Such a Fun Age

I think Kiley Reid is quite skilled at highlighting subtle things that people do in a way that brings those things much needed attention. So much of the actions and reactions in this book made me uncomfortable, which was the entire point the author was trying to make. It was well-executed and the biggest strength of the writing. I also loved the complexity that was shown in how the characters responded to the same situation. There are massively differing opinions, and it shows that people need to educate themselves on racism, performative activism, and microaggressions. You can't read one book about slavery and ask the opinion of your one Black friend and call it a day.

This was a pretty straightforward and simple story. I wasn't really surprised at any point, I wouldn't say that's a bad thing though. That just means it was more of a quiet story for me, much more slice-of-life/crossroads moment than I was expecting. I kinda wish it was shorter, closer to 200 pages or so. I didn't love being in Alix's head most of the time, but I know people like her exist (and many, many people possess her and Nick's thoughts/traits). It makes sense that we'd be in her head to hear how she justifies her actions to herself. I look forward to reading more from Kiley Reid.

There's a powerful moment in [b:Rising Strong 23317538 Rising Strong Brené Brown https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428641002l/23317538.SX50.jpg 42872911] where Brené Brown relates a friend asking her, “I do, however, think that in general people are doing the best they can. What do you think?” and the explosive soul-searching that ensued. [b:Marcus Aurelius 30659 Meditations Marcus Aurelius https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421618636l/30659.SY75.jpg 31010] phrased it a little differently a few centuries before that: ”They are like this because they can't tell good from evil.” However you think about it, this is a subject I've struggled with since long before I ever read either. I'm starting with this because I found it a useful background to reading Such a Fun Age.First things first, though: stick with it, it gets better. The first many chapters are kind of tedious: (primarily) shallow entitled self-absorbed characters and their backstories, thankfully salvaged by the presence of Briar, a three-year-old with more curiosity, self-awareness, empathy and communication ability than any other three characters put together. I also found myself gravitating toward the aforementioned question, do people do the best they can? How do people become moral actors? Most importantly, how do affluent attractive people do so? Can they? (Spoiler: yes. I consider myself fortunate to have many such as friends). How do some people overcome the disability of privilege?But that's just the first quarter, before the train wreck. After that, shit got real interesting real fast, and zigged and zagged into many directions, none of which I was expecting, and all of which show an impressive maturity on the part of young Ms. Reid. This was a thought-provoking book, fueling my lifelong interest in the above questions, and, as I would expect (demand) from a good book, answering none; leaving me to keep wondering and, I hope, to be able to converse about it with friends one day.

In terms of plot, I think Such a Fun Age is wonderfully successful. There are quite a few threads running throughout, and they're all tied together rather nicely. Some of these threads may have relied on convenient plot points, but I don't think they were too far out of the realm of possibility. There were definitely times when these threads came together, and I found myself at the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Characters were a bigger problem for me. And this is quite likely a case of failing to separate authorial intent from the actions of the characters. There seemed to be judgement about the actions of some characters who behaved badly, while others never even received a talking to. Zara, for instance, is a terrible friend. She doesn't allow Emira the time or space to make her own decisions during stressful situations. She's constantly interfering, making choices that completely alter the course of Emira's life. But I never got the impression from any of the characters that Zara's actions were anything but exemplary. Zara is just one example. Overall, I wasn't a fan of many of these characters, either in construction or in the way they were developed.

There's a great idea in here, peeking its head out often throughout this novel. Overall, I like this exploration of those who strive toward performative “wokeness,” but I'm not sure this novel completely succeeds in fully delivering the message.

A somewhat late coming of age story with our main character being Emira a 20s (something?) working with herself and finding her footing in several ways. Navigating relationships and forward thinking to career in the end.

I'm really loving Emira, she is incredibly smart and kind. She seems very go with the flow and rolls with the punches, BUT she still has a courageous heart and thinks for herself! She takes the time to consider things and especially connects with the girl she babysits because she also shares curiosity and thoughtfulness.

