Thoughts on the book: SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid

Title: SUCH A FUN AGE

Author: Kiley Reid
Read: February 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

I don't need you to be mad that it happened. I need you to be mad that it just like ... happens.

Book Description:

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. A mother to two small girls, she started out as a blogger and has quickly built herself into a confidence-driven brand. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night. Seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, a security guard at their local high-end supermarket accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make it right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

What attracted me to this book:

Sometimes I avoid hype books, and other times I am irresistibly drawn to them – this one was snatched up in a bad case of FOMO and bookstagrammademedoit. I liked the sound of a social satire on class and race, one that would challenge my own prejudices and misconceptions. Plus, it was a group read with some great bookish friends, and I can never resist those!

My Musings:

I admit that it took me a little while to get into the story. As you know, there is an incident in a grocery store where Emira gets accosted by the security guard, who thinks she has abducted little Briar, who she is babysitting at the time. Whilst this incident provides the fulcrum of the story, it takes some time to set things in motion.

From chatting to other readers, my initial disconnection may have had something to do with living in Australia and not being familiar with the social complexities of Northern USA. For example, here no one would even blink an eye if a twenty-five year old woman decides to do odd jobs like babysitting instead of choosing a very concrete career path straight out of college. There was also the generational gap – I am a long way past my twenties and thirties, and some of those agonising insecurities are thankfully also in the past. However, as the story progressed I was feeling more and more intrigued and itching to discuss some of the finer points with my reading group.

So here is my recommendation to you – find yourself some buddies to read this book with. Our discussion, which involved people from various backgrounds, ages and nationalities, was such good value! Reid really knows how to stoke the embers that made different opinions flare, highlighting some of our own beliefs, preconceptions and if I am honest, also prejudices I may have lived with for so long that they no longer stood out until challenged by our chat. Don’t you love it when books do that? I appreciated that Reid never once bogged her book down with preachy overtones or overly contrived wisdoms, but chose humour and characters you could either love or hate, which prompted me to form my own opinions. Is there a right or wrong? Our discussion showed that we each took something very unique away from the story, and I can’t ask for more than that. There were certainly enough themes to choose from that most of us could relate – apart from social class and racial issues the story revolved around the intricacies of transactional relationships, motherhood, friendship, trust, loneliness, career and many more.

Whilst I initially had trouble bonding with the characters, I found that I related to parts of them. Emira’s odd jobs and lack of career path in her twenties, Alix’s sense of isolation after moving away from her friendship group, even little Briar, who reminded me of my daughter as a toddler. Briar was by far my favourite character and immediately stole my heart. Oddly, I also felt an almost visceral dislike for Kelley, the root of which I am not entirely sure of yet.

Summary:

All in all, SUCH A FUN AGE delivered all the things that made me pick it up in the first place, despite some slight cultural differences that may be the reason it didn’t blow my mind as it has with other readers. However, it initiated a fantastic discussion that made me reflect  on my own ingrained beliefs and prejudices, which is always the sign of a good read. Best read in a group or with a reading buddy!