The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • Podcast
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy

Such a Fun Age: A Novel

January 24, 2020

fun age

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date: December 31, 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Debut, Fiction, New Adult, Social Issues
three-stars
Your Local Book Store, Amazon

Emira Tucker is struggling with adulthood. She’s not quite sure what she wants to do. The only job she enjoys is babysitting two-year-old Briar. So, when Briar’s mother calls on a Saturday night asking if Emira can come and get the little girl she says yes. From there things in Such a Fun Age get bad fast. A store security guard decides that Emira has kidnapped Briar, because she is black and Briar is white. Someone records the event and only the arrival of Briar’s father puts an end to the harassment. But not to the fallout in Emira’s life and that of Briar’s mother, Alix. Suddenly, what was a straightforward arrangement becomes weighted down with good intentions, misunderstandings, and questionable motives.

There’s a lot to unpack in Such a Fun Age. Debut author Kiley Reid does an admirable job digging out and shaking off items most of us are going to find scratchy and uncomfortable. Alix takes the security guard encounter and uses it to build a ‘relationship’ with Emira. Taking a sudden and intense interest in Emira’s life—something she’s not done before. Initially, it seems well-meaning on the surface, but soon reads like self-serving tokenism.

Alix fantasized about Emira discovering things about her that shaped what Alix saw as the truest version of herself. Like the fact that one of Alix’s closest friends was also black…That Alix had read everything that Toni Morrison had ever written.

Which is cringe-worthy.

As Alix is pushing her friendship on Emira, Emira meets Kelley, the white man who recorded the store event. They’re soon dating and as Alix is trying to bring her into her circle, Kelley wants to pull her out. He questions everything about the job and how Emira is treated. He wants her to sue to the store. When she brings him to a party at Alix’s house it sets off a powder keg of reactions because Kelley and Alix know each other.

And that is where Such a Fun Age starts to lose me. Reid perfectly captures Emira’s character—her confusion about what to do with her life, her fears about losing her health insurance, and her loving relationship with Briar. She is relatable. So, why give emphasis to two characters who are nothing more than the drunk uncles at the party? They’re cardboard caricatures and through them events escalated to the point of disbelief and annoyance on my part.

Which is not to say they ruined the novel. Thanks to her finesse, Reid circles round and lets the larger story prevail.  It’s just that I felt such confidence in her writing that adding these outrageous elements was unnecessary. It detracted from the nuances of Emira and even little Briar and the many shades of racism she exposed. Such a Fun Age is still good reading, but, given the hype surrounding it, I expected more.

 

 

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I get a small commission (at no cost to you).

 

three-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 3 Star Books
people of forever
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid
cloisters
The Cloisters: A Novel
left of me
What’s Left of Me is Yours
god
When God Was a Rabbit
honeybee
The Honeybee Emeralds
Mrs Poe
Mrs. Poe
calling
Calling for a Blanket Dance
The Queen of the Night
Back to Blood
Back to Blood
tornado
Tornado Weather: A Novel
before
Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah
fall
The Fall of Lisa Bellow
glass hotel
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Invincible Summer
cloisters
The Cloisters: A Novel

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, new adult, Putnam, racism

Comments

  1. Laila says

    January 25, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    I’m on hold for this and have been eager to read it. It’s funny how some books are so prominently promoted, isn’t it? Makes you wonder why they pick them sometimes.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 31, 2020 at 6:04 pm

      I think the modern racism theme is the reason behind this one and it is something Reid handles very well. If it weren’t for the two characters being completely bonkers I would have rated it higher.

      I’ll be interested to see what you think!

      Reply
  2. susan says

    January 26, 2020 at 11:03 am

    Yeah I plan to read it. Even if it’s so-so … I’d like to see how it hits me. Subtle acts of racism can be disturbing right?

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 31, 2020 at 6:05 pm

      It’s very unnerving in that way. You start to think hard about your own actions.

      I’m very interested to see what you think!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Indiebound and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2023

Copyright © 2023 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in