REVIEW: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

In the post-Christmas holiday fug, Such a Fun Age emerges as the perfect book to jolt you back to reality. Reminiscent of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, this smart, witty and thought-provoking book is the debut novel of Kiley Reid, an author who tackles big ideas with quiet confidence and an assured style.

Kiley Reid

Set in Pennsylvania, with the 2016 Presidential race as a backdrop, Such a Fun Age follows Emira Tucker, a young black woman living paycheck to paycheck as a typist and part-time babysitter for the wealthy white Chamberlains – local news anchor Matt, his wife Alix and their two infant daughters, Briar and Catherine. A kind of Cheryl Sandberg “lean in” type, Alix (pronounced “Aah-leeks”) is an influencer with political yearnings who spends her days trying to write a book, while Emira cares for Briar. The bliss of their arrangement is shattered one night, however, when Emira is accused of kidnapping Briar while shopping with her in an upmarket grocery store. At once, the ground between Emira and Alix shifts dramatically, with the kind of repercussions that make for truly addictive reading.

What I loved most about this novel was the way in which it explores the dynamics of our various relationships—those that exist between friends, lovers and employees—and how things like race and wealth complicate them. It also cleverly articulates the ways in which our capacity for emotional attachment can muddy the waters even further. To do that, Reid shifts smoothly between two perspectives throughout the novel, capturing Emira’s wariness and longing for a better life, as well as her genuine tenderness for Briar, as easily as she captures Alix’s eagerness to befriend Emira, overcompensating for an insecurity born of privilege.

That privilege, the kind brought by wealth and whiteness, is an ever-present gulf between the two women that Reid manipulates throughout the book to create situations that veer from being awkward to downright comical, eventually building up to a magnificent finish. The novel stays grounded, however, in genuine empathy for its characters, which keeps it from ever truly becoming farcical. Each character gets the chance to reveal their story, allowing them to be if not exonerated, then at least understood. It’s this thoughtfulness in her craft and respect for her characters that marks Reid as a literary talent, the kind not to be underestimated.

These days, it’s something of a cliche to say that a book is a perfect book club choice, but all I want to do is take this book to my next meeting and beg everyone to read it. But, as usual, Reese Witherspoon has beaten me to it – she’s just announced Such a Fun Age as her next Book Club pick and it’s a choice I cannot fault. This is the kind of book that you can’t be quiet about.

—Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid is out on the 7th of January.

Such a Fun Age

by Kiley Reid

When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for 'kidnapping' the white child she's actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with a 'personal brand' and the best of intentions, resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix's desire to help. When she meets someone from Alix's past, the two women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know – about themselves, each other, and the messy dynamics of privilege...

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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