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.
With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone “family,” the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.
My Review:
Rating: 3/5 stars.
Firstly, I'd like to thank Tandem Collective UK and Bloomsbury Publishing for gifting me a copy of this book to read as a part of a readalong. I was really intrigued by the blurb of this book and it hooked me straight away. This story is narrated by two women, Emira and Alix and shifts between the two POVs. The scene described in the blurb happens pretty much straight away and and acts as a hook that carries throughout the books. I found it really interesting to read about privilege and how the author presented this through the white characters in the book and how Emira reacts to their actions. This is such an important topic to explore and I commend the author for doing this so well. Having said this, I found that I didn't really enjoy any of the characters. My favourite character was the 3 year old, Briar. Emira felt like she was there just to make a point and I wished her character was explored more deeply. Even though Emira was one of the main characters it seemed to focus on the feud between Kelley and Alix who were both trying to prove how racist the other was but they were both in very different ways. Alix was a very crazy character that lied to get what she wanted. I couldn't believe some of the things that she did throughout this book and I really can't understand the reasoning behind it. Something that really troubled me was the constant body shaming that ran throughout this book. It can be really damaging to read such things. At one point describing 141 pounds as mortifying. I feel like the point that was being made throughout this book was dampened by the lack of characterisation and the body shaming aspect. Overall, I did enjoy this book and it definitely shines a light on privilege and the everyday systemic racism that black people face. This is Kiley Reid's debut novel that I think she did a good job with but I just found myself willing the story to end. Amy x