Susie Yang’s protagonist, the titular Ivy, is a master of deceit.
She steals, she lies, she dabbles in mistaken identity and a few other more nefarious extracurricular activities.
Yang, the author, is unlike Ivy in nearly every way.
Credit: Simon & Schuster (2)
(Her protagonist, Ivy, is many things, butjollyis absolutely not one of them).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Writing wasnt your first profession.
Could you tell us how you made the switch?
How didWhite Ivycome about?
I knew I wanted to write about identity and reinventing yourself, with a side of class commentary.
I pitched my book as an Asian-AmericanHouse of Mirth and she said, That sounds great.
She emailed me back the next day.
So she put it on submission in November and a week later it sold to Simon & Schuster.
That process was so fast the editing process was not so fast.
Ivy does a lot of duplicitous things yet isnt entirely unsympathetic.
Is the character based on anyone?
You see their ambition and their downfall, and theyre fascinating and evil.
I wanted her to be underestimated because of her appearance.
I wanted to capture that.
This story is not autobiographical, but do you recognize yourself in it at all?
I did pull from my own life for the sequence when Ivy goes back to China to visit.
I love that book, and its such a flattering comparison.
[Secrets] Richard is so sympathetic and the atmosphere feels very surreal.
If I were in that very particular bubble, I could see myself doing what he did.
That theyll think, Of course this isnt a redemption story.
