thriller, it's not about Ivy sinking her claws into a family; it's about a young immigrant girl, bristling against the constraints of both societies. Straddling the line between her American and Chinese backgrounds, never fully comfortable in either. It's about Ivy chafing against the class lines in her town and school, and the impact that has on her adulthood. It's smart, and incredibly tense, and all sorts of sad, but with moments of levity. Ivy isn't really likable, but she's so well written that you root for her anyway. The author did a great job of capturing the endless anxiety of Ivy's mind, By the end, I was really rooting for Ivy to get what she thinks she deserves from the world, even through her highly questionable decisions.

White Ivy is definitely a slow burn kind of novel. I had a little bit of a hard time getting into the story, as I didn’t feel very connected with young Ivy. There is a point in the book where things pick up and it really grabs your attention.

I found the history of Ivy’s Chinese American family to be very interesting. I enjoyed the stories of her family and how her parents came to be together. I think the very definition of the story is that you think you know how things are going and then you soon realize that you don’t.

I found Ivy to be completely unlikable. I still found myself hoping she’d make better choices and ultimately redeem herself. As a whole, there really isn’t any characters that I truly did like. This, however, didn’t take away from the story. Instead, I found myself oddly fascinated with them. The ending was where things really picked up. Overall, I enjoyed this novel.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIWeyR9BG2o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Instagram review with 110 likes.

literaryvagabond's profile picture

literaryvagabond
While not one to dish advice on love stories, I do recommend two literary leaning books that bridge the thriller genre with fresh takes on Bronté and Austen love triangles.
📕
Moreno-Garcia’s 6th novel is part Northanger Abbey and part Shirley Jackson’s haunted house. The setting at a Mexican village mansion-on-the -hill provides not only new vibes to the gothic genre, but erotic dreams to Noemi, the naive but tough minded feminist protagonist. As page-turning as it is, Susie Yang’s debut novel White Ivy is better
📗
—better writing, skillfully plotted, deeper character anxiety, and profoundly adept at weaving the immigrant envy of the Gatsby-esque rich.
Ivy Lin is a complicated klepto-hero as she moves from public school to private to work, possibly in love with two men but artfully shielding secrets as things descend into a Talented Mr. Ripley denouement. Impressive.
📙
Interesting that they have similar cropped-at-the-bridge-of-the-nose covers. Different dust jacket designers. Thanks to NetGalley for #whiteivy
.
.
.
#netgalley #netgalleyreview
#mexicangothic #susanyang #bookjacketcovers #bestbooks2020
3w

White Ivy is one of those books where you don't like any of the characters but the plot makes sense and you have to see it through until the end. Ivy's obsession with Gideon, a former crush, is almost far-fetched until you examine her other facets and realize that she has nothing going for her; she has a strained relationship with her family, no real friends, and no career ambition. The complete lack of a normal life is what irritated me about this character whilst simultaneously rooting for her. Overall, I liked this book.

This was an an interesting book that kept my attention overall however I did feel that it dragged a bit and I found myself skimming in the middle. I enjoyed the characters and their dynamics with each other. The ending was well written also.

Intriguing story line, the characters were well developed and I found each of them annoying and despicable. The author drew me in with deep backstories that were steeped in culture. As events unfolded I was surprised at times with the twists and turns.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

read this book with great anticipation. some of the writing was interesting. so many books now are about the wrong that happens in a character's early life. it is what you do with your adult life is what matters. much say the violence the main character endued was an eye opener. also the untimely death of another character was shocking in that it was not expected. will be anxious to read this author's second book.

A love triangle with a twist: none of the characters, including the narrator, are likeable, and yet one feels compelled to keep reading because they are each unlikable in particular, interesting ways. Although the novel could delve more deeply into the ways in which race, gender, sexuality and class intersect, there are set pieces (visits to family summer cottages, shopping/stealing in Goodwill) that are very well told. Warning--this is not a redemption tale.

This started off with intrigue, but it ultimately felt like the story went nowhere. We learned so much about Ivy and her motivations and family which seemed unnecessary given the lack of reasoning behind the storytelling. It was an interesting novel, but it seemed like there were just random occurrences here and there without a coherent flow. The novel just fell a bit flat for me, so I’ll rate it 3 ⭐️ stars.