Ivy Lin sees your model-minority assumptions, and uses them to win.

Susie Yang explodes the myth in White Ivy, her white-hot debut novel about one woman’s desperate quest for wealth and acceptance.

Entertainment Weekly, Lithub, Crime Reads and plenty of other publications put this book on their “most anticipated” lists for fall. The Center For Fiction longlisted it for their First Novel prize. Today’s Jenna Bush Hager tapped it for Jenna’s Book Club, and Shonda Rhimes won the adaptation rights for a Netflix miniseries.

We first meet Ivy as a child, learning to shoplift with her grandmother, Meifeng.

“No one ever suspected – and that made her reckless,” Yang writes in White Ivy. “Her features were so average and nondescript that the brain only needed a split second to develop a complete understanding of her: skinny Asian girl, quiet, overly docile around adults in uniforms. She had a way of walking, shoulders forward, chin tucked under, arms barely swinging, that rendered her invisible in the way of pigeons and janitors.”

Ivy struggles with profound insecurities. She laments her life in suburban Boston with her immigrant parents, especially compared with those of her classmates at posh Grove Preparatory Day School, where her father fixes the computers and she gets free tuition. As a teen, Ivy deploys her shoplifting skills at the big-box stores in town to acquire items her parents would never consider: lip gloss, tampons, a diary with a gold-tone lock.

Only Roux, a neighbor of modest means and a fellow rule-breaker, sees Ivy for who she really is.

Her thieving is just a warm-up. Gideon Speyer is the golden-boy classmate of Ivy’s literal dreams. Gideon has the effortless status Ivy covets, and he’s one of the few at school who’s nice to her. Years later, she’s an elementary-school teacher when she runs into Gideon’s sister, and eventually Gideon himself. The golden boy has grown into a thoughtful, kind man, and Ivy begins a calculated courting that eventually veers into crimes far beyond theft.

Yang, a former tech exec who pitched White Ivy as an Asian-American House of Mirth, is intensely interested in class and wealth. Ivy dissects her rich classmates — what they wear, where they vacation, what they eat, how many houses they have. Dispatched as a teen to spend the summer in China with relatives, Ivy aspires to be like her aunt Sunrin, who blithely whips out a gold AMEX to buy clothes and souvenirs.

“Awash in the rich peripheral glow of her aunt’s money, Ivy felt she and Sunrin were alike, with the same tastes, opinions and expectations, and that Sunrin’s generosity was her own, there was hardly any difference between them all.”

Ivy equates wealth with much more than cash. Roux reappears later in the novel as an adult who’s made money, but his flashy demeanor falls beneath Ivy’s aspirations, if not her libido. For her, true wealth confers a deep sense of belonging. It’s an identity that feels perpetually out of reach.

Yang’s deft portrait of this troubled young woman is hypnotizing, from her stubborn refusal to admit vulnerability to her steely march towards her goal.

“She had long ago realized that the truth wasn’t important, it was the appearance of things that would serve her,” Ivy thinks, redoubling her plans to transform. “Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.”

need some of my book loving friends to read this strong debut novel, White Ivy, by Susie Yang. I’m really conflicted on how I feel about this book. On one hand, I really loved reading about the Chinese immigrant experience and the complicated relationship between the generations of women in her family. Her grandmother, Meifeng was my absolutely favorite character! I would love to read another novel about her life. When we first meet Ivy, we feel sorry for her and how she always felt like an outsider. She was one of only two Chinese girls at a fancy prep school who was so desperate to be accepted. As she gets older, we feel less sympathetic as we watched her morph into one of the mean girls she both envied and despised from school. Throughout the book she was embarrassed and wanted to distance herself from her family, but at least they were willing to work hard for the life they wanted. It worried me to read about her brother, Austin, who obviously needed treatment for his depression, but I understand there are cultural norms that may keep persons from seeking help outside of the family. I cringed waiting to see how far Ivy would go to protect her ambitions and lifestyle. She became very unlikeable. I would entertain a debate about whether she was ultimately a victim or criminal? The last chapters of the book had twists that I did not see coming. In the end, maybe no one is truly the person they want the world to see. Highly recommend so we can talk about this one! Thank you #netgalley for an advanced reader copy. #whiteivy #SusieYang #simonandschuster

In White Ivy Susie Yang explores the world of a Chinese immigrant family and Ivy, a young woman in this family, trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants. We follow her throughout her restless years. I had some difficulty understanding Ivy and her actions and reactions. The book is good, but it didn’t sing to me.

