Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
What is it about?
Synopsis: “When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for ‘kidnapping’ the white child she’s actually babysitting, her employer Alix resolves to make things right. So begins a crash course that will upend everything they think they know – about themselves, each other, and the messy dynamics of privilege.”
OK, but what is it really about?
Emira Tucker is out with her girlfriends to celebrate a birthday when her employer Alix Chamberlain calls: could Emira come over and take care of her daughter Briar while Alix and her husband deal with an emergency at home? Emira takes Briar to the grocery store in the neighborhood. As they’re walking through the aisles, a “concerned” citizen alerts the security guard, afraid that Emira, a black woman, has kidnapped Briar, the white little girl. The situation only defuses when Emira calls Briar’s dad Peter who confirms that Emira is indeed their babysitter.
This incident sets a whole series of events in motion: Alix feels horrible about what happened and is determined to do right by Emira and make her feel so welcome and loved that she feels part of the family. Throw in a mutual acquaintance from Alix’s past and Emira’s present, and the story takes a tumbling turn, raising questions about race, identity and privilege along the way.
Is it any good?
I had a rather strange experience when reading this book. I expected the plot to be centered around the incident at the grocery store but quickly realized that it only served as a catalyst, as a starting point to dive into the story – this realization left me a little bit disappointed at first, and I almost wanted to abandon the book, but I’m glad I decided to stick with it. The more I read, the more fascinated I became with both Emira and Alix, their different points of view and the dynamic of their unique, somewhat unhealthy relationship – even though my fascination resembled what must go through people’s mind when they see an accident: they can’t look away.
The author plays with clichés and stereotypes, sometimes skillfully, but at other times I thought it’s over the top.
Alix’s desire to “make things right” turns into an obsession with Emira that is – for the reader, at least – very uncomfortable and often borders on disturbing. Emira, on the other hand, wants to put the unfortunate incident behind her and move on. She has other, more pressing concerns that many young women (or men) her age will relate to: in her mid-20s, Emira is worried about what is she going to do with her life, if she will earn enough money to pay her next month’s rent and get proper health insurance.
I found it hard to relate to either character: Alix is a lifestyle guru and social media influencer. Her entitlement and need to be Emilia’s savior often made me furious. The reasoning behind her thinking often shines through when Alix speaks to her friends – it puts her perspective a little more into focus and makes her approach more understandable, but at the end of the day, I still found Alix selfish and completely unaware of her own privilege and entitlement.
I highly appreciated Emira’s relationship with Alix’s daughter Briar, it was sweet and frankly, one of the best things about the book – but I felt that her character lacked development as the story progressed, and she remained relatively inaccessible for me.
At the end of the novel, I looked at the different characters and asked myself, where were they at the beginning, and where are they now? Where has this journey taken them, and what have they learned along the way? The answer to those questions is, that both Alix and Emira didn’t really change that much at all. Perhaps that was the whole point of the story, perhaps it wasn’t. All I know is that it left me slightly dissatisfied, because it could have been much more.
Most memorable quote?
“Or that when white people compliment her (‘She’s so professional. She’s always on time’), it doesn’t always feel good, because sometimes people are gonna be surprised by the fact that she showed up, rather than the fact that she had something to say when she did.”
Conclusion?
I finished this book a few days ago, but I still don’t really know how I actually feel about it. But any novel that stays with you, that makes you think about it even after you have moved on to the next one, is already an accomplishment in my eyes.
I imagine that Such a Fun Age will evoke different feelings depending on the person who reads it and their own background. It’s very topical and hopefully encourages readers to question their own motives and motivation when it comes to privilege, race and identity politics.
AT A GLANCE
Title: Such a Fun Age
By: Kiley Reid
Published by: Bloomsbury (2020)
Pages: 320
Language: English