White Ivy

This is a difficult book to read and a difficult one to write about. Immigration is a conversation filled with the meeting of differences and those are hard to talk about, especially when I’m not an immigrant myself.

White Ivy was a phenomenal read that challenged me to think about how the worlds we grow up in help us to determine our choices in life. I grew up Canadian, and therefore I make choices that make sense for my world and the culture of that world. Ivy Lin, the main character of this novel and a Chinese immigrant, is born in China but leaves for America early in her life. She grows up surrounded by the juxtaposition of her family and the world outside her family, which leads her to make a variety of decisions I’ve never found myself having to think about.

I enjoyed this novel so much. It was thrilling and cringy and meaningful. The bizarre situations that Ivy finds herself in never get old and are always incredibly unpredictable. Ivy is one of those people that I feel envious of for her resourcefulness in all these decisions. I flew through so many emotions whilst reading this novel, all of them strong and deep. It threw me off-guard so many times, but even after every twist and turn, the ending made me smile.

Many of the themes in this book relate to themes in the memoirs I’ve read from women who have immigrated to America from other countries. Many of these women find that the expectations of their families are very different from the expectations of the society they are growing up in. This novel does that and so much more through the eyes of the unique and daring Ivy Lin.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a unique and diverse read that will be both exciting and shocking. You can find this book through Goodreads – there are links on the book’s page to where you can buy a copy – or you can try and find it through your local library or independent bookstore.

Novels like White Ivy continue to help me understand the world from a very different perspective from my own and I believe that that is how this world will change: by understanding each other. By reading about the experiences of others and listening to them tell their own stories.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 out of 5

Special thanks to Goodreads for hosting the giveaway where I got this Advanced Reader’s Copy. More special thanks to Simon & Schuster and Susie Yang.

I’ve tried to write this review a few times and it’s been difficult. I apologize for this post being later than expected, but I wanted to get it right.