Book Review: White Ivy by Susie Yang

Book: 134/150

Rating: 3.5/5

Ivy Lin is Chinese-American and has always longed to climb up the social ladder, ever since she was a little girl growing up with her immigrant family just outside of Boston. She will lie, cheat and steal (as taught by her grandmother when she was young) to get there, and because no one expects someone as “nice” and “proper” as Ivy to act like that, she gets away with it. Until Roux, her childhood friend who resurfaces in her mid-twenties who is the only one who knows what she is really like. Will Roux blow up the world (aka her new fiancé) that Ivy has tried so hard to build up for herself?

It has been a really long time since I’ve felt this conflicted about a book - which in my case means I enjoyed it because I’m still thinking about it long after I read it. Since I didn’t really like or care about any of the characters (which to be fair, is what I think was the author’s intention), it was the addictive writing that kept me reading. I think if you’re into slow burn, character focussed books then you may enjoy this one.

Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster Canada for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This coming of age immigrant experience is unlike others I’ve read and has me thinking about it long after flipping the final page.