Member Reviews
From the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller "Such a Fun Age" emerges an intriguing and thought-provoking narrative, delving into the complex web of relationships between a residential assistant, a professor, and three rebellious students. With her signature style, the author presents a captivating and engaging tale that explores the intricacies of human connection and the challenges that arise when boundaries blur.
I really hoped to love this book because I think Reid is a talented author. This one just did not grab my attention. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Two stars is all I can give it. Perhaps some changes will be made?!
I swear reading this book took my entire adult life. At best it was nonsensical, at its worst it was mind numbing dull. No one felt like a real person, it wasn’t clever enough to be satire or social commentary. Honestly, I haven’t read a book this poorly constructed in years,
Agatha is a 38-year-old writer and professor. Millie is a 24-year-old resident advisor and student. When Agatha offers a way for Millie to make some extra cash, their acquaintance-ship slowly turns into something more.
I adored the author’s debut and but I ultimately didn’t connect with this Come and Get It. The writing is lovely for sure and the premise is interesting but I had issues keeping track of the various characters and wasn’t sure I cared about anyone beyond Agatha and Millie. Still, I would recommend this to fans of the author and those looking for a story set on a college campus exploring many themes including gender, race, poverty, and privilege.
Thank you very much to Putnam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.
⭐3/5
➡ Twenty-four year old college senior Millie Cousins is back at the University of Arkansas after spending the the previous year at home, working and taking care of her mother. This year, in what she hopes is truly her final year on campus, she's wrapping up classes, making memories with friends, working as an RA in the transfer/scholarship dorm and trying to save every penny she can to put a down payment on a house right out of college. When visiting professor and cultural author Agatha Paul offers her a unique albeit easy way to make a few dollars, she invites the professor into her dorm and subsequently, her life. What ensues begins as a small series of lies that quickly escalates to consume the lives of everyone involved.
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🙏 Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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🎯 What I loved: This book had a lot of potential. I was a big fan of Reid's debut Such a Fun Age and the way she layers her characters making them relatable, flawed, unlikeable and thought provoking. Come and Get It brought back Reid's dynamic characters and commentary on microaggressions, mundane relationships and power dynamics but it lacked the same follow thru that her debut had. was definitely drawn in by the relatable setting and the people she filled it- finding the way she juxtaposed a black RA, privileged residents, a professor facing professional success but personal turmoil and a resident with a streak of unfortunate luck fascinating.
🙅♀️ What I didn't: Ultimately, this fell flat for me. The characters had potential, the setting had potential and it felt like there was build-up but that the characters weren't fully developed and the 'big event' didn't feel suspenseful enough to me. More than that, the resolution felt way too much like a 'drive away into the sunset' type of thing for me to really pull a message from the story. There was something there- it just didn't have the same pull as Such a Fun Age for me.
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Read if you love:
*college dorm settings
*racially & socio-economically diverse characters w/ a focus on microaggressions and hierarchies
*financial variability on college campuses
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See also: What's Mine and Yours, Maame, Americanah
I was super excited to read this book after reading this author's debut novel, "Such a Fun Age." That book was 5/5 stars, and I would give this one 4/5 stars. This book has similar insightful observations regarding class, race and gender which makes this another thought-provoking novel. The insights provided on these heavier topics are done with humor and intellect so it didn't feel like too heavy of a read. While I didn't particularly find any of the characters super likeable, I do think this was an important story to tell and ultimately will be a book I remember for years to come.
I hope Reid continues to write more thought provoking novels as it is clear she can execute them well.
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Highly Recommended!
Kiley Reid can hit you where it hurts, and I am all here for it! Her debut novel, Such a Fun Age drew attention to multiple issue of race in America, teasing out the nuances and highlighting the micro aggressions. Her beautiful writing leads you slowly down a path that you fear can only lead to a disaster.
In her sophomore effort Reid takes on a midwestern college campus. There are college students - transfers in student housing and seniors acting as Resident Advisors as well as a visiting professor. How they all interact is fascinating and Reid easily pulls you into the thought process of each character as they make choices that will effect the rest of the year and maybe their lives. If you like contemporary culture novels, Shakespearean characters, campus stories or are just ready for Kiley Reid's next great book, Come and Get It is for you!
#penguingroup #KileyReid #comeandgetit
A grand follow up to the NYT bestseller and Reese's Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, SUCH A FUN AGE, COME AND GET IT is a fresh and provocative novel about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students. The book is full of sharp wit and insightful observations about race, class, and gender. Reid's writing is clear and engaging, and her characters are complex and relatable. Come and Get It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys smart, funny, and thought-provoking fiction.
Here are some specific things that I enjoyed about the book:
The characters are well-developed and relatable. I found myself rooting for Millie, the protagonist, even when she made mistakes.
The book is full of sharp wit and insightful observations about race, class, and gender. Reid does not shy away from difficult topics, and she tackles them with intelligence and humor.
The book is absolutely engaging! I found myself flying through the pages, eager to find out what happened next.
Overall, I highly recommend Come and Get It to anyone who enjoys smart, funny, and thought-provoking fiction. It is a book that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.
This book was a great read! It was my first title from this author and I cant wait to dive into other titles. This book was really character based and driven so if you enjoy that, then you will like this! I really got attached to these characters and enjoyed reading their story. It was also really enjoyable to read about a college group of girls and remember what those dynamics were like for me!
Thanks so much for the review copy. I liked this book better than Such a Fun Age. I enjoyed the character development and how the characters were connected throughout the book.
