The Take by Kelly Yang

 The Take by Kelly Yang first intrigued me with it's premise of aging.  The story centers around two women, one at the later stages of her career and the other just  finding her way into her life and career.  An experimental technology is available to transfuse the blood of the two women.  The younger would age, the older one would become youthful again. The price of youth, three million dollars.  Is the price too high to pay, for either woman?  

Women and aging is a common theme. Few embrace the natural occurrence, for if they did, there would be much less money spent on procedures, products and medications to halt or slow the process.  As a woman in my sixties myself, I can relate to the feeling of lost youth, yet not the extremeness of the solution. Yang writes about a movie producer, Ingrid, who finds her health is compromised do to her aging and seeks a young woman to transfuse with to regain her youth and competitive drive in her cut-throat Hollywood industry.  Maggie, a 23 year old Asian descent young woman is a struggling writer, trying to survive on her own while wanting to make her immigrant parents proud.   The payoff feels worthwhile to Maggie, three million for ten transfusions. But Ingrid doesn't share all the information about the risk. 

I was curious how Yang would tell this story. It was good, I liked the idea that the two women would learn and grow from each other.  Yet, it made me sad too. Without giving away the story, I will just say it dealt with a struggle of women using each other to get what they want, or need, instead of building each other up to be stronger together.  Sadly, I think this is more true than false.  So much competition ensues between women trying to beat time and each other to maintain their relevance in our society.  

The book makes one contemplate, is the end result worth the deceit and hurt. Does the betrayal outweigh the experience? 

When The Take hits the shelves on April 14, 2026,  read it and see how you feel. What would you do? 

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.