Debut novel by Susie Yang, White Ivy is the story of Ivy Lin, trying to insert herself into the old school upper class of the Northeast. Careful what you wish for. Yang is superb in her descriptions of the shabby- around- the- edges moneyed Yankee families. Some of Ivy's decisions made me cringe, but she grits her teeth and hangs on in pursuit of her perceived prize. A.
David Hopen can write-well. His prose in The Orchard is dead on, so much so that as he describes life among self-important highly gifted teens I felt a wave of anxiety recalling days of boarding school. The first half of this book is very good, but where was his editor for the second half? Pages of navel gazing and virtually all centered on males . Girls are smart sex partners. Permission granted to skip the boring parts. B
Danielle Evans deserves all the glory that has come to her with this book. She is a masterful writer and this novella and short stories will prompt some serious thought about race in America. In The Office of Historical Corrections, the tone is never strident or confrontational, just persistent and honest. Solid A.