I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I can see why a lot of people like this book a huge amount, but unfortunately I just think it wasn't for me. The story flowed at a steady pace, and I certainly was interested in the story. But for me I was just a tad confused by the way 'Linh' was written in the story. The story was decent, but the writing style just wasn't something I liked.

To paraphrase a quote from this book: this wasn’t good, this wasn’t bad, it was nice.


After Lucy wins a scholarship to the prestigious Laurinda school, she begins writing letters to her old friend Linh to tell her about everything that goes on at the new school. From the Cabinet – the three most popular girls, who manipulate and bully anyone who crosses them – pranking a teacher so badly that she quits to the headmistress seemingly condoning the behaviour. Laurinda life would be hard for anyone to adjust to, but Lucy’s immigrant parents and downtrodden neighbourhood make it even harder for her.

Lucy tells Linh all about her first year while trying to work out how she fits into the world of Laurinda and who she really wants to be. Would she rather sit by and let the people in power get away with their terrible deeds, or does she want to stand up as leader of the underdogs?

There’s a big twist towards the end of this book which I don’t want to spoil, but I assumed that was where the story was going and I think that’s one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy it as much as other readers seem to. I’d been expecting something with a bit more drama, but Lucy and Linh almost reads like literary fiction rather than YA: the writing is a lot floatier, and the story is extremely character-driven. At times it doesn’t even feel like it has a plot, because when you boil it down it’s simply Lucy attending school for the majority of the book. In fact, I was far more interested in Lucy’s mother’s story: if this had been a book following her – having a new baby in a foreign country while working all hours of the day and night to provide the bare minimum for her family – I think it would have been much more interesting.

That being said, I did enjoy Alice Pung’s writing style. The descriptions of Stanley, Lucy’s hometown, are very evocative, while she gives Laurinda its own unique aspects so that it stands out from amongst other fancy private schools I’ve read about in the past. I think it helped that this book was set in Australia, as I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel like this which wasn’t set in America or the UK!

This just didn’t really have any impact on me, and I think I’m going to end up forgetting about this completely sooner rather than later.

A very readable coming of age story that deals with race and class that gets bonus points for being free of romance, which is very refreshing in a contemporary YA book - this story is one of self-discovery with an intriguing and real cast of characters who bring the story and the setting to life.

Lucy and Linh is a story that follows Lucy who is accepted into a prestigious girls school on a scholarship. The book is told through a series of letters that Lucy writes to herself showing her journey as she struggles to settle into her new life.

This book deals with some important topics such as identity, friendship, and bullying. We see Lucy struggle to accept her identity and she has a very different family background to her peers. She also gets treated differently as a result of this. There is a group of girls at the school who bully the other girls but they do it in a very subtle way that they get away with it. I found this part of the story extremely realistic.

Overall I thought that this was an ok read. I thought it dealt with some good topics and I liked the main character. However, in places, I thought that the story moved quite slowly and not very much seemed to happen. I would be interested in reading more from the author in the future.

Lucy is a girl on a scholarship who enters a private school full of wealth and privilege. Lucy's background is very different to the girls at school which we learn about from letters to her best friend. While I normally really enjoy YA books I found that I couldn't relate to this book at all and I found myself getting bored very quickly. The book does deal with some difficult subject matters reasonably well but I didn't find it particularly well written.

A coming-of-age novel about a child of first-generation immigrants whose scholarship to an exclusive girls school could lead to great things, if it doesn’t ruin her life first.

Lucy lives in a working-class neighborhood, where she attends a private school. Her family came to Australia as refugees from Vietnam, and most of her friends have similar backgrounds. Her father works at a factory, and her mother works from home as a seamstress. Lucy spends her free time helping her mother and watching over her baby brother.

Told in letters to her friend Linh, we hear Lucy recount her experience of winning a scholarship to Laurinda, an upper-class all-girls preparatory school, and the challenges she faces as she navigates its new world.

