Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Such a Fun Age

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

shutupsev's review

funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

i think this book successfully manages to discuss a complex topic in an accessible way while not overly-shielding readers from the uncomfortable parts. i was so tense for the whole last half of the book knowing that things were going to implode. i do wish there was a more concrete ending, but i do get what the author was going for with the vagueness.

would highly recommend the audiobook version narrated by nicole lewis! really elevated the story for me.

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mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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hdunscombe's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Emira has just come out of a racially charged situation at a grocery store. During an unexpected late-night babysitting outing, a fellow shopper and a security officer corner Emira, who is Black, and insinuate that she has kidnapped her almost 3-year-old charge, who is white. What ensues is several months of convoluted attempts to move on, between Emira, her employer, her significant other, and the very loveable toddler that Emira just wants to spend her shifts cherishing.

The subtlety between these interconnected relationships is phenomenal. Reid has us convinced that Emira's employer and boyfriend each believe they have Emira's interests at heart, but as weedy histories, offhand comments, and questionable behaviors are revealed, their respective intentions get called into question more and more.

Despite the heavy premise, this story has so many moments of delight, especially when it comes to deep female friendship, early adulthood habits and settings, awkward motherhood/caretaker moments, and the silly seriousness of the toddler who is at "such a fun age".

I loved seeing Emira's perspective in contrast with her employer's within the same scenes; the latter was often sanctimonious and obsessive when it came to her "sitter", while the latter saw through all of it with a sigh and an eye roll. And despite her employer's and boyfriend's insistence that they are each looking out for her, their self-interest, privilege, and opposition to each other obscure Emira's true interests at every turn.

Aside from the toddler's absolutely ADORABLE questions, Emira's loveable group of quippy friends, and Reid's stellar dialogue, my favorite aspect of this book is how stealthily Reid inspires compassion for the individuals making Emira's life so complicated. I often found myself thinking, "Aww [they] are trying so hard to have their heart in the right place..." before remembering, "Wait - this is so messed up!" These characters convince themselves that actions like phone stalking, infantilization, gaslighting, white saviorism, fetishizing, tokenizing, and virtue signaling are actually all protecting Emira - as if she needs protection as a 25-year-old adult. Yet they are still humanized by Reid's their (albeit twisted) beliefs that they are doing the right thing, and Reid's dialogue. In the end, both spend so much time pointing fingers at each other for racism, that they forget their own.

There is also an unknowability to Emira's white boyfriend that makes him feel especially realistic. Without his point of view, we only see his track record of surrounding himself with Black friends, exclusively dating Black women, inserting himself into the racially charged inciting incident as if he is an authority on race relations, taking Emira to a white-friendly coded bar, and casually not censoring a racial slur as if he is part of the community it denigrates. We don't know the motivation behind these actions, so we're left to draw conclusions along with Emira. He is a good mirror of individuals in the real world who believe themselves to be woke and anti-racist because they can recognize overt racism, yet obliviously display a subtler form racism and white privilege in how they move through the world.

Finally, I adored the ending. At first, I worried that Emira would reconnect with her boyfriend after she learns that he did not leak a video of the grocery store incident. But she steers clear and moves on from the complete tornado of relationships she's been stuck in and starts fresh. And even projecting a decade into the future, Reid does not spend any time on the status of Emira's love life, because it was her independence, contentment, and professional satisfaction that were at the heart of this story - not these things in relation to anyone else. It was also realistically bittersweet that in order to advocate for herself, Emira couldn't hold onto everything she wanted. Sometimes chasing one goal means letting go of something else. Emira had to let go of her deep relationship with the toddler she loved so dearly, and as a result, resigned to the fact that this child would grow up closer to her selfish employer's image than she would have otherwise.

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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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fatfrog's review

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lighthearted tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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sandysmith's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

A thought provoking read. Emira babysits for the eldest child, Briar, for Mr Peter and Mrs Alix Chamberlain. The initial premis is that Emira is accused of kidnapping Briar in a grocery store, which is videoed. It's a story of white saviour complexes. It's hard-hitting but somehow easy to read. I really disliked Alix, and her behaviours were challenging in that she thought she was doing the right thing, but she was actually stalker-ish and inappropriate in her actions. Race, white privilege, class, power dynamics, wealth, money, careers, and lack of personal direction and identity are tackled. It's funny in parts but also incredibly sad and uncomfortable reading. Challenging and thought-provoking view of the white saviour complex. Read as part a book club during black history month which fitted the bill perfectly.

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sestout's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective fast-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? Yes

4.5

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herbodyslikeamodernart's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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stellahadz's review

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challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

4.5

This book does an excellent job of what many books struggle to do - capturing the insidious nature of racism and transactional relationships.

I wish Emira had been a little more developed as a character - I found myself wanting to know more about her, and while I know the book was a satire of well-meaning white liberalism, I thought it was a bit ironic that the story ended up focusing more on a petty conflict between Kelley and Alix than on Emira, the Black main character. I wasn't a fan of the flashback chapter at the end of the book; it made Alix seem more like a caricature than the well-developed character she had been up until then. I also wish the ending hadn't been as rushed, but to be fair, the pacing in the rest of the book was excellent.

Overall, I really enjoyed Such a Fun Age. The writing is sharp and straightforward, which makes it a quick read, but it still packs a real punch in terms of the themes it explores. While it's not the only book to explore these themes, the addition of Kelley's storyline adds an extra dimension to the satire of "woke" white people. Definitely recommend.

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