Such a fun book!

Such a great book to kick off the year with.I'd heard a lot about Such a Fun Age before I started reading it and it absolutely lived up to the hype.

Characters were drawn so well - I loved the split POV and the relationship between Briar and Emira (I totally shed a tear at the end).

I read this in one sitting, flying through the parallel stories of a babysitter and the woman she works for. I don’t know why but I had expected something fluffier than this book about race and class and was very pleasantly surprised. I would also read an entire book of three year old Briar’s wisdom, if Reid is looking for a new project!

Such a Fun Age was unexpected. I can't say I truly liked it, but at the same time I thought it was very good. There were a lot of character descriptions that didn't make sense to me until the end, so at the time I thought it was poor character building. But when we see everyone's true colours during the final events I can see what Reid was leading up to. And the pay off was brilliant.

I was a little disappointed in Emira who often could be so eloquent kind of letting herself down during the interview at the end. She could have called out some real bullshit right then, but I must suppose that she was just so frustrated at being used and manipulated that she just wanted out.

It was a really fascinating look into the way that white people use and abuse Black people and other POC, while thinking that they're the ones who are *not* racist. This was brilliantly explored during a showdown near the end. As a white woman it's certainly going to make me think about my place in the world and the consequences of my actions in the future.

A piercing commentary on race, the complexities of transactional relationships and.the anxieties of all young women about careers, love and life. But what really engages the reader is the simple portrayal of the most charming little girl and her sitter's feelings for her. A book to enjoy on so many levels.

This could just be me but I was expecting a lot more from this book than I got. The start read very much like a young adult with parts of the commentary very immature. The characters I couldn't get along with Alix , a spoilt materialistically contrite character who for her age seemed very naive, with trivial matters initially bothering her little bubble- your white privilege. Emira, the babysitter in contrast, dealing with a lot of issues due to her race and upbringing though allowed me an insight into the struggles she faced, her indecisiveness about her life did irk me. The whole social construct of the story does make you question yourself as well as make you aware of your own moral compass, but the execution of the story was chaotic and in some parts confusing. The dynamic of the book does change to a more serious note near the end but at this point I wasn't engrossed in it.
Overall it's a book that does have a strong point to make I just felt the story itself could have been cleaner.

This book is fantastic.
It will make you look at yourself and the people around you in the best (most uncomfortable) way. This book is topic, relevant, gritty and addictive.
100% recommend.

This isn’t an easy book to read. Such a Fun Age looks at two women caring for Briar, a little girl just on the cusp of her third birthday as the novel opens. Emira is a young black woman who babysits for Briar three times a week. Alix Chamberlain, a rich white woman with her own business, is Briar’s mum.

The novel starts with an incident. Alix’s husband is a local news anchor. He makes a throwaway remark that is unintentionally, but nonetheless, racist during his broadcastand in response their window is egged - the glass smashed on impact - late at night. They decide to call the police and don’t want their two-year-old to witness the police coming so they call their sitter and ask her to take Briar for a little while.

Emira is at a birthday party for a friend and is dressed for a night out. She explains she’s had a drink and isn’t dressed for babysitting, but Alix is desperate and so she goes right over and takes Briar to the local grocery store that, thankfully, is still open. Briar likes to look at nuts and smell tea bags and Emira is happy to indulge her.

Emira arrives with her friend Zara and with Briar’s encouragement all three girls have a little dance in the store to a song on Zara’s phone. A man at the supermarket claps and Zara heads off, leaving Emira and Briar to themselves.

Then the security guard comes and questions Emira. He doesn’t believe that she should be out this late with a young child clearly not her own and he’s worried about the child’s safety. An older white woman reported their dancing to him and even though Emira reassures him of who she is, the woman and the guard talk over her, addressing all their questions to the two-year-old, clearly believing that a black woman in a revealing outfit shouldn’t be in charge of a white girl at this time of night.

The man who had clapped their dancing, films the whole altercation on his phone, as Emira finally has to call Mr Chamberlain, ‘an old white guy’ to sort it all out. The man who filmed the incident claims - as do the Chamberlains - that Emira should sue the store for being racially prejudiced. He says Emira can have the film, share it, get compensation, but Emira doesn’t want the spotlight and wants to just shrug off the night’s events. In response, the man sends her the film and deletes it from his own phone. That video is hers to do with as she wishes.