At first Lucy is elated to be going to Laurinda. The uniform symbolizes an escape from her depressing life in a run-down neighborhood. She is eager to fit in and make friends at Laurinda, whose social strata are topped by three girls called “The Cabinet.”

It seems like The Cabinet can get away with anything. They engage in Mean-Girls-esque pranks, and at first Lucy feels nothing but contempt for their veneers of perfection hiding cruelty underneath. But when The Cabinet welcome Lucy in, will she be strong enough to stand up for who she is and what she believes in, or will she become just like them?

The drama and intrigue of a private girls’ school was interesting and kept me turning pages. But I wanted to know more about Linh, who we only see small glimpses of through Lucy’s letters. She seemed like such a vibrant personality that the book felt lacking without her being fleshed out. When I finally understood the role Linh played in the story, her absence made sense, but I still felt cheated out of getting to know Linh — and that Lucy was a little dull (and this was probably the point).

The Cabinet are truly awful and I felt frustrated with Lucy for allowing herself to be sucked in by them. But I remember my teenage years, wanting to be liked, and I can relate to Lucy’s predicament. She desperately wants to fit in and prove that she’s worthy of a place at Laurinda.

I loved having a main character who was Asian, and understanding the nuances of Lucy’s family’s culture was a bright spot in the book. Her family grounds her and she seems proud of her heritage and culture, which I really liked. She also is very aware and frank about how others treat her as a minority, which was refreshing. Also, even though Lucy is interested in romantic relationships, a love story is not central to the plot — which is a nice change from most young adult fiction out there.

I wanted to like Lucy and Linh more than I did, but it fell flat for me. Most of the supporting characters lack depth and nuance, which was disappointing. I also was surprised that Lucy didn’t keep in closer contact with her friends from her previous school — that felt unrealistic to me. All in all, I didn’t dislike the novel, but it wasn’t as gripping or compelling as I would have liked. If you’re looking for a non-white protagonist, and a young adult novel where a love story is not the main storyline, then this one’s for you.

I enjoyed this book, the characters were well written and I found myself wanting to be their friend. I will recommend it to my friends however I am slightly confused. I chose this book for many reasons, one of those because it was advertised as soon to be published, however on goodreads it says it was published in 2014, with reviews going back that far. That aside, Lucy and Linh was a quick read that, despite the slow pace at times, was enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this. It read more like contemporary fiction than YA, and the style had hints of Curtis Sittenfeld’s ‘Prep’.

I liked:
- Lucy’s parents. They were down to earth and yet caring.
- the exploration of insecurity in both teens and adults.
- the insight into culture - both Australian and Chinese-Vietnamese.
- the personal growth of Lucy.
- Lucy’s devotion to her family while desiring to escape her hometown.

I didn’t like:
- the pathos of the teachers.
- the lack of comeuppance for the Cabinet and their mothers.
- I was left a bit confused by the seemingly abrupt ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Netgalley: Hey, do you want to read this book about racial issues in Australia set in a private school featuring all female characters?
Me, who lives and breathes the Ashbury High series: Sign me the hell up.
Lucy and Linh is the story of Lucy Linh Lam, who has just been accepted into Laurinda’s all girls school. The girls have money, power, and they know how to use it. Especially the Cabinet, a trio of girls who injure other students, and play horrible tricks on the teachers. It’s up to Lucy to infiltrate them, and figure out how Laurinda school works.
I read this book in an afternoon, even whilst standing in the queue for McDonalds. I couldn’t put it down, Lucy was so fun to read, and I loved her family, and the life she leads. The story was complicated in parts, with all the names, but really enjoyable.
Two minor things, I honestly didn’t know what the Lamb was until Lucy spelled out that he was a baby. I couldn’t work out if he was an actual lamb, an object, or some sort of monster. Also, why is he called the Lamb? Why would you nickname the baby after a surname?
Also, honestly didn’t work out Linh wasn’t another person until the end of the book. I am a dum dumb though.
Thank you for Netgalley for this ARC.

