A review by babewithabookandabeer
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

emotional funny reflective slow-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

5.0

Thank you Putnam for my Netgalley copy of COME & GET IT by Kiley Reid, out on 1/9/24!

After reading and loving SUCH A FUN AGE a few years ago, I had to request Kiley Reid’s latest novel. It is a fresh and provocative novel about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a queer professor writing about money and three unruly students at the University of Arkansas. 

Millie, our RA, wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house after taking a gap year to take care of her mother with glaucoma. She comes in cahoots with Agatha Paul, a visiting professor from New York taking a break from her spouse who is on her health insurance and who has very different ideas about what to spend money on, causing a clash in their relationship. Agatha starts to write about marriage through focus groups, but when she meets the girls in the dorm, she changes her writing to money, class and the power it brings.

The book leads up to one destructive moment where all the characters collide. To be honest, I thought the build-up would lead to something more…. If you’re looking for plot, I don’t think this is the book for you. But this book is very nuanced in its writing about identity. This is a quiet campus novel about class and race differences. It’s smart, quippy and full of observations and details that help you understand each character.

It kind of feels like an extension of her first novel - but it’s smarter and delves deeper into the ideas through quiet examination. The reading experience reminded me of how I felt when reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Agatha and Millie are very complex characters - I wish the other characters were fleshed out a little more. The insights on how money differences in a relationship can lead to resentment were spot-on. And the ruminations on grief were powerful. There is a part on pleasure deprivation that was very interesting. I really liked this book - it’s the slowest I’ve read a novel in awhile because I didn’t want to skip a single detail. They all allude to the inner workings of each character in a fascinating way. Definitely keep your eyes peeled for this release. A fabulous sophomore novel from Reid.