Publisher's Weekly Review
Lee's promising debut probes what happens when a British woman's carefully constructed persona shatters after she's sexually assaulted. The daughter of a Turkish father and a South Korean mother, Jade Kaya was born Ceyda Kayaoğ lu. At 25, Jade has assimilated into upper-class English society, immersed in her high-powered job practicing corporate law and involved with a wealthy white boyfriend, Kit. Everything about her life is practiced and studied--down to the name Jade, which began as her "Starbucks name." After she's sexually assaulted by a colleague, however, she reconsiders her relationships and aspirations. Kit's performative support for marginalized people doesn't extend to sticking up for Jade against his friends' casual racism, and her two best female friends disagree on whether she should file a formal workplace complaint. At times, these characters can feel more like straw men than real people. Lee is better, though, at untangling the complicated emotions wrapped up in Jade's evolving relationship with her parents, who fear she will lose hold of her material successes and grieve their home countries. Though somewhat lacking in nuance, this is carried along by flashes of genuine rage and connection. (Mar.)
Kirkus Review
The life of a young London lawyer falls apart when she becomes the victim of acquaintance rape. This debut novel's tone of angry earnestness is set by Jade, its narrator, whose name is the Anglicized version of her actual name, Ceyda. The child of immigrants, a Korean mother and a Turkish father, Jade is both an obedient, loving daughter and a careerist happy to assimilate into the British upper classes. She relishes the security she's found in her relationship with her posh British boyfriend, Kit Campbell, and in her increasingly responsible position at a prestigious law firm. Then one night at a work party, Jade is plied with liquor by a senior partner only to wake up the next morning in her bed, naked and hungover, her pubic area sore. Although deeply unsettled, she is unable (or unwilling) to remember what happened until increasing physical pain and flashes of terrifying memory force her to face the knowledge that she was raped. Suddenly, all the security she's assumed proves ephemeral. The career she's worked so hard at becomes uncertain. Her relationship with her parents suffers, and Jade recognizes that Kit is an entitled twit. Through Jade's trauma, novelist Lee portrays the double whammy faced by women of color, who not only suffer the misogyny and abuse of powerful predatory men, but also endure the long-term effects of racism, classism, and anti-immigrant prejudice. While Lee drives home her points successfully and Jade's reactions are complicated, other characters and their interactions too often seem intended as talking points. Jade's pragmatic, don't-rock-the-boat friend is balanced by her impassioned, wants-to-rock-the-boat friend, while no male characters except Jade's saintly father are trustworthy, and almost all are sexual predators. Lee's novel reads like a strong case study of societal evils but misses coming to life as fiction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Debut novelist Lee deconstructs the aftermath of sexual assault in this lucid coming-of-age novel. At 25, Jade has already made an impressive life for herself. A successful lawyer with a caring, well-off, long-term boyfriend, Kit, Jade has fulfilled her Turkish father's and Korean mother's dreams for her after they immigrated to England. At a work party, after a senior partner plies Jade with alcohol, a coworker helps her home, only to rape her. Jade remembers little at first, but when her bruises, vaginal pain, and terrorizing flashbacks all start to come into focus, she finds little support and lots of victim blaming. Her seemingly perfect life begins to crumble as Kit shows his true colors and her two close friends disagree about reporting the perpetrator. Even Jade's mother urges her to just put it behind her and move on. All of this is told through Jade's lens as a woman of color navigating primarily white spaces. Jaded is a painful story with hefty emotion and is sure to spark conversations about consent, race, and success.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT Lee's debut explores issues of her protagonist's identity and the roles she must take on in order to exist in a city and a workplace where racism and sexism have deep impacts. Ceyda, known as Jade to everyone but her family, works as a lawyer in a high-powered London firm. Her immigrant parents are Korean (mother) and Turkish (father). They created a loving home for her but their expectations for her success in life drive Jade to succeed, even when she's not sure that she likes what she's doing. One morning after a law firm party, Jade wakes with no memory of how she got home and discovers disturbing clues about what might have happened to her the night before. As she pieces the evening together, she finds the rest of her life is crumbling around her. The more she learns, the harder it gets to keep it all to herself. But if she doesn't, the results will be literally life changing. VERDICT A thoughtful, unflinching examination of all of the ways in which women (especially women of color) conform to fit others' expectations, how damaging that can be, and the empowerment of subverting constraints. For readers who appreciated Kate Elizabeth Russell's My Dark Vanessa.--Jane Jorgenson
