Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - White Ivy

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

White Ivy by Susie Yang

15 reviews

m_a_j's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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beccamidori's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

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lilaceous's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective tense slow-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

2.5

characters - ⭐️

plot - .5⭐️

engaging to read - ⭐️

would recommend -

would read again -

i was not expecting any of the things that happen in this book! i actually went in thinking it was just a romance! it is not :)

the characters were sooo nasty and unlikeable but i had a good time. definitely not for everyone.

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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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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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