This is one of those books that I feel does not fit nicely into any specific genre. Majority of readers seem to put this under the thriller / suspense category, but to be honest, despite the story having a few surprises (I would hardly call them “twists and turns”), there really wasn’t a whole lot of “suspense” in most of the narrative, at least from what I could see. If I had to categorize this, I would say that it goes best under contemporary fiction, since at its core, the story does explore many of the hot button issues that we see currently in our own society – issues such as immigration, wealth disparity between rich and poor, complicated family dynamics, assimilation versus cultural differences, social class and privilege, etc. For me in particular, there was a lot to unpack with this story, and as I sat down to write this review, I struggled with the realization that what I write here is barely going to scratch the surface of all the thoughts that went through my mind as I read. With fiction, I’m usually not a huge fan of highlighting passages while I read, as it breaks my flow and can be distracting at times, but with this book, I ended up highlighting a lot because so much of the story resonated with me. Many of the coming-of-age experiences that the main character, Ivy Lin, went through in the story were very similar to what I experienced as a Chinese-American girl who grew up in an immigrant household very much like Ivy’s. To be completely honest, I was actually floored by how much Ivy’s upbringing and family dynamics resembled my own, to the point that, as I was reading, I actually felt like I was reliving my own childhood all over again. Everything from the way the parents (and grandmother) behaved and acted, to the way Ivy interacted with them, the reactions of the friends around them, the pressure and stress associated with being a child of immigrants trying to navigate two different and often conflicting worlds while trying to understand her role in that world, the struggles with identity and trying to reconcile her family’s expectations with society’s cultural dissonance, right down to the feelings that Ivy struggled with throughout the story and how all of it ended up impacting her in a big way – all of it was familiar to me because so much of it was a lived experience for me (and for many of my Chinese friends as well).
With all that said, I do have put in a bit of a disclaimer here, as I approached this book very differently than most other readers probably did. Having some form of personal connection to a story can change the way that story is read and experienced, which, for me, proved to be absolutely true with this book. While most others likely approached this story more from the perspective of a plot-driven thriller, I came at it from a completely different perspective: I read this more from the perspective of it being a coming-of-age immigrant story, which meant that the plot was secondary in that it was merely a way for me to understand this character of Ivy and why she ended up doing the things she did. Of course, this by no means excuses Ivy’s actions or behavior or the fact that she deserves to be disliked because of not just her manipulative, deceitful ways, but also what she does to “fix” some of the mistakes she made. In choosing to focus on the “why” – specifically, the aspects of Ivy’s upbringing and the reality of her circumstances that undoubtedly played a role in the flawed person she became -- it allowed me to approach the character of Ivy with a sentiment that probably many others who also read this book would not have felt: sympathy. This is a sympathy bred from my familiarity with the upbringing and immigrant story that the author is trying to tell through Ivy (and her family). On a personal level, I know how it feels to grow up in a household where you are constantly reminded, day in and day out, that your parents gave up a life of comfort and familiarity in their home countries to move across continents, to a place that is foreign and where they don’t know the language, where the culture is completely (and in some instances, shockingly) different, where their talents back home can’t be utilized and they are viewed as second-class citizens, etc. – all of these sacrifices are because they want you, their child/children, to have a good future and hopefully live a better life than they did. I understand, intimately in fact, the tremendous pressure and stress from having to constantly strive to meet these expectations while trying to navigate how to fit in to a society that isn’t exactly accepting of you either. I also understand the constant uphill battle (a never-ending struggle that lasts your entire life) to reconcile your culture with the reality of your circumstances and the realization that, no matter how hard you try, it will never be enough, and you will find yourself forever straddling that precarious line between two clashing identities.
Further than just shared experiences though, I also resonated with Ivy from an emotional perspective. When it came to the feelings that Ivy experienced at different points in her life, particularly as it related to her family and cultural upbringing -- feelings such as shame, confusion, embarrassment, loneliness guilt, fear, regret, etc. – it brought back memories of all the times throughout my life where I can recall feeling the same way. With all that said though, while I sympathized with Ivy, I also sympathized – perhaps even more deeply – with her younger brother Austin, who had such a minor role in the story, yet to me, the few scenes he was in and the things that happened in those scenes were actually the most significant in terms of understanding the family dynamics as well as the lasting impact those dynamics have, whether intentional or not.
If this review sounds a bit vague, note that it was deliberate on my part, as the book’s plot summary already said quite a lot and there really isn’t much else I can say without giving away more of the story than necessary. With how much the story impacted me, of course I recommend this book, but with the caveat that your experience reading it will no doubt be different from mine. Reading this book actually gave me goosebumps -- not because of the plot necessarily (though there are plenty of triggers in here, especially as it relates to sex and violence, that may be uncomfortable for some readers, so definitely keep that in mind) -- but rather, the memories that the familiarity of the characters’ experiences drew up for me. Understanding that this is the author Susie Yang’s debut novel, I have no idea how much of the story’s background is related to her own or whether she is writing from a place of familiarity like I experienced. But one thing I do know is that I am definitely interested in what Yang decides to write next – regardless of genre, I know for sure it will be a book that I’ll want to read!
Received ARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley.
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