Book Review; Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

 

SUCH A FUN AGE BY KILEY REID 

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone family, and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.

My Thoughts

This book is very popular, and I was motivated to read it. While the writing was good, the story really picked up in the second half of the book. This was a very different take on race relations in the United States. It was very different to previous books I read with the same theme.

While I read this book, I disliked each of the characters at some point. First, Emira Tucker, the babysitter I felt that she was presented as a bit naïve and I daresay weak. While I get that she did not want to make a big deal about the altercation in the store etc. In her interaction with Alix Chamberlain, I felt almost that she let Alix take advantage of her. 

Alix was a complex character, I believe that she was so obsessed by what happened in the past that she in trying to prove that she was not racist  used her privilege and wealth to buy her affection. I think what was most interesting was the relationship with her daughter Briar. 

 

Kelley Copeland, the blast from the past (you will understand this if you read the book) and Emira's boyfriend came off as genuine in the beginning but he was also, like Alix trying to prove in a different way that he was not racist as well. 

What made this book interesting to me is that their interaction and the outcome of this was odd yet believable. I could see that readers may either really love this book on one hand and on the other really dislike it. In all I think this was a good read.