That night, that white man with the phone, and that video become the fulcrum point for the whole of the unfolding narrative that painfully unravels Alix’s privilege, not only of race but of affluence. It makes for awkward and difficult reading. Emira loves Briar. So does Alix. But their ability to express that love, to nurture and encourage Briar, their priorities in regard to her growth, are put sharply under the spotlight. Around this centre stage shadows from that night and from the more distant past begin to deepen. What happened in Alix’s past? Why is she so desperate suddenly to befriend her sitter? Who is the white man from the grocery store and why is he significant? Did he really delete that video?

The plot is gripping; the unravelling of racial and financial prejudice is meticulous and cleverly nuanced. It’s not easy to read but the pace of the unfolding plot keeps you going. I can’t say I enjoyed reading it, but it does explore the complexity of money and race in American society in ways that make you want to check your own privilege more closely. It is also as generous as it is searing - no mean feat.

I was keen to read Such a Fun Age from reading the synopsis alone and it was a great read.

The novel opens with a bang and I was completely drawn in and keen to follow the stories of Emira and Alix thorughout. Kiley Reid explores race, class, feminism and privilege in great detail in this book and it is a testament to her writing that I wanted to keep reading in spite of the fact that I found reading the book to be uneasy at times. Alix tries to make up for the incident in the supermarket throughout the book and her scenes were often uncomfortable to read as she didn't seem to consider Emira in this or what Emira would think.

Emira's interactions with Alix's daughter, Briar, were sweet and it was evident that she had a great relationship with her. This was one of my favourite parts of the book.

I will be honest and admit that I didn't 'love' the ending and I thought parts of it were quite slow. However, this did not put me off reading the book and I really enjoyed Such a Fun Age. I would recommend this book and look forward to reading Kiley Reid's next novel.

Many thanks to Bloomsbury UK and NetGalley for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am always intrigued by an insightful debut novel and Such A Fun Age was pitched as ‘a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege’, which put Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie in mind. So I was very excited when I was accepted for it on NetGalley.

The novel follows 25-year-old babysitter Emira Tucker, who is about to be kicked off of her parents’ health insurance when she reaches her 26th birthday, if she doesn’t find a ‘grown-up’ job with benefits. She works for the glamorous Alix Chamberlain, whose mission to empower young women everywhere leaves her unable to take care of her two-year-old daughter Briar, which Emira is only too happy to do. When Emira is confronted by a security guard in a supermarket while looking after Briar one night, Alix is determined to do everything she can to help make things right. Then Emira begins dating someone new and an unexpected link is made between the two women that threatens to undo everything.

As a woman in her late twenties who has never been particularly ambitious, it has been a while since I related to a character as much as I relate to Emira. For the past few years, so many contemporary novels have been driven by young go-getting women with an active agenda of bettering themselves professionally. While they’re very inspirational and great fun to read, I’ve never found them very relatable. I’d actually like to thank Reid for finally representing the girls who just want a happy simple life and not much else.

Almost the entire plot is driven by racial difference and there is so much wise and profound social commentary. I’ve read a few books that focus on contemporary black issues and my eyes are opened a little wider each time. At one point, Emira is considering her future with her boyfriend Kelley. She knows that as a white person, it wouldn’t cross his mind to educate their children on the things that would affect them as mixed-race people, which is a huge indication of how different their experience of life and the world is.

The book also explores the question of what family is and the difficulties of bringing an outsider into it. As a life-long privileged person, Alix has always had help around the house and she likes to consider those that work for her as family. After the incident at the supermarket, Alix is so ashamed that she spends most of the first half of the book trying to absorb Emira into the family unit. However noble her intentions seem, she makes several misjudgements and fails to notice the inherent differences between what she wants and what’s best for Emira. During an exchange with Briar, Emira points out that families always consist of people who are essentially equal. She is smart enough to know that she couldn’t possibly be a true part of the family because of her position and the fact that her skin colour means she isn’t considered a true equal.

Emira’s relationship with Briar is one of my favourite aspects of the book. The chatty, curious two-year-old is hilarious and the conversations that Emira has with her are so heart-warming. The final chapter brought tears to my eyes when I realised that Briar is, of course, forever changed for the better because of the time she spent with Emira. She’ll always have a part of her babysitter with her throughout her life, even though she may not necessarily remember her. This gives a strong bittersweet flavour to the ending, which is otherwise incredibly triumphant and satisfying.

Such A Fun Age is a fantastic mature coming-of-age story that actually has the pace and tone of a thriller in places. It’s a charming, thoughtful debut that I couldn’t put down -ideal for fans of clever, contemporary fiction.

I still don’t really know how to review this one. I don’t read a lot of contemporary but there was something so intriguing about the synopsis of ‘Such A Fun Age’, that I knew I had to give it a try.

