A review by thenovelmaura
White Ivy by Susie Yang

dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Booksta friend told me before this book was even released that I would like it, and she was right! I had a great time reading about someone who was so much more real than she was likeable. At first I thought Ivy was manipulative, and those who label her as such aren't wrong. It seems more accurate to describe her as an expert at reading people and acting in ways they wanted so that she could be liked. Although she did sometimes use this skill to get her way, I felt she was as much a victim to this oppressive need to be adored as her targets were. Maybe this sympathetic view came easier to me because of the initial chapters where we're told how Ivy wanted to be white and wanted to be pretty (because you can't have one without the other) in her majority-white school, pre-adolescent feelings I recognized all too well. It was brilliant how Yang started with Ivy's childhood so that the reader could see how this vibrant, flawed being came into existence.

Anyway, I definitely don't condone all of Ivy's choices, but they made for a fascinating story. And the audiobook was very well-done, too. Yang is a talented author and I can hardly believe this is her debut!
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