"Walking among them, but not one of them, Ivy felt a queer dissociative sensation not unlike being submerged into a bath, where everything felt both expansive and compressed. In years to come, wherever she felt like crying, she would evoke this feeling of being submerged, and the tears will dissipated across her eyes in a thin glistening fil, disappearing into the bathwater".

Ivy was born in China and was left in the care of her Grandmother whilst her parents Nan and Shen emigrated to America. When she was five, she was sent for. Ivy sought out stimulation and affection which did not come often, and she turned to books and her little Brother Austin. During "shopping trips" with her grandmother, Ivy became an accomplice to 'working smart' and begins to steal. Her exploits were known by the neighbourhood boy Roux, who. She saw as a kindred spirit. But when an opportunity to elevate her social status came, Ivy didn't look back.

"Knowledge, like money was foolish to give away for free. You could never give it back"
Ivy had a number of opportunities for growth; she is self aware and hungry for the life successes. She saw people as tools to support her goals.

"All women had a theme...the story they constantly told themselves. The innermost wound"
Ivy is a troubled character, but I also saw her. She is the product of traumatised assimulated parents, whom used corporal punishment and then compensated from shame. Its not an excuse for her behaviour, but I can see why she began to turn inwards and use everything at her disposal to gather more power. This was an brilliant book on race, class, and identity.

This reminded me of charmaine craig "My Nemesis", and I have to be honest about how I rooted for Ivy, was unnerved by her thought processes, horrified by her choices, but also sympathised with her feelings of loss, need for validation and feeling of entitled to success. Ivy was a complex and naunced character, and an example of what how we present our public and private selves.