Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Such a Fun Age

Such a Fun Age is an exploration of the dynamic between babysitter, parent, and child, and its intersections with race, racial history and economic status. It was incredibly interesting, gripping – at times, infuriating – and thought-provoking.

I loved the exploration of the relationship between Emira, the babysitter to 3-year-old Briar, and Alix, Briar’s mother and employer. It is a dual narrative, so you get to see both perspectives and the different ways in which they view the same situation. It was incredibly interesting – and at times, downright weird – to see Alix’s need to befriend Emira, to know Emira, to please her and to essentially adopt her into the family. It was an incredibly invasive relationship that Emira was not aware of, and the reader gets to experience Alix’s slow descent into obsession, driving her to commit extreme acts.

I am fascinated by the dynamic of the babysitter in these types of household; the way the sitter becomes a part of the family as a third parent to the child. The child gets to know them, to depend on them, until the sitter is no longer of use. This exploitation of emotional labour, as many childminders grow to love the children they take care of, is really explored in Such a Fun Age, as is the expectation that babysitters should just leave as soon as the child grows and they are no longer necessary. It also raises a level of competitiveness and jealousy/envy from the parent, who may spend less time with their child and end up resenting the babysitter for the affection that their child feels towards them. It is such an interesting dynamic and I loved the exploration in this novel.

It is a character-driven and slow-paced novel, yet the interesting and complex set of dynamics made it impossible to put down. It is one of those books where you have to know what happens next and you cannot bear to leave it on a cliff hanger. The alternating perspectives also really helped to increase the tension, as revelations were made just before the perspective switches, making it impossible not to read at least two more chapters to find out more.

The friendships in this novel are amazing, particularly between Emira and Zara. I loved both characters and I always love seeing genuine, dependable friendships in books. Zara is always there for Emira, and this is shown throughout the novel. Similarly, the other friendships in this book were interesting – Emira is still struggling to figure out what she wants from life and experiences resentment at seeing her friends progress without her. They are achieving milestones whilst Emira feels stuck in her babysitting role and I enjoyed the examination of career roles and what it means to achieve as a twenty-something.

The book begins with an event in which Emira is questioned and threatened over her care of Briar, the child she babysits, in a local grocery store. Though this is not the main focus of the novel, as I originally thought it would be, it is the catalyst to a significant chain of events and plays an important role in the novel. It begins conversations of racism, racial prejudice and performative activism. Performative activism is an important theme throughout the book and is seen from all sides – from Emira, who is on the receiving end of this ‘activism’ and from Alix, who strives to be ‘anti-racist’ yet failing to see how her actions are nothing other than self-centred and performative.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. It was impossible not to give this book 5 stars.

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funny reflective

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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