4.5 ⭐

"White Ivy", by Susie Yang is a stellar debut novel. It is a book that I compulsively read and could not put down. Its protagonist is Ivy Lin, a Chinese-American woman who immigrated from China to the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts at a very young age alongside her family. Throughout her childhood and teen years she yearns to be like her white classmates and despises her family and her surroundings. She is taught to shoplift by her maternal grandmother, and she uses that "skill" to get herself items that she otherwise wouldn't have access to, to try to create an image of herself closer to the one she envisions. She becomes infatuated with Gideon, a wealthy classmate at her school, but after an embarrassing incident, she loses touch with him, Through happenstance she meets Gideon again as an adult, and pursues the chance she has at the life she once wanted to have with him at all costs.

It is very hard to categorize "White Ivy" as a specific book genre. It is part coming-of-age story and part immigrant-story, as we follow Ivy dealing with the hardships and struggles from her childhood to her adulthood. There is also a lurking suspense in the story, especially in the second half of the book, that makes "White Ivy" read as a thriller. The characters are complex, and shatter stereotypes. A bonus for me as a Romanian reader, was the character of Roux Roman, Ivy's childhood friend, who is a Romanian-American man. While I cannot say that I loved him as a character, I did love the inclusion of a Romanian-American character, which I haven't personally come across before unless I was reading a vampire book. Another aspect of the book I really loved was reading the section about Ivy's trip back to China to visit her relatives there. I've gotten so used to immigrant stories describing the home countries as impoverished and the people living there dreaming of the Western world, that reading about Ivy's crazy rich aunt and the rich China scene was both novel and refreshing. The pacing of the book, while it did lull a bit in the middle, made the story engaging and the characters, not only the main ones but also secondary ones, were very compelling. Things escalated so quickly towards the end, and when I thought I had everything figured out, the ending hit me out of nowhere, which is always a pleasant surprise.

I thoroughly enjoyed "White Ivy" and wholeheartedly recommend it to those seeking a darker type of coming of age story, or a different kind of immigrant story. As a side note, I also partly listened to the audiobook on Scribd as soon as the book came out, and the audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Emily Woo Zeller, is also phenomenal. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review. I can't wait to buy my own copy when I can get a version without a permanent sticker on the cover!

White Ivy has been making waves in the reading world, and it's easy to see why. What a whirlwind of a book!
It's dark, it's sad, it's poignant and just a little bit unhinged. Okay, a lot unhinged, but I love those types of stories!
Did I like any of the characters - no. Was I still addicted while Ivy kept making horrible decisions and excusing everything in her head in such a way that made me want to slap her? Yes!

It started off as a young adult and I was beyond skeptical, but the timeline kept flying and changing, and very soon it was oh so very adult, and keeping me on my toes and boy did I enjoy that.

And this is why Susie Yang is an author to watch out for. Not that I have recovered a bit from the book, I'm thinking that it gives the biggest Liz Nugent vibes! I wasn't ready for that, but now that I read it - I am a big, big fan.

The only reason I'm giving this 4 and not 5 stars, it's because I did guess the twist. Well, I had two ideas for it, and one came true, but my other idea would have made a much better, much shocking twist.

Highly recommend though. Will be looking out for more from Yang in the future for sure.

As I read this coming of age story I couldn't help but be reminded of The Great Gatsby, however unlike the Great Gatsby, it just didn't hold my interest. I never really could connect with the social climber Ivy.

I am struggling with how to rate this book - did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. I was able to grab a copy of this on Hoopla and I will preface that I totally zoned in and out multiple times so I think I missed some key parts, yet the storyline still made sense. I don't think I would suggest listening to this one - I wasnt invested and would totally have skimmed over certain sections if I was paying enough attention to do so.

Ivy is not a likeable character, so that was my biggest issue with the story. The reader follows along with her transition from a teenager to an adult, which I normally love, but I was bored 90% of the time. I wasn't really fighting for her happiness, mostly because she hurt the people she loved the most and liked a LOT.

The story could have been significantly shorter and while I appreciated the twist at the end, this is not a book that I consider a must read. I feel it was miscategorized as a mystery/thriller and because I had that genre in mind, this fell very flat for me.

Wow!!! This book kept me guessing right up until the end!! So many twists and turns.

Ivy wanted to belong with the in crowd and stole items that her parents would not spend money on for her. She goes to a sleep over party but tells her parents it is at another home. They show up the next morning at the house and embarrass her in front of all the kids. Ivy, years later meets Gideon again after his sister gets them back together. Ivy and Gideon end up getting married but not before Ivy kills someone and finds out Gideon is gay.

Thank you for an early copy of this great book.

