Reviews

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition

challenging funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

“Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid
Emira Tucker, a 25 year old Black woman, is the last of her friends to feel like she has found her place in adulthood. But when she is falsely accused of kidnapping the child she babysits, her future becomes the subject of virtually everyone around her. The resulting story is a compelling novel on Black women finding their place in the world amongst and in spite of the well-meaning white people in their life who are still unconsciously influenced by white supremacy culture. 

I had a long trip this past weekend through which I devoured this audiobook. Reid crafted an incredibly complex character in Emira, a Black woman experiencing what I would call a quarterlife crisis that any of us might experience. However, because she is Black the crisis is also marred by the racially charged incident at the start of the novel which thrust the white family who hired her and the white man who recorded the incident into her life forcefully. I appreciated the care Reid took to demonstrate the challenges of Black womanhood in the 2010s, revealing the complicated tension over safety of when to speak up and when to let go. She also did a fantastic job of building this novel as a profile in the subtlety and seriousness of white savior complexes and fetishization of Black bodies in relation to both sex and social capital. As the narrative unfolded, to me it felt as if this was a case study in the ways that, in a supposedly post-racial world, Black women, especially young Black women, are objectified, infantilized, and belittled in ways which make them supposedly uncredible narrators and decision-makers to their own experiences. 

I still don’t know that this review captures with enough clarity all of my thoughts and feelings about this novel, but I can unequivocally recommend it. I also will say this is a rare case when, if you are someone who can engage with and enjoy audiobooks, this is a great one for it. I’m sure it’s a great read on the page too, but Nicole Lewis as the audiobook narrator did a phenomenal job of capturing some of the important tonal variations among characters and the pronounced subtleties of microaggressive communication patterns. 

I don’t know if I would say for sure that this is “perfect” book, whatever that means, but it’s getting five stars from me because the book demanded my attention and offered so many social complexities to consider that I struggled to put how it challenged my thinking into words. I will definitely be checking out more from Reid in the future

whitleyysuereads's review against another edition

emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

reidnb's review against another edition

challenging 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

miacg04's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

3.25

I liked the message of the story a lot but sometimes it was hard to pay attention because of all the minor details. It felt like the story jumped around without any transitions. I swear the author wrote the word “vestibule” at least once every chapter.

parkercox's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

rachael27's review against another edition

challenging funny informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

april_la's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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? No

3.5

hb_bookworm's review against another edition

5.0

a well-crafted and sharp story with compelling characters and a very accurate look at how race and class differences can play out. i really liked how it all wrapped up in the end - I really cared about what happened to emira after everything she went through, and I related to some of her anxieties and concerns. I cringed at alix and kelly's behaviors and saw some of how I've acted in them too - alix's self-centeredness reeeeally takes me back to dumb stuff I did in college. I'm usually more one for genre fiction, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this!

lalalena100800's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-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

3.0

dusenberryla's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense

3.5