Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age is undoubtedly a novel that has changed me in a profound way. Even though I had always thought of reading as a source of entertainment and escape, this novel showed me that beyond an interesting storyline and captivating characters that there can be, and rather, should be more. Through the characters of Emira, Alix, Kelley, and young Briar, Reid challenges the reader, challenged me, to confront our own implicit biases and the stereotypes we hold. As a white woman, I found myself frustrated with Alix and Kelley at times and then cheering for them at others. By gaining Emira’s perspective to these same characters, I gained a much needed perspective on my reactions to their actions which allowed me to see some of my own biases that I held even when I thought I was doing something “right.” I feel that Reid’s writing taught me that in feeling uncomfortable and challenged that I can start to pick apart and break down implicit biases and stereotypes and for that I extremely grateful.

Such a Fun Age came highly recommended to me by my good friend Reese. :) But just wow! The writing in this book is stellar making it easy to read in just one sitting. It is a fresh story around race and privilege that left me stunned with whose side I should be on. It was a great debut novel and cannot wait to read more books from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have so many thoughts about Such a Fun Age that it's hard to know where to begin. First off, I loved the book. It's an amazing debut novel and very relevant to current situations regarding race. The story begins with Emira doing a favor for her employers. She takes the little girl, Briar, that she baby sits for to a 24 hour supermarket to get her out of the house. She is confronted by a white security guard who accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar. I loved Emira; she is a 25 year old college graduate who is having a hard time really deciding what she wants to do when she grows up. I also loved Briar. She is so precocious and said a lot of funny and brilliant things. Emira accepted her for who she was, something Briar's mother, Alix, couldn't seem to do. For the most part, I really did like Emira's friends. They did have her back, but they could have been a little more accepting of her choices while she was trying to find herself. I did not like Alix at all. She was very stalkerish and whenever anything happened, she seemed to only think about how it affected her. This was an amazing read and I highly recommend. I can't wait to read this author's next book! Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

When Emira Tucker is out late at night with Alix Chamberlains' daughter, the black babysitter is accused of kidnapping 2 year old Briar. At it's core this is a story of two women who are both trying to get by and do what they think is best for them, with great commentary on race, transnational relationships, and growing up. While it is well written and compulsively readable, I finished this book in just 2 sittings, I was ultimately left disappointed by an ending I found to be very out of character for one of the woman, which knocked what should have been a 5 star read down to 4.

I actually ended up to my review copy from Libro.fm rather than reading this digital copy......

This is one of those books that I would recommend to every book club because I swear that every reader would have a different take on about 50 different things in the story. So much opportunity for discussion! And the AUDIO 😍
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I 100% believe that I loved the story so much because of the listening experience ~ the narration made me feel like I knew the characters intimately and Briar’s little raspy toddler voice? Sigh ❤️

𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝗪⚡️𝘚𝘜𝘊𝘏 𝘈 𝘍𝘜𝘕 𝘈𝘎𝘌✨⁣
Thank you to @netgalley, @penguinusa, and author @kileyreid for the e-ARC of #suchafunage in exchange for an honest review. ⁣
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This debut novel by Kiley Reid was compulsively readable with extremely well-developed characters. It is a story about race and privilege, centered around Emira Tucker, a 25 year old college-educated black woman, and her employer, Alix Chamberlain. Alix is deeply affected by her childhood and, in particular, events that occurred in high school. Hyper vigilant of her white privilege, Alix is quite over bearing and over protective of Emira after a distastrous night at a grocery store. Alix calls Emira emergently to take her 2 year old daughter, Briar, out of the house one night. While at the grocery store, Emira is wrongly accused of kidnapping Briar by a customer and security guard—and the whole exchange is caught on tape. ⁣
The video inadvertently unearths someone from Alix’s past. Alix and Emira’s personal lives collide in a way neither one ever expected. ⁣
I loved how this novel touched on complicated relationships, family (not necessarily blood related), friends, the harsh realities of becoming an adult, and how sometimes you can absolutely do the wrong thing for the right reason. Emira was my favorite character. I loved how she was developed throughout the story, and I was rooting for her from beginning to end.⁣

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read. In a word, it’s smart. Emira, the main character, is smart. The use of the easy narrative to comment on things such as race and class and age, is smart. For someone who, especially on the outside, appears to be much more an Alix than an Emira, this book is an extremely important read. Within an enjoyable, breezy story about a stalled twenty-something and the family for whom she babysits, are necessary lessons. To see things -and attempt to understand them- from another perspective, the emptiness that exists in needing to be right... there are so many layers at play. Such a Fun Age, which takes place before the 2016 election, exists in a fun age, indeed. All in all, walking in Emira’s shoes made me feel, yes, smart. I’m better for having read it. You will be, too.
P.S. Not for nothing, but I knew the moment a 5’10” woman called her 141 pound body “pudge” that she wasn’t to be trusted.

