Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Such a Fun Age

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

12 reviews

zedohee's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

i put off rereading this for a while, because i thought this might disappoint—reid was and is one of my favourite writers—and it somewhat did, but not for the reasons id suspected.

this is very much a debut that’s meant to appeal to the masses—her sophomore work is way more niche, fun, and engaging; the looping metaphors and heavy handed storytelling is still there but executed with way more finesse and care—and in that regard i kinda think it’s brilliant. also very technically well written, if looking only at plot. but from a character/plot point, it needs one more pass.

reid has mentioned in various interviews that she primarily wants her work to entertain, not teach, and most of the time she succeeds. but here, while i felt like a lot of the racism was cleverly subtle, it was also obviously watered down and presented in a very didactic way, as if reid wrote certain scenes to ensure that she captured and sustained the empathy of a non black/white audience.

and while that is unfortunately understandable—black characters often have to be in mortal danger before audiences takes a hint—kelley is the devil; alix is overbearing and condescending and a mircoagression queen—it certainly got exhausting at times.

i also didn’t care for the gender dynamics at all.

in the same interview, reid states that she wants readers to think about the gendered division of childcare, but the men in this novel are such non entities that any close examination doesn’t really land. neither does whatever she was going for with kelley, because his misogynoir was played almost like a silly quirk, rather than dangerous, racist sexism.

his behaviour was shady from the jump, but other than the breakup, he was never truly taken to task or called out. and listening to reid speak about his character,—‘hot’ guy too into black culture—it’s clear that the downplaying of his harm is on purpose.

& it’s one of the worst aspects of the book for me. i found the ‘different but same’ comparisons between kelley & alix as two sides of an ignorant white coin, to be disappointingly dishonest. white women definitely have their own particular brand of callous racism—alix shows it by by demeaning and violating emira multiple items like that video leak? girl die—but it felt like, in an effort to explore alix’s bad behavior, reid brushed off kelley’s similarly vile actions.

his fetishistic behaviour was so rancid and disgusting, as was his sexist attitude towards alix. the jealousy and disdain for alix that he tried to reframe as a it racist posturing, the way he purposely inserted himself into the black community, targeting black women and adding a sick sexual component to his behaviour all made him so much worse than alix, in my eyes. where alix was ingratiating and controlling, kelley was actively looking for black people to enact his nasty behaviour on.

yes, alix is the one to release the video, which is horrible, and certainly beyond the pale, but the way the narrative leans on her as the worse of the two whites from the start, just didn’t ring true.

neither did emira’s reactions. in writing her as super laid back and calm, she almost fell right off the page. there’s not wanting engage in baseless drama and then there’s behaving like an alien lol. because while i appreciated that emira was cool headed, at times it was too much. as were her friends, who were heavy on a good time but lacked substance. i know young black women like this, so i thought the characterizations felt real, but they never went beyond cliche and that was annoying. even zara, who was so cool and kind, seemed to only to react and shield.

but that’s a problem present in the entire book. it’s branded as a black woman’s story, but the black woman in this sleepwalks instead of properly participating in her life, while the white characters take over and are given far more depth and complexity than she is. i loved that emira was an aimless and mild 29 something because it’s not everyday activist or outgoing or even smart. but the fact that she never once engages with the racism against her in a realistic way, never has a slow night with her girls to decompress, and never thinks too much on the prejudice past a fleeting moment is false. & having listened to reid speak about this character, i think this is due to reid’s own experience as a light skin black woman—emira is dark skinned and speaking from experience, the aggressions are MACRO ain’t no brushing shit off lol—and her want to mainly explore class as a divider in this novel.

she speaks on wanting to examine cultural class markers that aren’t specifically money talk and while she succeeds there, and in displaying the wild ways white people simultaneously seek & shun black culture, she doesn’t fully grasp or deport the nuances of race/gender.

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jade_smith's review

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tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a lively and well-written exploration of privilege and race. There were points that it had me tearing my hair out; it was frustrating, but largely because every character felt so real, and because their choices and beliefs felt so comprehensible. Subtle, nuanced, and eminently readable.

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bookshelvesandbookcorners07's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An enjoyable book that captures the different racial issues people face daily.

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mothie_girlie's review against another edition

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emotional informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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naturally's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

in the growing literary sub-genre featuring messy Black female twenty-somethings, i think that 'such a fun age' is the strongest entry i've read thus far. reid's writing has a kind of satirical edge. alix and kelley are awful characters and yet...the tone of the writing seems to poke fun at them as well as criticise and dissect their racism and white privilege. the plot was simple yet messy and i was thoroughly entertained by all the antics.

my only dislike is how underdeveloped emira feels as a character, despite being positioned as a driver of the story in the blurb. if anything alix is the star and emira is there to assist the narrative. but perhaps emira was deliberately written this way, seeing as she spends a large portion of this book feeling lost and confused about her life (plus she quite literally assists alix with childcare stuff)? which is pretty relatable, honestly.

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uppercasenoises's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really enjoyed the perspectives of both characters and liked the story overall. Something felt lacking for me plot wise, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. Definitely would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain perspective on the experience of being a Black young women, specifically working as a

nanny

. Also deals with a romance, although it is not the primary focus. Dual POV, limited third person.

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