IN SUMMARY: LUCY & LINH is an un-put-down-able story about poverty, racism, and culture. A combination of Mean Girls and Fresh Off the Boat, with a sprinkle of The Hate U Give, this fast read will grab you with its thoughtful tale and authentic cast.

MY THOUGHTS: There's something about this story that is addictive, so much that I devoured this in three days. Pung tells an authentic tale of what it's like to be an Asian immigrant going to private school on scholarship in Australia. The little romance doesn't take precedent over the story. There was a twist near the end that I didn't see coming at all! My only qualm is the unrealistic dialogue; I can get behind speeches written deliberately with flowery language, but even with fancy education, I cannot imagine fifteen-year-old teenagers reciting poetry ad lib. Also, the constant use of names in speech can grate some nerves.

Overall, this was a great novel, made for both the casual and hardcore reader. This has become my favourite novel of the year!

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? Yes, I'd be open to looking at more of her work!

"That was when I learned a very important early lesson: here at Laurinda, mistakes meant annihilation"

* * *
3 / 5

I found Lucy and Linh a hard book to get into. It's written in an epistolary format; the whole book consists of letters from Lucy to her friend Linh as we follow her journey from ordinary public school to an elite Australian private all-girls school Laurinda. This was a difficult read for two reasons: first, I found the writing style a bit weird and unengaging, and second, it was quite emotional!

Lucy Lam's family is poor and Chinese: her father works in a carpet factory, her mother sews clothes in the garage, and Lucy is mostly responsible for her baby brother Lamb. Whilst she fits in well with her friends at the local school, when she secures a scholarship at Laurinda, Lucy's entire life in upheaved. Laurinda is ruled by The Cabinet, a "Mean Girls"-style trio consisting of Brodie, Amber, and Chelsea who play cruel tricks on students and teacher alike, whilst promoting a wholesome image of Laurinda spirit to the administration and parents.

"White lies be damned - sometimes I loved the truth"

I loved Lucy's relationship with her family. As she grows accustomed to the extravagant life of her classmates, Lucy begins to see the things she has always loved about her house - the furniture, the films her parents watch, how she looks after her brother - and the things she never really noticed - how her parents eat loudly and dine off of newspapers - become embarrassing, cringy, and tacky, and Lucy is ashamed of these thoughts. She's caught between very different two worlds and I found it really emotional!

"I wish I could say I didn't have a chip on my shoulder, but I knew I had a whole Pringles factory up there"

But I found Lucy and Linh quite repetitive: the Cabinet pulls some harmful prank on someone and Lucy disapproves; the headmistress complains that Lucy is not participating in Laurinda-lifestyle (debating, sports, or any extracurricular activities at all); the parent of one's of Lucy's classmates has a massive white saviour complex; Lucy withdraws from her new friends and spends all her lunchtimes in the library, thinking about her new life. There's a lot here that seems cyclic.

Overall, I definitely loved Lucy and thought the whole book was quite thoughtful. I laughed a couple of times and felt tears threaten a few more, but the book lost a lot of its impact as it seemed to drag on and become repetitive.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

Laurinda is a posh school where every student is a high achiever and a hard worker. Only popularity isn't based on looks or grades in this school but who you're in with.



There on a scholarship is Lucy, whom witnesses a prank done by Amber, Brodie and Chelsea which sees her drawn into their group The Cabinet, purely by timing and chance. She starts to hang out with Amber especially a lot more and even goes to a party she's holding. The girls also meet up with the boys from their school too.



Lucy writes about her three terms to Linh and I found this confusing in the book as it's never made completely clear until right towards the end of the book who she is to her like a friend or relative etc. While there is some drama I found this book not exciting and a bit flat, the characters didn't seem to have distinct personalities and a lot of focus was on ethnicity which is great but only told us so much. The main focus is that Lucy changes from who she was before and becomes nothing like the person she once was or wants to be, I just feel it could've been more dramatic or easier to follow.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!