Review: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

My favorite genre to read is fiction. This year I have grown more conscious of what type of characters are depicted in the fiction books I have read in the past and the ones I am reading now. I will say that for most of my reading life until University, the fiction books I have read feature exclusively white characters, and to go deeper, they are also cisgender and heterosexual. Now I ask that you take a second and reflect on the books you have read and the type of characters that are in them. I believe that a lot of readers would come to the same conclusion as me; however, I do not think we do this on purpose by any means, in fact, I think it is because most books that are featured for readers to consume are those that fall into the categories of being white, cisgender, and heterosexual. It is incredible now to see how different platforms that sell books are now taking the initiative to feature POC and LGBTQ+ writers. At the same time that I am happy they are making this change, it is still upsetting how it took the cultural movement Black Lives Matter for them to wake up to what they were doing. Here at the Mistress of the House of Books, I will always be proud that since day one, we have stood by our message of being an intersectional feminist book review by choosing books by writers of all backgrounds. This months’ review will be no different as I will be discussing the book Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. 

The novel switches perspective between two characters, Emira and Alix. Emira is a 25-year-old Black woman who graduated from Temple University with a degree in English. She has no idea what she wants to do career-wise and feels stuck in the life she is living. It becomes even more apparent how stuck she feels as her friends start getting career jobs with salaries and move into nicer apartments. The only thing she does know is she enjoys her babysitting job. Alix is the mother of the children that Emira babysits. Alix is a wealthy white woman who recently moved to Philadelphia from New York; she runs her own business that empowers young women by teaching them the art of letter/resume/cover letter/essay writing so they can apply to their dream university or career, she works for Hilary Clinton’s Presidential campaign, is writing a book about her own life, and has two children. 

Alix and Emira’s relationship is the root of the story. Alix hired Emira because Emira had no idea what she did for a living, and she found that refreshing. After that, Alix never bothered to get to know Emira on a personal level, and it was a boss-employee dynamic. It was not until a security guard at an up-scale grocery store held Emira up accusing her of kidnapping the girl she babysat that Alix decided she needed to get to know Emira how Alix would go about this though will be problematic and at times an invasion of Emira’s privacy. Emira, on the other hand, finds Alix starting to build a relationship with her weird at first but then starts opening up a bit more. This eventually leads to Alix inviting Emira and her boyfriend over for Thanksgiving. 

At Thanksgiving, Alix is confronted with the fact that Emira is dating Alix’s ex-boyfriend Kelly from high school. Alix is extremely uncomfortable because of an incident that occurred in their senior year of high school that involved Alix calling the police on a Black classmate that led to him losing his scholarship and was also in part Kelly’s fault. At this point, we see a battle between both Alix and Kelly over who is the most ‘woke’ and what’s best for Emira, without either of them ever asking Emira what she wants. Alix accuses Kelly of having a Black-girl fetish as most of his ex-girlfriends are Black, and he accuses of Alix of only hiring Black people to boost her image. The accusations these two throw at each other shine so much light on actions white people take that most would not bat an eye at, but how it is depicted in the story makes you second guess them. 

The white-savior complex that both Alix and Kelly possess comes to a head when one of them leaks the video of Emira getting held up by the security guard to news outlets because they wanted to shed light on the racist encounter. The person who leaks it does it out of a ‘good place’ because they decided they know best for Emira. After the video is leaked, Emira must come to terms with the aftermath of what happened, especially after she finds out who leaks it. For Emira, the incident is the catalyst for what role she plays in both Alix and Kelly’s life. To Alix, is Emira just her babysitter or family? She feels like family because Alix has offered her better benefits in her job to help her out, but at the same time, she does wear a uniform to work. Then to Kelly, is he really in love with the person she is or because she is Black?

While this novel is fictional, you are confronted with uncomfortable conversations white people have about race that you may have participated in or overheard yourself. The way the author approaches the topic is well done and leads the reader to self-reflect. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a novel that focuses on a Black 20-something-year-old woman who is trying to figure her life out as again I do not think I have personally read many novels that the main character is Black. What made it more interesting to me was not only was Emira trying to figure her life out, but she also had to deal with the discrimination of being Black in America on top of it. This was an added layer that you would never get from this same novel being written from the perspective of a white woman.

I look forward to finding more fictional books that are written by Black authors that feature Black characters and would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to do the same. 

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