The first chapter was fantastic! It roped me in right away, and I could not stop reading. A truly strong opening for this debut novel. Overall, it remained fairly compulsive for the first half of the book. However, sooner or later, it fell apart for me.

This book follows two characters, Emira and Alex. Emira is a young, black babysitter - working for Alix, and generally trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Alix is a wealthy social media star and writer - who is insecure and has her own struggles, yet hides these facts from everyone in her life.

After Emira is confronted by a security guard in a shop, and accused of kidnapping - both of their lives change. Alix, along with Kelley (a witness of the incident) think that Emira should report the incident and generally try to support her throughout this story.

Overall, this story is a simple contemporary. After the first quarter, it really slowed down and became much less interesting for me to listen to. I didn’t like any of the characters much, and didn’t connect with much of what was happening throughout. Aside from some provocative moments scattered throughout, this felt like a run-of-the-mill contemporary novel.

This certainly felt as though it was a critic of the idea of the ‘white-saviour’. However, the author definitely fleshes out her characters and gives them all positive and negative attributes. That being said, I really didn’t enjoy the result of Alix’s character. I felt as though the earlier writing of her was smart and suggestive and the idea that she didn’t see her problematic actions and she was oblivious to this was very thought-provoking. The end led her character to a more stereotypical place and I didn’t enjoy that as much.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, but I was left wanting more. If you’re intrigued by the synopsis I would give it a go, as, if nothing else, it was an interesting character study of two very different women.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for a review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I’m afraid I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters in this, so, struggled to maintain any interest.

It’s a well written debut novel about race, privilege and class and made some interesting observations. But, overall, I found it plodding and slow.

I’m probably in the minority and I’m sure there’s a solid audience for this genre. I wish the author every success and am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview. It’s just not a book for me.

I struggled with this book. I did not like the writing style and could not connect with any of the characters. I thought it was going to be a lot better than it was.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Alix (ahhh leeeks) has turned her childhood fondness for writing letters into an empire, with an Insta following to boot. Her family has recently relocated to support her husband’s job, but her heart (and instagram) are still in NYC.

In walks Emira, Alix’s babysitter, like a breath of fresh air...and a new ‘project’ for Alix to ‘help’. Emira herself feels aimless, and at almost 26 still feels adrift. While her friends are moving up the career ladder, she hasn’t settled on what she wants to be when she grows up.

One night amid a family crisis, Emira is called upon to take Briar to a ‘very white’ grocery store, where she is accosted by the security guard, who doesn’t believe her when she says she’s the babysitter. At this point, you think you know where this one is going to go. But you’re probably wrong 😁.

I enjoyed this book. The pacing was good throughout, which made me furiously keep turning the pages to find out what happened next. The social commentary and the juxtaposition between Emira’s life and friends vs Alix and her life was on point, as was the delicate relationship between employer/employee with the added layer of race. Alix is at pains to show that she’s not a ‘regular’ frumpy mum, but it comes off as forced and just embarrassing. The book also explores issues of white privilege and saviourism, and the dynamics this places across different relationships.

The relationship between Emira and Briar brought tears to my eyes on multiple occasions. They were really the standout characters for me in this book.

And now; Alix. I really disliked Alix. Right from the start. She just grated on me on so many levels - as a woman, in her friendships, relationships, career and as a parent. I did not care for her one bit and was on tenterhooks hoping karma would come back and bite her in the ass! And maybe that’s the point! Overall, a clever and entertaining read.

Such a Fun Age is one of the most anticipated books of 2020 so I was both eager to read it and concerned, as often is the case, that it would not live up to the hype; I needn't have worried, though, as this met my expectations and then some. What it does so superbly is offer striking and profoundly perceptive social commentary on race, class, privilege, relationships, secrets and our modern societal ills and presents it all wrapped up inside a riveting and compulsively readable fictional story. There are many writers who have sought to do it before but this is undoubtedly one of the finest incarnations of it I've ever come across. Blogger Alix Chamberlain and her babysitter, Emira Tucker, would not usually be considered as two women whose paths would've crossed in life or likely to have been friends. However, when a bystander mistakenly and somewhat bizarrely accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, Alix's toddler daughter, because of the late time of day they were out shopping and seemingly their different skin tones, it starts in motion a set of events from which neither Alix or Emira will emerge the same person and the repercussions certainly don't cease there.

