Reviews with content warning for Murder - White Ivy

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

White Ivy by Susie Yang

30 reviews

christine_s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed the writing style, but I wouldn't say I liked any of the characters. But I think that was the point with this book: the people are all kind of awful in their way.

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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sarahtrimble's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Look, this is a compelling read but holyyyyyyyyy shit, are these humans insufferable!!!! The text examines topics of family, optics, wealth, classism, racism, being othered, and doing whatever you can to get what you want.

This made me think of how I felt when I was watching the first few episodes of Succession and I didn't realize it was a dramedy(drama/comedy). I was literally sitting there thinking, 'Why are all of these people SO horrible to each other?!' That's how I felt about the characters in White Ivy, but it never got better and it never made me laugh like Succession did.

I don't love the homophobic undertones of your sexuality being compared to an ACTUAL crime .... Other than this, the book did reel me in from start to finish and I finished in one sitting because I was curious how this mess would play out.

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moriahleigh's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

White Ivy was an intriguing book, and I enjoyed reading it, but I feel classifying it as a thriller is a stretch. There was little suspense or danger until the end, and even all of that was entirely predictable. However I did really enjoy reading about Ivy's experience and POV as a Chinese-born young woman raised in the US and the pressure she felt to fit in, moving between two different cultures and two different classes. None of the characters were especially likable (I include Ivy), so I was mostly reading for insight into Ivy's POV and experiences as an Asian American young woman.

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harmony412's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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meb1073's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had so many mixed feelings about this book, but overall they were positive.
There were some parts about this book that were slightly unrealistic, or just didn't make sense. The fact that

both Roux and Gideon happen to come back into her life, at the same time and place

....I don't know about that one. And then the fact that

Gideon would even remember her, after over 10 years, really took me out of the story for a second, because it felt so...forced?

The main character of this book was also a TRAINWRECK. I could see if a lot of people reading the story had a hard time continuing, because she was made so unlikeable. But in a weird sort of way, I felt this pull to keep reading, because I just had to know how it ended. It got more and more crazy as it went on, to where you just couldn't look away. And given the background of her story, I think it was almost designed to make sense. I think the author wanted to convey the difficulties of living in a lower income, immigrant household, and how much it can affect an individual's psyche.
While it had its problems, I realllyyyy enjoyed the writing style of this book. The author is really good at captivating the story in a way that keeps it interesting. I really liked the inclusion of the culture especially; it was sprinkled and placed in a way that wasn't too overwhelming. I would most likely read another book by this same author.

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painausten314's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book had several twists that I didn’t see coming, all the while being slightly mysterious - creating a combination that made it hard for me to put down.

Ivy Lin is an unreliable main character, and this whole story is warped by her perspective. A lot of the characters seem like bad people, but I found myself constantly questioning how bad of people they really were, because I was viewing all of them through Ivy’s eyes.

The theme of ownership comes up several times in this book. Ivy struggles to change her destiny, take ownership over her own life, but always ends up under the thumb of somebody else.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

She's just not for me.

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