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WORK TITLE: The Takedown
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.corriewang.com/
CITY: Charleston
STATE: SC
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married Shuai Wang (a food truck owner and operator).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Co-owner and operator of Short Grain food truck. Worked formerly as a nightclub manager.
AVOCATIONS:Going to libraries, going on road trips, eating.
AWARDS:YALSA selection for Best Fiction for Young Adults, The Takedown, 2018.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Corrie Wang grew up in Buffalo and Brooklyn, New York. She and her husband, Shuai Wang, moved to Charleston, South Carolina from New York. There they opened Short Grain, a food truck. Short Grain has been named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants 2016 and was a 2017 semi-finalist for a James Beard Award. Wang writes young adult fiction.
The Takedown, Wang’s first book, was a 2018 YALSA selection for Best Fiction for Young Adults. The Takedown is a futuristic story, set in a world not so distant from our own, in which social media and technology pervade all aspects of life. Privacy is something of the past, and nearly everyone is multi-racial. The book focuses on Kyla Cheng, a seventeen-year-old student at an exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school. Kyla, or Kyle, is set to be valedictorian, is president of her community club, and is a debate team champion. She also has a hunky boyfriend, Mackenzie Rodriguez, and is the queen of the most popular group of girls at school.
Kyle is a typical ‘popular’ girl. She is successful, beautiful, and not particularly nice. She has managed to make it through high school without any of her rude behavior catching up to her, but that all changes the week before college applications are due, when a compromising video shows up online. In the video, Kyle and her attractive high school English teacher are filmed having sex. The video is showing up everywhere, and Kyle does not know what to do. The fact is, the video is fake. Kyle knows it is not her in the sex clip, but no one will believe her, not even her three best friends. For the first time in her life, Kyle is experiencing a fall from grace. She refuses to let this fake video take her down, though, and decides to take matters into her own hands. With time running out until this video could influence her college future, and the video quickly going viral, Kyle dives into the dark world of hacking to destroy the video and uncover who is framing her.
“Wang brilliantly balances the complexity of lives lived online, teenage relationships and insecurities, and the double standard of slut shaming,” wrote a contributor to Kirkus Reviews. Matt Pavloff in Voice of Youth Advocates wrote, “part cyberpunk mystery, part Mean Girls, the story is both familiar and unique,” while Kayla King in YA Books Central website described the book as “a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2017, review of The Takedown.
Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 2017, Matt Pavloff, review of The Takedown, p. 74.
ONLINE
YA Books Central, http://www.yabookscentral.com/ (June 1, 2017), Kayla King, review of The Takedown.
All content is copyright Corrie Wang 2018.
Corrie Wang is passionate about libraries, road trips, and eating all the food, everywhere. Corrie grew up in Buffalo but spent her formative years in Brooklyn, where one of her last paying gigs was managing a three-story nightclub on the Lower East Side.
She currently lives in Charleston, where she and her husband Shuai Wang own and operate Short Grain food truck— named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants 2016 and a 2017 semi-finalist for a James Beard Award. The Takedown is Corrie’s debut novel and was a 2018 YALSA selection for Best Fiction for Young Adults.
And Wang rhymes with 'song' y'all.
Corrie Wang – #TTBF Author Interview – 2017
September 14, 2017 in 2017 TTBF
1. Your characters live in a world that’s even more plugged in that ours. Throughout any given day, are you generally plugged in online or are you keeping your distance? How do you try to forge a good balance?
