Such a Fun Age

by Kiley Reid

[Rach Wood]

After Emira Tucker, a young black babysitter, is falsely accused of kidnapping a two-year-old white toddler, the wealthy feminist blogger Alix Chamberlain, Briar's mom, resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is wary of Alix's desire to help. When a video of Emira standing for herself unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course. A thought-provoking debut novel, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning story with piercing social commentaries about race and privilege, but also what means to make someone family and the complicated reality of being a grown-up.

This could have been a 5-stars review, but I didn’t like the conclusions of the characters’ stories. Despite that, I still think this is a good start to learning more about important issues like systemic racism and micro-aggressions, performative activism, woke culture, white “saviorism” and even power dynamics between women. Although I’m sure there are books that go deeper into that matter, I think this story does a good job at revealing the state of America through what Reids called the “everyday domestic biases that we don’t even know we have.”

I also love how the author created scenarios where lines are blurred, inviting the reader to critically think about it, and explored the way well-meaning white people often overstep and actually make black people's lives harder. Since life is full of grey areas, there are situations when questioning our own perspective before acting might massively alter the outcome. A great example is exactly how everyone in the novel seems to know what Emira needs, but doesn’t bother to really get to know her.

As the road to hell is paved with good intentions, we should do an even greater effort to develop self-awareness and to listen to those whose backgrounds are different from our own.