Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (2019): A Review

Title: Such a Fun Age

Author: Kiley Reid

Publication Year: 2019

Pages: 310

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Literary Fiction

Source: eBook

Awards: longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize; Goodreads Choice Award (Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction (2020), Winner for Readers' Favorite Debut Novel (2020))

Opening Sentence: That night, when Mrs. Chamberlain called, Emira could only piece together the words “. . . take Briar somewhere . . ." and ". . . pay you double."

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid is the story of Emira, an African American girl who is still trying to figure out what she wants from her life in her mid-twenties. She has different roles: a babysitter for Alix (a white, rich woman), a girlfriend to Kelly (a white man), and a good friend to her friends. So she somehow navigates her self within this triangle of relationships, when the story escalates at the beginning of the novel by putting Emira in a traumatizing situation in which she is accused of kidnapping a white toddler while babysitting. A very typical scene!

It is generally fun to follow Emira's life through these relationships, although in some parts, it really becomes disturbing when there is a serious conflict between Alix and Kelly, who surprisingly knew each other from a long time ago. Both, in their professing love to Emira in their relationships, actually help anyone but Emira. In these conflicts, we are dealing with the race issue, while one of these two tries to prove the other is racist, and the other tries to prove that the other fetishizes Black women. Some parts make you gasp and say, "The character didn't say that." I like how Emira is the only logical adult in these relationships, despite Alix and Kelly being a decade older than she.

What I adored in this novel is the relationship between Emira and Briar, the girl Emira is babysitting. Also, despite being an unpopular idea, I like how Emira is just content with her job for years and does not kill herself to reach an ambition that is not hers. What you want from life is a job you like, a payment that supports your lifestyle, and of course, happiness. Oh, I also love the kind of friendship and support that exists between Emira and her friends.

What I didn't like was the Kelly character from the very beginning; although he did his best to prove to everyone that he is an ally of Black people, I just couldn't tolerate him. Alix was a very grey character for me; sometimes, I rooted for her, but then she made me dislike myself. And in Part Four, the plot intensifies until the final chapter, where the narrator suddenly summarises the next decade of Emira's life.

But in general, it was a fun and easy read!