“Take” has many meanings. It’s the opposite of “give.” It’s a person’s share of a business or money left over after expenses. It’s an opportunity. It’s an interpretation of an event. In Hollywood-speak, it’s a different way to approach a known story. That there are so many definitions to the term is the first clue that Kelly Yang’s adult debut novel The Take is a multilayered, meaningful story that goes way beyond its propulsive plot. It’s a look at ambition, aging, sacrifice, feminism, parenting, marriage, friendship, and more. Through the points-of-view of two very different women, Yang captures the contentious dynamic between Gen X and Gen Z.
Feminist producer Ingrid Parker is tired of needing men to greenlight her projects. She’s 53 and she’s made 17 movies, for pete’s sake. But when her doctor tells her she has pre-cancerous cells, Ingrid would do anything to stay healthy. Her husband Kyle offers to use the $3 million settlement he got after getting fired for hiring hookers on the company dime to fund an experimental procedure: Ten blood transfusions from a young donor that would de-age Ingrid by ten years, while taking ten years from the giver. But even with all that money, who would be desperate enough to take that deal?
Former MFA student Maggie Wang is just that desperate. She quit her program when she found out her boyfriend slept with the famous author who told her she needed more life experience before she could write. When Ingrid tells her about the procedure, Maggie jumps. It’s not just for the money, which she’ll use to help her mother get dental surgery and her actress roommate to stop making cams. It’s for the chance to learn from all of Ingrid’s years of Hollywood experience. Maybe Ingrid can even help her get an agent!
But as Ingrid literally sucks the blood out of Maggie, she also takes her ideas and her words. Ingrid sees it as mentoring, as Maggie “paying her dues” and doing the work in an industry notorious for demanding free labor and not giving second chances. Maggie thinks Ingrid is using her. And worst of all—those ten years that Maggie sold Ingrid? They might have been an underestimation.
The Take is told from both women’s third-person points-of-view, and they both come across as sympathetic. Despite her reputation, Ingrid has no real power in Hollywood. An early scene shows her marching across a men’s-only golf club course to talk to her studio head, amid shouts of “I didn’t know your husband belonged here.” Her primary goal for the transfusions is to keep Kyle out of younger women’s beds. Her nearly adult children don’t value her. Maggie won’t listen to her advice about how Hollywood works and the best way to get ahead. Ingrid’s faults, however, keep her from being completely sympathetic. Rather than confess to her powerlessness, she lies to and manipulates the younger (often of color) women in her orbit who look to her as a mentor. She lies to Maggie about the real reason she wants the transfusions. And she continues to punish Kyle for his transgressions.
Maggie starts the book being betrayed by an older woman, but she doesn’t hold that against Ingrid. The child of immigrant parents who worked day and night to keep her fed and clothed, Maggie has trauma from growing up that Ingrid teaches her to channel into her writing. She’s genuinely excited to help Ingrid look younger and to learn from her. But Maggie isn’t willing to wait her turn and play the Hollywood game. She wants money and recognition now. She gets bad advice from friends her age who tell her to use Ingrid’s name to get ahead. When she offers a fresh and exciting take on one of Ingrid’s projects, she thinks she deserves to be the screenwriter, even though she’s never written a screenplay.
The interplay between the women is fascinating, as both their perspectives seem valid. Ingrid takes Maggie’s idea without giving her credit; isn’t this wrong? Ingrid knows that ideas are a dime a dozen and execution is all that matters. All Maggie has written is a single novella. Can she even write? The transfusions, the spine of the story, are the physical symbol of the relationship between them, but the question of how many years you would give up for how much money is something that extends beyond these two characters. Gen Z sees Gen X as people who wasted years in cold workplaces, sacrificing time with family and friends, only to lose their jobs in middle age. Gen X sees Gen Z as kids who aren’t committed to their careers, aren’t willing to come into the office like adults do, or answer their texts after 6pm.
The Take resonated with me in an extremely personal way. I’ve been a writer since I was Maggie’s age. I’ve written novels, screenplays, short films. I’ve taken classes, won awards, gotten rejected by some of the biggest names in Hollywood and publishing. Now I’m older than Ingrid. If I had three million, would I spend it to go back ten years? Maybe. No matter your age, the industry always makes you feel like you’re running out of time. There’s always someone with a better take, with more connections, with the idea you’ve been working on for years. You have to finish your project and get it into the right hands before someone beats you to it. Yang’s exploration of these pressures proves that “write what you know” is more than just a pithy saying.
I saw both women as protagonists, and I was hoping for a happy ending for both of them. But Yang may have intended them to be viewed differently, as she only gives one a bright resolution. Still, as everyone in the industry knows, you’re only as successful as your latest project.
The Take proves the adage: The more specific the characters, the more universal their plights will feel. Ingrid and Maggie resonate with readers of all ages, whether or not they’re also writers. The blood transfusion that will restore or sell youth may not exist, but the question of what we will give up for money is a trade-off that all generations end up grappling with.
Thanks to Berkley for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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