Such a Fun Age follows a babysitter who gets called in late at night while she is out with friends to come to babysit because the parents need to call the police and they don't want their daughter there when they show up. She brings the child to the market until she gets the all-clear from the parents to come home. The problem is the security guard thinks she is kidnapping the child. After a video is being recorded she asked the person to not bring it to the police. She ends up running into him a few other times and they end up dating not realizing he dated her boss back in high school.

While killing time with the toddler she babysits, Emira, a black babysitter for an affluent white family, finds herself being questioned in a high-end grocery store by its patrons. Guards and cameras get involved, harassing Emira about her true intentions with the white child in her care. Though the situation resolves with the toddler’s father finally rushing to the store, a video was still taken by Kelley, who after deleting the video, coincidentally becomes Emira’s love interest. But Kelley and Mrs. Chamberlain, Emira’s “employer,” have a complicated history, making for some great conflict.

Overall, I really liked this novel – it was light and easy to read but did tackle some complicated racial issues. Reid skillfully moved between Alix Chamberlain and Emira’s perspectives which helped dig into the complicated feelings of both women and then effectively distanced the reader so they definitively side with Emira at the end of the novel. It communicated the tricky topic of subtle racism through characters who aren’t overtly Racist with a capital R, but still employ prejudice in their actions and beliefs. The ending did leave me craving a bit more finality and “happy ending,” but it did very much mimic reality in the sense that moving on is sometimes definitive enough.

This story captured me from the beginning and never let go! Even thought Emira is 25 it was somewhat of a coming of age story. She is working as a babysitter for the Brier the daughter of The Chamberlain"s who happen to be wealthy and white. Although she feels pressure to be more stable at this point, she loves taking care of Bier and is very good at it. The story begins as Emira is out celebrating a friends birthday and gets a call from Mrs. Chamberlain to take Brier out of the house while they handle an emergency. While at the neighborhood grocery a customer suspects her of being a kidnapper since she is after all a black woman with white child. This escalates to the police being called . The incident is resolved and there is a young man that recorded the whole thing.

Although the incident and how each of the characters handle it is a central part of the story, it is so much more.
We see how the situation effects Mrs. Chamberlain and it is comical yet sad how hard she tries to compensate and "not" be racist. The story is also told from Emira's point of view and I found it realistic that advice from her well meaning friends and new boyfriend did not usually agree with her feelings. There is definitely enough drama and an unexpected relationship triangle to keep the reader turning the pages. I liked the girlfriend network that was there for both Mrs. Chamberlain and Emira. I feel the story will cause each reader to really think about their biases and assumptions because we all have them. an amazing Debut and a great discussion book! Thank you to Netgalley , Libro.fm and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Shout outs to netgalley for the providing me with an arc!!
I feel (present tense) so many feelings, the ending left me unbelieving sad and deflated 🤧😫. The first half of this books is such a dream, it was somewhat light and romantic and then dun dun dun shit starts to get real 😰. Emira is a twenty five yr old babysitter who feels like she’s not adult enough to or in the same league as her friends who have “real” respectful jobs. One day when babysitting baby Bria is asked to babysit Bria during a disturbance, she takes her fav little human to the grocery store to kill some time, there she gets snitched on by some “well meaning” white lady whose concerned the child isn’t where she oughta be 🙄. The security guard comes and they basically harass her. A man at the store films the altercation, her boss is forced to come down to right the situation. This incident sets off a chain of events. Reid perfectly captures the subtly of racism and class, the anxiety and uncertainty of trying to make something of yourselves in a capitalist and racist society all the while still managing to write a fun and low key romantic (...🤢) story. Emiras friends were wonderful and fun to read about, the shifting pov showcased the contrast in living and thought, rich and poor and also Whiteness and Blackness.
Emira’s uncertainty and anxiety at who she was and where her life was going was written so well I was omg low key that’s me like what am I doing with my life? The exploration of subtle racism masked in a progressive and well meaning vessels made me laugh and think damn white people 🙄😭😭. I feel while this book is about racism it’s just as much about capitalism and a becoming of age story.

After hearing so much hype about this book, I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy! I especially like to read books by debut authors, and I think Reid has a promising future. Such a Fun Age tackles issues such as race and income inequality through the eyes of Alix, a young mom, and her part time babysitter Emira. After a late night emergency babysitting request leads to a racially charged incident in the grocery store, both woman are led to examine their world and their place in it.

A solid page turner that provokes emotion in regards to racism, privilege and feminism. The ending might not be what you hoped for from each character, but that’s what makes it five stars. It’s thought provoking and written so objectively that it’s hard to believe this is Kiley Reid’s debut novel. The last page will have you looking at our society as a whole and saying, we need to do better. My favorite thing I took away from this book is we have to stop projecting our needs and what we want for other people and start listening to each other. Ask yourself often, what does my friend want? Not, what do I want for my friend? This was a good reminder to speak less and listen more.

