Such a Fun Age

I like the uncertainties and ambiguities Reid allows in her book, apparently not feeling the need to force the reader into absolute judgments. The event that serves as the fulcrum of the story, the night in the store, is not a clear-cut only-one-thing-you-can-say-about-it case of racism. The white characters are pretty sad, but not monsters. The black characters are presented much more favorably, as is to be expected, but are not without their flaws and ... well, Emira is rather sad herself. Such a Fun Age is an important picture of the kind of interaction that happens every day in this country. I hope I can learn from it.