This is a rarity of a novel as it manages commentary and compassion, wit and wisdom, warmth and reckoning and a set of characters who are flawed, human and relatable, especially Emira. It's refreshingly original, fun and fierce, and has a depth to it that many books lack yet it never approaches being preachy or disingenuous at any point. Although its moral messages are front and centre at all times, Ms Reid does not neglect the rest of the plot which is beautifully written and choreographed so that each of the moving parts shift in perfect unison. So often fiction is either thrilling OR thought-provoking -rarely both- but this achieves it with considerable aplomb, and I would be surprised if it didn't win some type of award for its sheer brilliance. This is a real tour de force which delicately challenges the reader to question their stance on a range of important topics. I was gobsmacked when I realised that this is Reid's debut work, and I simply cannot profess quite how excited I am to read more from her. This is a tale that I pondered long after the final page was turned. Effortless. Unforgettable. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC.

Such a Fun Age is an incredibly engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking read. It centres around twenty-five year old Emira, who works as a sitter for two-year-old Briar, and Briar’s mother Alix. A racially charged incident at a local grocery store sets off a chain of events with profound effects for both women.

Told from both Emira and Alix’s viewpoints - often of the same events - the narrative engages with issues of race, class, the assumptions people make and how widely people’s perceptions of each other can differ and change. Indeed, the reader’s perceptions of the characters are also likely to change over the course of the story. Both characters are portrayed with complexity and sensitivity.

The dialogue is a sparkly delight, particularly that among Emira and her three friends - Zara, Shaunie and Josefa - and between toddler Briar and Emira. Little oddball Briar is a total joy and the relationship between her and Emira is incredibly sweet.

If I have any criticism to make, its that the ending felt a little rushed. But overall this was a brilliant read.

I loved this, it definitely lives up to the hype! Emira is a babysitter who is accosted in a supermarket by the security guard-Emira is black and 3 year old Briar is white. She's accused of kidnapping and is filmed by a bystander who witnesses the whole thing. What follows is a searingly honest story about race, class and growing up in America. The story didn't unfold the way I thought it would which was great! The characters were really well drawn; I loved the relationship between Emira and Briar/Emira and her friends. The ending was perfect. Wouldn't be surprised if this ended up as a series. Fab.

Great writing and captivating story. I liked the characters and the conflict created as well as how each one was depicted. In part, they are reliable and interesting persons that like in real life, sometimes, at twenty-something years old you still don’t know what to do with your life and other people may want to help or maybe just pretend like helping because that’s the vibe I’ve got from the book.
I can easily see why it’s a must-read that many people will enjoy.

Such a Fun Age really made me think and reflect, long after I’d finished reading it – something I love in a book. I found it lulled me into a false sense of security – at the begninning it definitely feels like an easy, fun but not necessarily hugely deep read about teenage girls and a priveleged mother and blogger. However, as the book continues, that sense of simplicity soon disappears and the story becomes a frank and important look at relationships – both platonic and romantic – between people of different backgrounds, ages and (most importantly in this case) races.

This novel does a convincing job of making the reader consider what life must be like for a person of colour, esepcially in America. The story does of course address a lot of important issues and themes, but it’s all portrayed in a very matter-of-fact way – it never feels preachy – which I think makes it that much more effective. I’m half Iranian so I’m not white as such, but I still can’t image what it must be like to be a black female just trying to live the best life they can. Emira comes up against racism and prejudice in many forms, and in many different settings.

I personally would have preferred there to be a different ending personally, but I feel like the ‘real ending is more realistic and works better for the story anyway (I don’t want to give any spoilers so I won’t say any more here).

I hugely enjoyed Such a Fun Age, not just because the subject matter is incredibly interesting and important, but also because it’s very easy to read. I found myself racing through it and the way Kiley Reid writes means that the story flows so well – reading it doesn’t ever feel like hard work, the way that some novels can unfortuantely be. Definitely recommended!

I wasn't sure when I started reading this book if it was really for me - an older white woman from the UK. However, I soon realised the universality of the story and applaud Ms Reid's ability to combine writing a page turning story and believable characters with discussing complex emotions and views around race, class and motherhood to name a few.
I look forward to reading more of her writing.

Thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury publishing for an advance copy of this book.

I hugely enjoyed reading Such a Fun Age - a fun, engaging which deftly covers topics of race, class and the intricacies of relationships between women from whose lives are in complete contrast.

I sped through this book pretty easily, whilst throughly enjoying it, a lot is touched on in this book, but it never felt heavy, nor heavy handed. One of the themes that really stuck out for me, is what I guess could be dubbed 'performative allyship', at both sides of the tug-of-war for main character, Emira's affection, particularly from her employer, Alix/Alex - allowing a comfortable, hands-off type of support and disavowel of the prejudice experienced by Emira, well meaning to extent, but also self-serving, self-righteous and ultimately quite superficial.

I received an advance copy of Such a Fun Age from the publisher, via Netgalley.