Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Such A Fun Age starts with a bang as Emira, the story’s reluctant protagonist, is detained at the grocery store with accusations of ‘kidnapping’ the white child she actually nannies. This incident (filmed on an iPhone by an onlooker who is keen to help, despite Emira’s wishes) starts Emira’s employer, Alix, a feminist blogger with ‘good intentions,’ on a crusade to both befriend Emira and simultaneously ‘fix’ her life. What follows is a fast-paced, sometimes humorous, often times frustrating story about activism, race, womanhood, and class (among other things!).
Kiley Reid’s debut novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, is an easy-read when it comes to storytelling and pace, but will challenge you long after you speed through its triumphant and clever final pages. I may have read the book in a few days, but I’ve been processing its themes ever since.
This is a story that offers a much-needed, often underrepresented perspective, and brings a new voice to the table as it does so. Emira’s understated, dignified self-advocacy challenges assumptions about class and privilege, and thoughtfully questions the motives of those who seek to be activists for communities they haven’t bothered to fully listen to or understand. Think of it in some ways as a refreshing, modern-day, spin on The Help—told from the perspective of the nanny, who is happy to speak for herself.