My agent once told me, when I asked how she juggled career, family, and her own personal interests, something along the lines of, “There is no balance. It’s a myth and all constantly trying to achieve it will do is make you more stressed.” I approach my online habits with the same thought in mind. Some days I’m very good about not doing five-minute checks on my phone and I’ll purposefully read a book or magazine article instead of scrolling through my feeds at night. Other days, I fully embrace the constantly looking to see if anyone’s posted something about The Takedown and mindlessly scroll Instagram for longer than is healthy. Do I secretly dream about being that mysterious author who is inaccessible online? Yes. Do I envy Aziz Ansari for saying goodbye to his online life? YES. But do I love being a published author and want to fully embrace this experience in all its plugged-in forms? More than anything. 🙂
2. As a food truck owner, can you share a recipe you think even a rookie chef can handle?
On my food truck, Short Grain, we serve mainly untraditional Japanese rice bowls. At home, my beau (and Short Grain’s co-owner) and I primarily eat leftovers a.k.a. the do-it-yourself rice bowl. It’s super easy to whip together a delicious rice bowl with just a few specialty ingredients and whatever else you have in your fridge. I could eat a DIY rice bowl every day. (And usually do).
3. TTBF’s new slogan is “Read Everything.” What book should be on our official Read Everything book list for 2017?
I really loved THE CALL by Peadar O’Guilin. It’s about kids in Ireland that get “called” at a certain age i.e. vanish to a faerie land where they have to battle-dome against bloodthirsty fairies in order to get back out. (Spoiler: most don’t). The only thing is, you never know when you’re going to get called. So you could be eating a sandwich and ZIP! Now you’re in a fight for you live. It’s creepy, imaginative, and so fun.
Wang, Corrie. The Takedown
Matt Pavloff
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.1 (Apr. 2017): p74.
COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
3Q * 4P * J * S
Wang, Corrie. The Takedown. Freeform/ Disney, 2017.384p. $17.99.978-1-4847-5742-0.
High school senior Kyla Cheng admits from the start that she is unlikable. She and her friends are the
typical "popular girls," both admired and envied by their classmates. Kylas seemingly perfect life gets
flipped, however, when a compromising video of her and a teacher goes viral. Though she knows that the
female in the video is not her, nobody--not even her best friends--seem to believe her.
What follows is a quick-moving, engaging story as Kyla tries to get her life back in order.
Part cyberpunk mystery, part Mean Girls, the story is both familiar and unique. The Takedown takes place
in the believable near-future, in which technology and social media have become an invasive, inescapable
part of adolescence. The author exposes how influential online popularity is in this culture and how
damaging it can be. There are no secrets, which makes Kylas struggle more exigent. The book has a strong
feminist message as Kyla grows from slut-shaming other girls to understanding the value and power of
female sexuality. By focusing on female empowerment and the topic of cyberbullying, Wang has crafted a
modern, relevant story that most teens will find relatable. An engaging read on its own, this story could also
be a relevant read in classrooms or with parents. While the text-speak dialogue may be jarring at first and
side characters remain slightly flat, The Takedown is a significant and enjoyable story that would do well in
a high school or public library.--Matt Pavloff.
QUALITY
5Q Hard to imagine it being better written.
4Q Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses.
3Q Readable, without serious defects.
2Q Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q.
1Q Hard to understand how it got published, except in relation to its P rating (and not even then
sometimes).
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1521937440396 2/3
POPULARITY
5P Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday.
4P Broad general or genre YA appeal.
3P Will appeal with pushing.
2P For the YA reader with a special interest in the subject.
1P No YA will read unless forced to for assignments.
GRADE LEVEL INTEREST
M Middle School (defined as grades 6-8).
J Junior High (defined as grades 7-9).
S Senior High (defined as grades 10-12).
A/YA Adult-marketed book recommended for YAs.
NA New Adult (defined as college-age).
R Reluctant readers (defined as particularly suited for reluctant readers).