Skip to Alix, feels like a try hard for feminism and wokeness. I feel like this is an example of a white woman who would vote for 45? I've read some people got attached to her, idk, as soon as she made a living off sending letters, children, and the shallowness of an influencer who has to pretend they live in new york still? She immediately was annoying to me and showed her true colors further in.

The writing was really well crafted, the audiobook was amazing and the dialog was genuine and a satisfying slow build to learn more about the characters and their story together. It kind of has a domestic racism feel, and you can see the conflict without doubt. Once you see it, you can pin point lots of events together.

Great book! I recommend!

I feel very wishy-washy about this book. I didn't hate it? It was a quick read, and kept me engaged overall, but there were just SO many things to quirk an eyebrow at.

First of all? There was absolutely no growth from any of the characters from beginning to end. Every single character is happy to hang their entire lives on the lies they tell themselves, and even with changes in circumstance, nothing really ever changes for anyone. So frustrating!

I felt like the character interactions were overwrought, and some of the characters were under-developed. I mean, I know Alix is a Well-Intentioned White Lady, but some parts of her personality felt so unrealistic. And I know Emira is supposed to be Not Sure What She Wants, but the ways she interacted with her friend group mostly reminded me of college instead of mid-20s. And sooooo many issues with boundaries.

I hated the not-even love triangle. It's been 15 years Alex/Alix! Let it go! (Also YOU WEREN'T EVEN WRONGED!!)

I'm going to stop thinking about this book now.

This was well written enough and easy to read, but just felt pretty muddled and I never was really invested in anything.

Luister naar onze review in onze podcast Team Boek Toe: https://team-boek-toe.simplecast.com/episodes/such-a-fun-age

Super bingeable. At times cringe inducing in a good way. Other times painfully bad dialogue.

4.75 stars

This is the story of Emira and Alix. Emira is a 25-year-old black woman figuring out the path she wants to pursue in life. Alix is a white woman in her early thirties, well-to-do, mother of two, and adrift in her own way. Emira babysits Alix's daughters, and is particularly smitten with the older the the two, a toddler named Briar.

Alix, at first glance is a kind, somewhat progressive woman, but she has brings her issues to her relationship with Emira. Alix takes pride in having multiple PoC at the dinner table, because of what it says about her. She becomes obsessed with and dotes on Emira for much the same reason. She is kinda like a lot of white liberal women, and this story explores how insidious this all is, and how people pass these behaviors down to their children even without being aware of it – because these women also write their own narratives and buy into their own manufactured version.

I find it interesting, and valid, how Emira was not a “go-getter,” taking life in stride and avoiding confrontations. I think it's a less explored POV. She doesn't know what she wants to do, but she knows that no one else should decide for her either.

Because Emira is so low key, events that in another novel would be bigger explosions tend to operate more subtly. She sees and does what she needs to see and do in her own time, and at her own pace.

I appreciated very much the last scene that makes clear a dynamic that was hiding in plain site in terms of Emira, Briar, and Alix. Alix, for all her pretense of enlightenment, is not that far from a plantation owner's wife, absolving guilt and responsibility by treating “the help” very well, and wondering why she isn't better appreciated.

2.5/5 stars

I don't even know how to feel rn lol

This is a great summer/pandemic read. It moves along like a light beach novel, but it handles serious issues with sensitivity.

Emira is a young Black woman, a recent college graduate who hasn't yet found a career path she wants to follow. She takes a part time babysitting job for Alix, a white “influencer” who has a 3 year old daughter, Briar, and an infant, Catherine. Emira connects deeply with Briar, and comes to love taking care of her. In a late night incident in an upscale grocery store, Emira is accused by a security guard and another customer of kidnapping Briar. Kelley, a white male bystander, captures the incident on his cell phone. He and Emira begin seeing each other, unaware that Emira's boss, Alix, also has a history with Kelley. When that history comes to light, the “fun” begins.

I loved how this novel portrayed issues of autonomy and becoming an authentic person in the characters as they dealt with their situations. Power dynamics in employer/employee relations were also a theme, as well as authenticity between Black and white people. Emira emerges as a very likeable, capable young woman with a reliable inner compass and you'll find yourself rooting for her to find her way through the confusion that surrounds her.