When is one's future decided? Is it decided at birth? Is the future what you make of it? Ivy is not sure. She is raised mostly by her Chinese grandmother who teaches her to steal, cheat, do what it takes to make it in life. Her parents are hard workers who do not understand Ivy's unhappiness with what she has. What Ivey doesn't have as a young teen is the attention of Gideon. The perfect, blonde boy she pines for. Unfortunately, her parents have other plans when they move away. Is it fate that brings Gideon back into Ivy's life? What about the Roux who was her first in all from the old neighborhood? Ivy's world collide when both men reenter her life and offer her different lifestyles and loves. What I like about this book is that the author elicits emotion. The characters are not very likable, but I prefer that to not having any opinion or emotion about the characters.

White Ivy is the latest book pick from the #readwithjenna book club. I normally love her picks, so I eagerly picked this story up. It didn’t live up to the level of her other picks for me. ⁣
⁣
Ivy is a Chinese American who from a very young age learns to steal and take what she wants. She grew up in a poor family who sent her to a fancy private school where she met Gideon, the boy who would forever represent the epitome of perfection and success. And while the writing is good and there is an element of thrill to the book, the characters fell flat for me and there was never an element of surprise. ⁣
⁣
There was nothing about Ivy that I could relate to which would have worked for me if there were surprising elements to her character. I felt like the characters were stereotypes of characters rather than characters with depth. It effected the way I felt about the book and for me, it missed the mark

“White Ivy” is a coming-of-age story from the prizewinning Chinese American author, Susie Yang. The protagonist is Ivy Lin, a young girl who immigrates from China to Boston, Massachusetts. She has a hard time finding her way as a young elementary student and middle schooler. To create a sense of excitement, she learns to shoplift from her grandmother and her neighbor, Rouz. Her parents want her to stay away from Rouz, so she’s sent to a wealthy school on scholarship. Then suddenly, at age 14, Ivy is invited into a popular social circle by the crush-worthy Gideon Speye. But when Ivy is caught lying about a sleepover at Gideon's, and her parents find her diary, she’s sent to live in China with relatives.

Flash-forward to Ivy’s post-collegiate life and she reunites with Gideon unexpectedly. He admits she always seemed “different” and intriguing, and they become an item. Quickly she’s caught up in his wealth, all while dealing with her shame, lies and embarrassment.

Before we know it, the secrets of Ivy’s past come to haunt her. Can she keep her past and present from Gideon? Will she find herself and determine what she really wants? Or fall into the trap of wealth and prestige?

There’s an interesting twist at the end that just may leave you thinking about Ivy long after you finish the last chapter.


Special thanks to Simon & Schuster for sharing an electronic copy of this book, via NetGalley, in exchange my honest review.

Ivy Lin immigrated to the United States as a young girl to reunite with her parents who had gone ahead to get settled. Being a poor immigrant attending a wealthy school on the basis that her father worked there, she never felt like she fit in and struggled both academically and socially. After her grandmother moves in with her family, she learns to take what she wants. Being a demure attractive Asian girl, people don’t expect her to be a thief.

As a young adult, she’s living in Boston utterly bored and unsatisfied with her life as a school teacher. In a chance encounter, the aunt of one of her students turns out to be the sister of Ivy’s childhood crush. So begins Ivy’s quest to get herself into an advantageous marriage and a life of ease.

I was bored for the majority of this book. It took a while to get going especially since I went in expecting a thriller which it’s not. It’s more of a character study where the main drama takes place in Ivy’s head. I will say that the last quarter of the book was compulsively readable. Even though I saw the twists coming, I needed to know how it was going to end. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I admit I have a hard time enjoying books where I hate everyone. Ivy herself was very unlikeable and all the other characters were not well written or very interesting. Overall, it was a well written, but very weird book.

Twisted, disturbing, funny, shocking. This is a novel with an anti-heroine (not a spoiler; the dust jacket describes Ivy Lin as a liar and a thief). This is not a prototypical immigrant story of cultural assimilation but one that keeps Ivy’s Chinese heritage front and center (specifically, hard knock life lessons imparted by her grandmother and later, her mother, become Ivy’s roadmap for survival). Ivy is a cunning, self-centered girl who desperately wants (without fully realizing) a life of creature comforts and privilege. This is manifested in the existence of Gideon Speyer and his WASP family, pure upper crust breeding who fascinate Ivy and in turn, welcome her in with open arms. But a childhood friend- a deeply troubled boy turned Ivy’s first lover-pops up unexpectedly to put a wrench in Ivy’s perfect life with the Speyers. Ivy’s sense of self-control and awareness of right vs (serious) wrong disintegrates as the novel wears on. The ending few chapters will make you gasp and there are twists that many will not have seen coming. Overall, a definite page-turner and written with darkly comic wit. Impressive debut novel. I only gave it four stars as the lead character was too polarizing for me to care deeply about her or her fate.