(a) Highlighted Reviews Graphic Novel Format
(G) Graphic Novel Format
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Pavloff, Matt. "Wang, Corrie. The Takedown." Voice of Youth Advocates, Apr. 2017, p. 74. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491949555/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3c049da7. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491949555
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1521937440396 3/3
Wang, Corrie: THE TAKEDOWN
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Wang, Corrie THE TAKEDOWN Freeform/Disney (Children's Fiction) $17.99 4, 11 ISBN: 978-1-4847-
5742-0
A fresh take on a tired high school trope.Living in a technologically advanced near-future Brooklyn, 17-
year-old Kyla Cheng, better known as Kyle, has it all: top grades, popularity, three fabulous best friends,
and the attention of Mackenzie Rodriguez. But in one click, she risks losing everything when a video of her
and her English teacher having sex surfaces. Even though Kyle knows the video is fake, no one else seems
to believe her. As the views reach astronomical heights and Kyle ascends to internet infamy, her only option
is to figure out how to take down the video--with or without the help of her friends. A key player in this
mystery is the pervasive nature of technology and social media, which has boomed to encompass all aspects
of life in the future. Wang brilliantly balances the complexity of lives lived online, teenage relationships and
insecurities, and the double standard of slut shaming. In this world, and reflecting demographic projections,
most people are multiracial, a fact which is sometimes strangely emphasized. A classmate who has two
white parents is mockingly styled "Aryan Audra"; Kyle herself is half Chinese, half French. A thoughtprovoking,
entertaining read, Wang's debut illustrates a future that is easily conceivable. (Science fiction.
14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Wang, Corrie: THE TAKEDOWN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A482911709/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6fdaa66c.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A482911709
Featured Review: The Takedown by Corrie Wang
Thursday, 01 June 2017 Kayla King, Blog Manager Latest Staff Reviews News & Updates 1365 Hits 0 Comment
the-takedown
About This Book:
Kyla Cheng doesn't expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn't need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she's president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don't just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular. Kyla's even managed to make it through high school completely unscathed. Until someone takes issue with this arrangement. A week before college applications are due, a video of Kyla "doing it" with her crush-worthy English teacher is uploaded to her school's website. It instantly goes viral, but here's the thing: it's not Kyla in the video. With time running out, Kyla delves into a world of hackers, haters and creepy stalkers in an attempt to do the impossible-take something off the internet-all while dealing with the fallout from her own karmic footprint. Set in near-future Brooklyn, where privacy is a bygone luxury and every perfect profile masks damning secrets, The Takedown is a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit, asking who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?
*Review Contributed by Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer*
Kyla Cheng comes right out and says she doesn't expect readers to like her. All that matters to her is being on top of the game. She's tops in her exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school. She's pretty, has a great group of friends, and a very cute 'guy' friend. Then one day a video of her and a high school teacher pops up in the web with devastating consequences. Kyla learns fast that the fall from the top can be painful.
What I liked: This is a futuristic PRETTY LITTLE LIARS meets intrigue. Kyla isn't the most likable character. She admits that right at the beginning. She only goes for things that will help her and if that means parting with a life-time friend to join a more popular group, she'll do it. What makes this novel stand out is how fast her fall happens when a incriminating video of her having sex with her one teacher pops up. It shows up everywhere. AnyLiesUnmade is her hater. Kyla is dropped from her clubs and even turned away from babysitting jobs. Her tight group of friends even question her innocence.
This novel opens up so many questions: sure we all love our social media and technology devices but how far will this same technology go with our privacy? Kyla's hacker was able to not only destroy a teacher's career, but is able to hack into her college apps and other things. How much does the first amendment protect when it comes to your privacy?
I really liked the interactions Kyla has with her friends(more like freenemies), the cute guy Mac, and even her family. There's a Nancy Drew element involved when Kyla and her friends try to see who made the video and why.
Not everyone is what they seem. I had a guess on who the main hater was but was surprised on the true character of someone close to Kyla. There also is insight on the whole 'slut-shaming' society. When Kyla looks at the comments of one of her best friend's favorite websites, 'Bra and Panties', it's not the guy comments that are alarming but rather girls that call anyone who posts revealing posts, 'sluts'.
A big reveal from Kyla's mom is you reap what you sow.
Intriguing look into a futuristic world where anyone's privacy can be comprised with one click. Fans of PRETTY LITTLE LIARS are sure to enjoy this not too futuristic tale that shows the consequences of wanting to have everything out there on social media.
Good Points
1. Think PRETTY LITTLE LIARS meets futuristic intrigue