A review by abookie
White Ivy by Susie Yang

3.0

The first half about Ivy growing up as a Chinese immigrant was the best part. It was the thing the drew me into the story and kept me there. Ivy’s need to be close to whiteness or what’s American was fascinating. Once Ivy got older, it went downhill. The synopsis talks about how Ivy is unlikeable and sinks her claws into Gideon and that’s not true. She is manipulative by lying and embellishing her life but that’s it. I wish Yang made different choices when it comes to how Ivy weasels her way into Gideon’s life. I felt like it could have been more gritty and she could’ve done more devious acts to make him and his family like her. We do get some of that grit in the later half, but it just doesn’t connect with me because it doesn’t feel earned. If Ivy was ruthless about keeping a certain type of life (perfect marriage and a good relationship with Gideon) than killing Roux makes sense. But Gideon never loved her like that and deep down Ivy knew that so as a reader I’m wondering what Ivy is trying to protect. Ivy was almost too tame for me. Everyone else was boring and didn’t have a personality but for the purpose of this story it makes sense. The second half was predictable especially the twists. It was almost too obvious. It was like Yang was hitting the reader over the head. As soon as the photos appeared I knew Gideon’s secret and when Ivy changed her hair I knew hers. Nothing was subtle about the thriller aspects of the book