I loved the no frills, straightforward narrative of the central character - Emira. The story is pretty relatable and the best part was the ending and how the epilogue was delivered.

I loved this book! I was a bit nervous with all the hype and it being an "issue book" that I may not, but the plot was interesting and the characters were well-developed. All "issues" aside, the story line is fantastic and a fast-read . Now add in some racial tension and different class/social dynamics amidst the story line, this becomes a thought-provoking and slightly challenging read. This will be an excellent (and popular) book club pick. I can see a lot of discussion about whether the characters were likable or not as well as the ending. Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for a copy to review! I was thrilled to receive this one.

I'm not going to lie - this book really make me take a hard look at my own perceptions and actions. [book:Such a Fun Age|43923951] is an incredibly thought-provoking novel that brought to light my own implicit biases, racial or otherwise. While this isn't the time or place for that discussion (book club, anyone?), I'm hoping that I'm not the only one that felt that way while reading this book and after.

Emira is on the cusp of her 26th birthday and has two part-time jobs: one as a transcriptionist and the other as a babysitter to the far too adorable two-year-old Briar Chamberlin. While struggling with finding her identity and path as an adult, she experiences an event that is far too common in 2020: she is accused of kidnapping Briar simply due to the color of skin. The novel alternates between Emira and Alix, Briar's effervescent mother. Alix is an inspirational speaker for many young women looking to achieve their goals (think: Rachel Hollis). True to form, after Alix learns of Emira's injustice, she takes matters into her own hands to make it "better" for Emira.

I think that when a book can make you feel uncomfortable, yet more aware, it's a gem. One of my reading goals for 2020 was to read more books that change the way I look at the world, and this book was definitely it. I was shocked to learn that this is Kiley Reid's debut novel and can't wait to read more from her. If you're interested in learning why I gave this book 4/5 stars, head over to Goodreads. Unfortunately, my reason contains spoilers, and I don't want to ruin it for others.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3111412919

SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid was selected as the top LibraryReads choice in December and I would readily concur in recommending this debut novel. Reid explores themes of privilege, racial tension, maturity, influence of friends, and the pressures of parenting with a story set primarily in Philadelphia. That's where Alix Chamberlain, a white woman who has invented an online "mommy blogger" persona for herself moves (from New York City) with her family, newscaster husband and two young girls, and where she hires Emira, a twenty-something young women of color, to babysit.

Both women struggle with self-esteem and questions related to career opportunities as well as their feelings for Briar, Alix’s toddler, and for their significant others. The story revolves around an incident late one night when Emira is called to baby sit in an emergency and takes young Briar to a local grocery store where the clerk accuses Emira of kidnapping. The entire incident is video-taped, but Emira elects not to expose it. Multiple racist incidents (some in the past) are unveiled as the novel progresses and Alix's and Emira's relationship is rocky at best. A fascinating look at distorted views of events and the stories we tell ourselves, SUCH A FUN AGE received starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal.

It seems I’m in the minority on this one, but I just didn’t connect with this book. Or more to the point: I didn’t connect with Emira. She’s depicted as a bored, aimless young woman who is passively letting her adult life slip by without doing anything to make it the life she wants to live (but then constantly complains to her much more interesting friends about the situation that has left her in). I get there are a lot of 20-somethings out there like her and sympathize with their plight, but as written I just didn’t find her character interesting enough to carry half of the novel—which was unfortunate, because I think the author had some compelling things to say with her story.
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I did, however, really enjoy the Alix and Kelley storyline (some spoilers ahead!). The subjectivity of memory is something that fascinates me, so the vast disparity in how they remembered their high school relationship and breakup was intriguing. It also raised a lot of thought-provoking questions around how much people can and do change over time. Definitely the most interesting part of the novel for me!

Thank you Putnam Books and Netgalley for a copy of Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book. On the surface it was a fun quick read about a quirky kid and her aimless babysitter contrasted with an ambitious mother struggling to work and thrive in a new state where she feels left out. Recently moved from New York, Alix hires Emira to babysit her oldest while she writes a book about her successful blog. Emira is in her early twenties and doesn't really know what she wants to do for a career so Alix takes it upon herself to try and help and befriend her, despite Emira not really needing it.

Alix is a trainwreck of a person and I kept reading to see if she would ever realize it. Emira is a strong and fun character who loves the girl she babysits so much that she puts up with a lot. I really liked her. And then under it all we have big social issues like racism, classism, etc that carry the whole story without weighing it down too much.

One word - brilliant!
I started this book really not knowing what to expect , I’d heard so many things about it and usually hyped up books leave me disappointed but this is definitely up in my top reads of the last 12 months. I was hooked from the onset and was really drawn in to both main characters to the point I was just wanting to read it all the time to see how their lives were developing ! Serious issues such as race, class, hardship and social media are at the centre of the story but are dealt with in such a readable way which keeps you interested. . I didn’t want this book to end as I didn’t want to leave the characters and I can’t wait for the film .
Thank you so much netgalley for this copy .