White Ivy by Susie Yang was widely heralded as one of the best books of 2020, chosen by Jenna Bush Hager as her November book pick and earning a spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. Here, we review the breakout hit novel and give our thoughts. Pick up a copy of White Ivy here.
Without a doubt, there has been a newly burgeoning fascination with con artists – in particular female culprits and those hiding in plain sight; Anna Delvey, Caroline Calloway and Elizabeth Holmes. These wide-eyed, un-nerving ‘heroines’ are traced at the edges of the titular character in Susie Yang’s 2020 novel White Ivy. Ivy is the daughter of Chinese immigrants to America, who struggles to find her place in society, starting off shoplifting in high school and drifting through life as a teacher, while having an unnerving fascination for glitz and glamour. By chance, she meets the sister of her childhood crush, Gideon and pursues him with a vengeance – infiltrating his social circle and absorbing herself into the fabric of his family and social set. When Roux – the boy to whom she lost her virginity – by happenstance, re-enters her life, Ivy’s newly created persona is thrown into jeopardy, although she herself is continually drawn back to Roux.
It was unnerving to be placed inside the head of a protagonist who feels so devoid of emotion, so selfishly intent on her own upward trajectory, but Susie Yang has accomplished a masterstroke in her ability to create simultaneously a deeply unlikeable but also intoxicatingly interesting heroine. It is little wonder that the book is now being developed into a series for Netflix, by none other than Shonda Rhimes – the book fits squarely within the modern preoccupation with crime, con artists and problematic characters and it is this dark underbelly to the story that makes it so propulsive.
