Such a Fun Age in Book Club for Introverts

Feb 27, 2020 Victoria Rodr铆guez rated it it was amazing

This is a book I read with a group of friends, I must say that I enjoyed it a lot. The story is a little complex because the author mentions some social problems that we encounter nowadays. Emira Tucker has a side job, she works as a babysitter for the Chamberlain's family. One day, Alix Chamberlain had an incident in her house, she calls Emira at not normal hours so she can take Briar, her daughter with her somewhere. Emira arrives from a party she was holding and takes the girl to an upper hig ...more

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Aug 18, 2020 Danielle rated it liked it

After waiting for weeks I finally got my hands on Such A Fun Age. I was so excited to dive into this book, because there was so much buzz around it.

Half way through I kept waiting for the climax. It never came. The topics were heavy, especially in the high racial tension climate we are in at the moment. I understand the story and the relevance of white privilege and the view points of that through different eyes. The characters were hard to connect with and became less enjoyable as the story we ...more

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May 03, 2021 Cat rated it really liked it

I was really surprised that this was Kiley Reid's debut work! Such A Fun Age is witty and sharply written, and I really enjoyed reading it.

A friend of mine compares it to Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere in their review, and I think that comparison is pretty spot on, along with Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty (maybe it's just that Reese Witherspoon plays That White Mom so well?) At the book's core is the relationship between Emira Tucker, a Black woman who's babysitting while trying to f I was really surprised that this was Kiley Reid's debut work! Such A Fun Age is witty and sharply written, and I really enjoyed reading it.

A friend of mine compares it to Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere in their review, and I think that comparison is pretty spot on, along with Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty (maybe it's just that Reese Witherspoon plays That White Mom so well?) At the book's core is the relationship between Emira Tucker, a Black woman who's babysitting while trying to figure out what she wants in life, and Alix Chamberlain, a white woman whose daughter Emira is taking care of who's trying to balance motherhood/work with an deep need to be friends with her hired babysitter. I think what's a little more nuanced than Little Fires Everywhere (which is still a great book in its own right, and says more about planned urbanity and whiteness imo) is the levels of privilege even within ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic class. Tamra, for example, happens to be Black and is one of Alix's close friends, and later gets called a "Uncle Tom" by Emira's close friend, Zara, for approving of Alix's plans to meddle in Emira's life "for her own good", despite clearly being from and in a different place from Emira despite similarity in skin tone (further exacerbated when Tamra takes it upon herself to assume Emira's feelings and experiences with her hair, and physically puts her fingers in it to assess)

I think what this book does so well is that it really picks apart the (white) savior trope, and one of the critical nuances of racism and discrimination: you don't have to be a bad person or mean to be racist or discriminating. Your racism and discrimination doesn't have to be intentional, but it is most likely there! And even if it's not blatant racism or discrimination, it's worthwhile to consider how your privilege may be obscuring your empathy to someone else (or forcing empathy for someone else). It's played out particularly between Emira and Alix, but also shows up in her boyfriend, Kelley, in how he felt the need to act on her behalf in their first meeting, and continually (but nicely!) throughout the course of the book. It's played out in how the women of Alix's friend group treat her as a new mother in Philidelphia, and continually push her to "do better" and assure her that she's "doing the right thing" (like committing to teaching an unknown class in NYC so you have to commute twice a week from Philly via train? because it's "better for you", AND it "helps" your sitter?) So many things in this book were frustrating and fascinating, but I wondered how many people would also read this book and be on the side of the "saviors".

A common criticism of the book (that I think adds to my question of how many people would be on the side of the saviors) is that Emira doesn't know what she wants to do with her life; she doesn't have a passion or a dream career, she's just good at working with kids. I've seen some reviews call that frustrating, but I think that's a really common mindset in my generation of peers - many of my friends have grown disillusioned within their fields because of how the "if you work your dream job, you never work a day in your life" mentality then leads to lack of boundaries between work/life, and work can become your life. Many others are just working whatever job to make ends meet, with an emphasis not on field but on whether it can offer health insurance (so they can afford to go to therapy). I think that positioning Emira in this place, especially in comparison to her own circle of friends, is really poignant. She's just trying to survive on her own and make enough for rent and health insurance, and that's okay.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and felt myself in kind of a limbo space by the end - there's not really a right person or answer or emotion by the end, and maybe that's okay. I'm really interested to see what Kiley Reid is writing next, because her writing is sharp and the relationships are textured and critical. ...more

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Sep 18, 2020 Jess Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

Emira is about to turn 26, the age when you get dropped from your parent's health insurance. Most of her friends have started to find careers, and she is still working as a babysitter. She works for a very wealthy white family. She know's she needs to start looking for a better job, and a career. But, she doesn't want to stop taking care of one of the daughters, Briar. After Emira is harassed in a grocery store one night with Briar, Alix attempts to correct things, without actually listening to ...more

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Jan 28, 2020 Trisha rated it it was amazing

This is a debut you will want to tear through and then ponder. It is one of those books that hits the sweet spot of being a whole lot of fun while also having a whole lot to say.

Such a Fun Age features an unforgettable cast of characters written with such honesty that it鈥檚 easy to empathize with and judge each of them, sometimes simultaneously. I warn you though that I also think they can be perceived as stereotypical. Its brisk, sharp dialogue is incredibly funny, awkward and real. The book is ...more

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Mar 12, 2020 Taylor Martinez rated it really liked it

This book was much different than what I expected it to be. I thought the police incident would be the main part of the story and in a way it was, but not how I expected it. The mother's obsession with Emira was off-putting but so was the boyfriend's "woke-ness." Weirdly, I loved him as much as I didn't and although he made me cringe at times he was cute and looking out for her best interests. The ending was satisfying in its own way, again not quite what I expected but still very good. I'm most ...more

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Mar 09, 2020 abrimmingbookcase rated it liked it

I had really high hopes for this book. I think because it was so hyped, I was a little more disappointed that I didn鈥檛 just love it.

The story was good, if a little predictable in spots. Unfortunately, the pacing was hard for me. We spent a while in character development but there were so many peripheral friends that I had to keep referring back to remember who was who. The story starts off with a big event and then we don鈥檛 really have more action until the last few chapters when several things ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 Missy rated it it was amazing

I have been sitting on my review for this much loved debut book. There are no words to correctly describe the way it made me feel. I absolutely loved this book.
"If you didn't cringe during certain scenes, you missed the point." - Rachel Epstein.
And that's exactly my feelings.
Emira Tucker, a black woman is Briar's babysitter, who is a white toddler and Alix Chambers, Briar's mother called one night to see if Emira could help with Briar after they had a bad evening. Emira takes Briar to the groc ...more

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Nov 01, 2020 Kimberly White rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

The title puzzles me, but the story was wonderful! I loved watching Emira figure out how to be an adult - what she wanted in her life and what she did not.

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Feb 10, 2020 Carrie rated it it was amazing

Such a Fun Age is a fun, fast-paced read that packs quite a punch underneath. Kiley Reid handles all the shades of how race AND class impact every one of us. It may make you feel uncomfortable acknowledging some of your own biases and prejudices. It will definitely make you think.

This one would be great for a buddy read or book club if you haven鈥檛 read it. And if you鈥檙e trying to read more Own Voices this year, I鈥檇 recommend it in a heartbeat. It was my first five star read of the year. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 ...more

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