Wow! What a story! I could not put this book down and read it in 2 days! A fabulous story that kept me on the edge of my seat! I followed the highs and lows along with Ivy. I have known plenty of Roux's in my life and I felt such empathy with her. The families had so many issues and Susie Yang has written a novel of immensity that is incredibly visual. I felt the heat and cold while reading about the mountains or the islands. This has got to be one of the best books of 2020. Thank you to Netgalley and
Simon and Shuster Publishing for the eGalley of White Ivy!!! What a fantastic book!

This is the story of Ivy, a Chinese immigrant in the US who desperately wants to assimilate and be like her wealthy white peers. While I think this story had a lot of promise, it ultimately didn't work for me. The timeline jumped around in ways that felt confusing, and by the end Ivy as a character was so unlikeable it was almost unrealistic. No spoilers but she makes a VERY QUESTIONABLE decision that just had me like ??????????
That said it was an interesting enough story. hence 3 stars.

This book was a remarkable character study of a complicated personality. Ivy Lin was not your typical immigrant nor was her story. I certainly couldn't put the book down and the suspense was palpable.. However, something was missing for me. Perhaps the constant disregard for anyone and the darkness that prevailed was a bit too much. Yet, if you can't stop reading, the author certainly has a way with words.

I don't even know where to start with this review because this debut novel has me all over the place. White Ivy was so much more complex than I expected with each character and the interactions between them heavily hung with thoughts unsaid and hidden motives. I won't lie, it took me a while to warm up to Ivy and I wasn't sure I even liked the story at first.

The longer I read though, the more connected I felt to her and the more desperately I wanted her to figure out what she herself wanted for herself, without all the trappings of family, society, race, and her own old dreams clogging the way. The last third of the novel really picked up the pace and I seriously couldn't set it down in the final sprint of chapters. I won't say I was surprised (the thriller reader in me gets a kick out of trying to solve plot riddles beforehand) but that didn't make the moments any less impactful. If anything it made the anticipation of watching Ivy carry out her plans that much more satisfying.

White Ivy is definitely unlike anything I've read this year and that is meant as a huge compliment. It's certainly a story and a protagonist that will stay with me a long time as I finished reading it days ago and am still enthralled by it. I'm not one to re-read books but this one I absolutely could because there's so much to take in. What a killer debut! I can't wait to see what else the author has in store for us readers in the future.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Thank you for sharing this title with me. I'm sure I'm going to be in the minority with my two stars. The writer knows how to write, but I was hoping for a story that produced more of a gripping tale. It was rather slow with a flat storyline. I didn't care for any of the characters and so I was not invested at all in their wayward lives.

Wow — this was an incredible read. White Ivy is the story of a young Chinese-American girl who grows into a selfish and amibitous young woman. It is a fascinating look at race and social class, with an emphasis on white privilege and what it means to be privileged and why that privilege is so alluring. I wanted to like Ivy as a character, but I honestly didn’t, as I felt she was incredibly self-centered and self-serving. Don’t look for redemption or pureness of heart in this novel — it is somewhat dark, at times almost gritty, and yet so true in its depictions and story that you can’t help but be awed by it. An incredible first novel, Yang has a way or presenting action in a paragraph and then ending with a sentence or two of analysis that gets right to the core of the emotion and motives of the characters.

Unforgettable — definitely will be on my top reads list of 2020.

Thank you for my review copy!

This book wasn’t anything like what I was expecting. On some level, I’m glad I went into it knowing very little about the plot because it allowed me to be surprised at each turn, and this book, while not long, manages to take you on a lot of them.

Ivy Lin is a fascinating narrator. She is unreliable, at times downright contemptible, and infuriating. But she’s a fighter, clawing to emerge from her parents’ struggles to escape poverty in China and their struggles to realize the American Dream. You sometimes want to strangle her, and sometimes want to cheer her on. She makes so many bad choices in the service of being who she thinks she should be, what her family holds her back from being—“White Ivy.”

Her idealization of Gideon Speyer, how much she wants to be with the image of him and his family, and the lengths that she’s willing to go to in order to keep that picture-perfect family, is a wild ride. And alongside of this, Ivy’s family comes into wealth and starts to be a family that fits Ivy’s image of what it means to be truly American.

This book defies characterization. It’s a coming of age story, for sure, and it’s a character study, but there’s definitely a thriller element that I wasn’t expecting infused in the second half of the book. The twists weren’t all that hard to see coming, but watching Ivy flail was fascinating and entertaining for sure. This book deals with how women hold families together and the illusion of the immigrant experience in America. I finished the book and said out loud, “that was a weird book, but not weird bad!” I can’t say I loved it, or even liked it when the characters are all so hard to root for, but for the last 1/3, I didn’t want to put it down.