This is a story about a college dorm and college age girls and their roles and dynamics within a group. Sounds great, right? Hmm, just didn't work for me this time. I felt like the author jumped around quite a bit and every character fit one or two stereotypes, like she had to include race, sexual orientation, wealth . . . but then never quite developed them to tell me why it mattered, or why someone acted the way they did because of it or in spite of it.
The story is set in 2017 at the University of Arkansas and centers around Millie Cousins, a 24-year-old senior who is ready to graduate, get a job, and buy her first home. Millie is a resident assistant at a dorm that primarily houses scholarship and transfer students. This book also follows Kennedy, Tyler, and Peyton, who live in the suite next door to Millie, and Agatha, a visiting professor and writer.
Millie is a complicated, layered character but ultimately so compelling that you never consider not rooting for her, and Reid has such an ear for dialogue. I enjoyed reading about Millie and her dormmates and reminiscing about my own college days. While some parts were a bit over-dramatized, I felt that the author accurately captured life as a female collegian. Overall, this was a fun and quick read, and I am excited to see what Kiley Reid does next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Life is messy and we are all flawed. Kiley Reid's latest explores college life and the personalities encountered. There is a student with a sense of entitlement, everything they want they deserve and can justify regardless of its impact on others. There is the college professor who should know better but takes advantage of a student who is easily manipulated. The same student has her goals in life and while she has a moral code it frays when faced with money that can help her achieve her priority of buying a house. Then there is the very vulnerable student who loses her sense of who she is after a trauma.
Kiley Reid's books can read at a superficial level like fluff. You need to peel back layer by layer to see the vulnerabilities and micro aggressions about power, money and race in her books. She holds up a mirror and dares us to take a good look.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Putnam for this advanced reader copy.
Didn’t connect with any of the characters. I may return to it closer to publication- one of those books where I’d like to see how it is framed in the NYT Book Review. As Reid’s debut was smash hit, I will be watching to see how this book is handled. Not a favorite for me.
Reid does it again with this masterful coming-of-age story. Set at a mid-western university, this book follows a Professor, RA, and group of students in a dorm. With much of the plot taking place on a typical American dorm floor, Reid examines class, gender, and sexual orientation in an incredibly fresh and unique way. Reid takes typical power dynamics in academia and flips them on their head to show them in a new light. The characters shine and feel as if they could walk off the page. The chapters could have used more transition between them as the flow felt clunky at times, but overall this book is a great success.
Fun and well crafted campus novel, not quite the feat that her previous book was but still touches on important truths about friendship, sexuality and identity. I thoughtful yet comedic literary women’s fiction.
I loved such a fun age and this book by the same author was no different in terms of my reaction and responses. She really builds complex storylines and characters that take you on a ride. Definitely recommend.
2.75 - Well . . . after reading Such a Fun Age (such a thought provoking book) I was so excited to read this one . . . but for me this just really fell flat. First, there are a lot of characters and quite honestly I just didn't really care about any of them and I'm not sure why. This is a story about a college dorm and college age girls and their roles and dynamics within a group. Sounds great, right? Hmm, just didn't work for me this time. I felt like the author jumped around quite a bit and every character fit one or two stereotypes, like she had to include race, sexual orientation, wealth . . . but then never quite developed them to tell me why it mattered, or why someone acted the way they did because of it or in spite of it. I kept reading and reading sort of waiting for a big revelation or something big to happen and while there is a bit of an event it really just wasn't much and it kind of fell short for me as well.
I would give this author another try b/c I really did like her other book, Such a Fun Age, but this one was just a bit too boring for me - and maybe that was her point - a year in the life of college students and their every day things they do - but for me it was just boring.
Also, no clue where Come and Get It, the title, comes from - maybe that is why I kept waiting for something big to happen. Come and Get what?
Thank you to NetGalley, Kiley Reid and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC.
"Come and Get It" is Kiley Reid's follow-up novel to her best-selling debut, "Such a Fun Age." While exploring themes of money, power, and race, this novel is about a resident assistant and her relationships with a professor, unruly residents, and her fellow RAs.
The story is set in 2017 at the University of Arkansas and centers around Millie Cousins, a 24-year-old senior who is ready to graduate, get a job, and buy her first home. Millie is a resident assistant at a dorm that primarily houses scholarship and transfer students. This book also follows Kennedy, Tyler, and Peyton, who live in the suite next door to Millie, and Agatha, a visiting professor and writer.
I enjoyed reading about Millie and her dormmates and reminiscing about my own college days. While some parts were a bit over-dramatized, I felt that the author accurately captured life as a female collegian. Overall, this was a fun and quick read, and I am excited to see what Kiley Reid does next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
So, this is a new one for me because, well, while I enjoyed the hell out of this book I couldn't give one single reason why. I deeply suspect there is something I didn't really get, actually, because there is clearly more going on that it would seem.
I really enjoyed SUCH A FUN AGE so I was very excited to read Kiley Reid's follow-up. Thrilled to say that it does not disappoint and I think I loved it more than her debut. COME AND GET IT is a character-driven campus novel that centers on young women at the University of Arkansas. The story brilliantly captures all of the delicate intricacies of female friendships/relationships that are essentially forced due to the (sometimes suffocating) proximity of a college dormitory. I appreciated how well drawn all of the college girls were, but also the plot device of including Agatha, the journalist, and her involvement. There's something about a woman in their mid 30s looking back on that pivotal time of college that really added to this unique mix of characters. I knew the story was building to some explosive moments, a handful of which were expected, which isn't a knock on the story, but I was especially surprised and captivated by one of the turns in particular. This would be a fantastic book club read -- in fact, I may suggest it for my own when the time comes!