★★★★★
Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age is the
Thanks to Putnam for the free book!
Emira is a young Black woman living in Philadelphia. She has great friends – and maybe even a great guy – in her life, but what she doesn’t have is a clear passion. For now, she babysits Alix’s daughter, Briar. Emira is accused of having kidnapped the young girl as they grocery shop, which sets off a chain of events around the vast differences between Emira and her employer – largely to do with prejudice and privilege.
Content Warning
Please take caution while reading Such a Fun Age if any of the following topics may trigger you:
- Racism
My Thoughts
Kiley Reid has absolutely smashed it out of the park on her first try – Such a Fun Age is a fantastically poignant, fast-paced, and utterly entertaining book. Reid gives her readers – especially her white readers – so much to chew on with this story. How are we treating our neighbors, friends, and coworkers who are people of color? Why do we do the things we do and say the things we say to people of color, specifically? This seemingly unassuming story of a young Black woman who babysits to make ends meet becomes a force to be reckoned with – one that sucks you in to the story and the drama, but that tells such an important truth about prejudice and privilege.
This book is fantastically complicated. The characters have depth and personalities that may not fit perfectly into the boxes that we’ve created for them. For example, Alix – Emira’s white employer – is very likable, if not fumbling around the topics of race and privilege. What does that mean for us, though? That we forgive her ignorant transgressions, her overstepping boundaries, her white savior complex? Reid navigates these complex personas so deftly; the book left me speechless and with so much to unpack.
Such a Fun Age is a very entertaining story, but it is also so much more. With themes of race, privilege, young adulthood, and complicated relationships, I highly recommend to everyone ever, but especially for lovers of contemporary fiction.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my thoughts on Such a Fun Age. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the novel in the comments or at my Instagram, @bookmarkedbya!