I really enjoyed this. It's like a comedy of errors, but I only found one hero to cheer for (Emira). Reid NAILS kid-voice. I swear, Briar was the sweetest thing and I wanted to jump into the book and buy her all the ice cream! No spoilers, but the Thanksgiving scene- I'm not going to forget that amount of awkward anytime soon. I can't wait to read more from Reid. Highly recommend.

I get that this book has an important message.. but it's mostly poorly written, and unfortunately the message gets confused. Still trying to figure out the details of how I feel about this one.

i needed more time to reflect on this before rating it and have thus bumped it up. my first review showed that kiley reid conveyed everything she intended to

Extremely readable, even In These Times where I'm finding focusing on a book more difficult than before. Loved Emira and her friends and all the various tensions between them, loved the alternating POVs between Emira and Alix. I find it fascinating that this is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick when Alix is essentially a character Reese Witherspoon has played a couple of times before, just taller and a little younger than current-day Reese. There's so many currents and tensions playing themselves out in this - race, class (oh my god, I really want to read an essay about class in this novel), gender, age - it's incredible. Also, Kelley is such good satire of that exact type of dude. His last text to Emira made me both cackle because it was so perfect and want to throw my phone because of course. Perfect.

Rating is probably more like a 3.5, but rounding up. Reasons for the deduction: I feel like the book didn't quite stick the landing with the big live TV interview and I found the reveal at the very end (the flashback to Alix in high school and the locker cleanout) kind of pointless? Also, at one point, the narrative seems to suggest that Alix is overweight/out of shape at 5'10", 141 pounds (yeah, it uses exact numbers), and like. That's borderline underweight, and I know Alix is insecure about absolutely everything but maybe let's not endorse that viewpoint. There's also a scene earlier than that about how her friends tell her she's overweight, but if these are the numbers, again this isn't a great thing to throw in there.

I give this book 2 1/2 stars The story is very relevant with what is going on in our world with racial issues, but I feel it could have delved into it a bit more and on a deeper level. The main character, Emira, did go through a transformation (slowly) that was nice to see. However, I don't think the white characters changed at all, maybe that is relevant at this time, too. I don't understand what the BIG hype was to read this book, though.

DNF. This is good, but I'm not in a place to read contemporary fiction - it's too stressful. I need to stick to mysteries where there are solutions and justice, or transport myself to another time with historical fiction. Those are, apparently, my pandemic reading genres. <>

I was so confused by this book. All of the characters are complete caricatures to the point where I thought the author was trying to make a statement about stereotyping. And then I realized that the joke was on me - she's being totally serious in her representations. Oh. My. Gosh. There are so many infuriatingly unbelievable parts of this book that I don't even want to relive them long enough in my head to write them down here.

Two huge things irked me to no end: The “relationship” between Kelley and Emira was laughable. She's immature with nothing to offer an almost middle-aged man, so where's the draw? How am I to believe this is a real relationship? It was so unbelievable that I was sure that he had been stalking Alex/Alix and trying to involve himself in her life by dating her sitter. How disappointing to know the author was actually trying to portray a legitimate relationship. Yikes!

The scenes with both sets of friends made me want to cringe. None of the friends had any depth and they were all cookie-cutter stereotypes. And the slang used within Emira's group was so overdone. We get it, they're young Black women, but the author seems to insinuate that their ethnicities cancel out the fact that they're also college-educated professionals.

Ugh, I'm getting angry all over again about these stupid characters. Save yourself the trouble and skip this book.

Can I just say this is the book that kicked me out of my pandemic reading slump. It was just the page-turning, thoughtful and funny read I needed, in part because of how warm the relationship between Emira and Briar was. Writing kids is not easy but Kiley Reid is clearly drawing on her six years of taking care of rich Manhattanite children. Briar is a wonky, thoughtful, panicked little 3 year old that loves to smell tea bags, and is Emira's favourite little human. So when she's called in the middle of the night to come and get Briar out of the house for an emergency - Emira is there to take her to an upscale grocery store.

