Scan barcode
A review by deedireads
White Ivy by Susie Yang
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
White Ivy is a sharp, almost dark, and surprising book about a woman who will go to any lengths to get what she wants. Dramatic yet honest, it also has an ending that will drop your jaw.
For you if: You like contemporary novels that bring the drama and aren’t afraid to point out uncomfortable truths.
FULL REVIEW:
Big thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me an advanced review copy!
White Ivy is an impressive debut, and I enjoyed it even though it isn’t the type of book I typically read. I don’t tend to gravitate toward dramatic contemporary novels featuring unlikeable characters who make terrible choices lol. But here, Susie Yang takes that kind of story and stares at you from the pages while she’s telling it, never looking away even when you break eye contact. She finds the squirmiest moments of social norms and expectations and says them bluntly, which is somehow both refreshing and even more squirmy. It was fascinating.
The story is about a girl named Ivy, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who just desperately wants to break away from them. After a somewhat rebellious childhood, she’s reconnected with her rich grade-school crush years later, and they start dating. It’s everything she’s ever wanted. Or is it? Can she have life both ways? Ivy will do, say, and become whatever it takes to get what she wants, even if she doesn’t always know what that is. The book is about class and desire and family and social norms, and the simultaneous adherence to and rebellion against all those things.
I won’t say that I didn’t waver a few times in the middle, wondering if this book was for me, given how sort of terrible Ivy and some of the secondary characters are. But I’m really glad I pushed through to the end, because THAT ENDING. There was one part I definitely couldn’t have seen coming that dropped my jaw, swiftly followed by something that I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t see coming.
If you read for enjoyment/plot alone and don’t like to read about unlikeable characters, then I’m not sure this one is for you. But if you seek out books that do really interesting things from a character and storytelling perspective, and you’re willing to hang in there to experience it and see it pay off, then I recommend it.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Sexual harassment; Depression; Suicidal thoughts (brief); Fat phobia
TL;DR REVIEW:
White Ivy is a sharp, almost dark, and surprising book about a woman who will go to any lengths to get what she wants. Dramatic yet honest, it also has an ending that will drop your jaw.
For you if: You like contemporary novels that bring the drama and aren’t afraid to point out uncomfortable truths.
FULL REVIEW:
Big thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me an advanced review copy!
White Ivy is an impressive debut, and I enjoyed it even though it isn’t the type of book I typically read. I don’t tend to gravitate toward dramatic contemporary novels featuring unlikeable characters who make terrible choices lol. But here, Susie Yang takes that kind of story and stares at you from the pages while she’s telling it, never looking away even when you break eye contact. She finds the squirmiest moments of social norms and expectations and says them bluntly, which is somehow both refreshing and even more squirmy. It was fascinating.
The story is about a girl named Ivy, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who just desperately wants to break away from them. After a somewhat rebellious childhood, she’s reconnected with her rich grade-school crush years later, and they start dating. It’s everything she’s ever wanted. Or is it? Can she have life both ways? Ivy will do, say, and become whatever it takes to get what she wants, even if she doesn’t always know what that is. The book is about class and desire and family and social norms, and the simultaneous adherence to and rebellion against all those things.
I won’t say that I didn’t waver a few times in the middle, wondering if this book was for me, given how sort of terrible Ivy and some of the secondary characters are. But I’m really glad I pushed through to the end, because THAT ENDING. There was one part I definitely couldn’t have seen coming that dropped my jaw, swiftly followed by something that I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t see coming.
If you read for enjoyment/plot alone and don’t like to read about unlikeable characters, then I’m not sure this one is for you. But if you seek out books that do really interesting things from a character and storytelling perspective, and you’re willing to hang in there to experience it and see it pay off, then I recommend it.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Sexual harassment; Depression; Suicidal thoughts (brief); Fat phobia
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicidal thoughts