Emira is black and dressed for clubbing. Briar is a white 3 year old. So it's only a matter of time before someone goes full Karen and calls security over. Things escalate until Emira manages to get Briar's dad to come over and be reassuringly white for everyone.

The whole incident is recorded by Kelley Copeland who is completely affronted for Emira's sake. He wants the recording sent to the news station, the security guard to get fired, free groceries for Emira. This is a travesty. You know he's ready to post a hot take on Twitter or upload it to Reddit as soon as possible but Emira insists he delete the file.

So one hand you've got the “woke” white guy that exclusively dates black women and on the other, Briar's mom Alix. She's an upper middle class influencer whose schtick is handwritten notes on fancy paper asking for things, with the perfect little hastag #LetHerSpeak. After the market incident she's intent on connecting with Emira. She LOVES Toni Morrison, she has black best friends!

And it's here that Kiley Reid just has so much fun. It's an examination of fetishization, micro-aggressions, virtue signaling, white-knighting along with the story of how one is supposed to adult in this world. This is meaty fodder for any book group without getting weighted down with it's own self-importance. Just a fun read that you can feel a tiny bit smug about being in on the joke and on the right side of cringe. I mean how do you pronounce SZA?

What a good book. It was an easy read which in no way takes away from the book but in many ways adds to it. There are so many layers and so many ways to really look at things. Many, many things to look at, ponder, remunate, etc. I will be thinking about this book for awhile. It's one of those books that sticks with you.

The perspectives of the varying levels of privilege between each character is convicting in a good way. I love the way the author depicts the white characters and the complexity of their desires to be the “white savior” for Emira. Meanwhile, Emira's character is somewhat aloof. She is just living her life, loving the little girl she babysits, but also trying to do better for herself.

I will say that I am conflicted about the the ending. On one hand, I kind of wish that Alix Chamberlain hadn't realized that Kelley never received her letters. If that had been written in a way that only we as readers discovered the truth, then Alix would have been less blatant of a villain. No question, she's horrible regardless, but it made sense for her character to be more ignorant than deceitful.

On the other hand, I can see how her lying to herself and pushing that narrative that she had been wronged to the point that others would believe it also, is very descriptive of her privilege. Like I said, I'm conflicted. Either way, I really enjoyed this book.

Alix Chamberlain is the real deal. She empowers other women, guiding them into colleges and jobs. She publicly breastfeeds, sometimes mid speaking panel. She surrounds herself with a diverse group of other working moms, all quick to offer advice and criticism. The Clinton campaign keeps calling. All signs point to 1) progressive 2) feminist 3) who gets it.Sure, Mrs. Chamberlain has a babysitter who watches her kid 20+ hours every week. It takes a village. In this case, a village of one young Black woman who would really love vacation days and health insurance. Emira quite likes looking after this weird, talkative Chamberlain toddler. But she's only covered by her parents' insurance until her next birthday, and the job offers zero benefits. But make no mistake, Emira is part of the family. They'd be lost without her. This is my exact type of contemporary, and it met my high expectations. It reminds me of [b:Little Fires Everywhere 34273236 Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522684533l/34273236.SY75.jpg 52959357]: the exploration of classism, the characters whose lives overlap in ways they don't first realize, the slowly building tension. It's sad, funny, infuriating. I loved the dialogue. It reads like people actually talking, including the constantly interrupting children. The social commentary is direct without soapboxing or spoonfeeding. Reid has us consider big questions. Why is defining racism as a conscious individual choice to be evil insufficient? Are the rich white women pummeling the glass ceiling only able to reach because they outsourced diapers, dishes, and tantrums to poor women of color? What happens when quitting your job means there will be no one left to listen to a child desperate for attention? I can't say enough good things about this book. Such a Fun Read.

3.5 stars because Emira is a very interesting character: full of silence and strength, she's REAL. That said, I usually love Reese's book club, and this one was a solid book, but not an amazing one.

Glad I got this out of the library rather than buying it. Don't think it's a book I would read again.