Such a Fun Age

Such a Fun Age (2020) by Kiley Reid was recommended to me a long time ago, so I finally listened to it, and was mostly impressed by the author’s work, and infuriated with the white characters.

Reid introduces us to Emira, a 20-something black woman who is a little adrift after college, not sure what she wants to do with her life. She is a part-time babysitter in Philadelphia for a white family, the Chamberlains, primarily for their 2-year old toddler, Briar, who was my favorite character in the book. Emira is about to age off of her parents’ health insurance, and knows she needs to get a “real” job, but she isn’t really drawn to anything.

Briar’s mother, Alix, is a social media influencer, married to a news anchor, Peter. They met when both were living in Manhattan, and Alix has never quite owned up to her followers that she’s left the City for Philly. Briar exhausts her, especially in comparison the newborn, Catherine, who is so quiet and easy to carry around. Alix has a book deal, and so hires Emira to babysit Briar a few days a weeks so she can get out of the house and purportedly work on the book.

One Saturday night, after Peter has committed a faux pas on the air that results in their house getting vandalized, Alix calls Emira to come get Briar out of the house while the police report is being made. Although she’s at a party and not dressed for babysitting, she needs the money, so Emira comes to help and takes Briar to the local late-open grocery store. There, while entertaining Emira in the frozen foods aisle, a white lady reports them to security, who questions whether Emira has any right to have Briar out so late at night–has she kidnapped her? The incident is captured on camera, and Peter quickly comes to the rescue and the matter is closed in Emira’s mind. The bystander who filmed it has sent the only copy to Emira, and she’s fine. There’s no need for any outcry.

This event, though, sets things in motion that lead to an unexpected connection between Alix and Emira. I really disliked Alix, for many reasons–she is dishonest, petty, conniving, and entitled. And the author created her to be very weight-conscious, which I suppose is realistic, but I still didn’t want to read about her having lost her way because she is so many pounds heavier after having given birth to two kids.

If you like a twisty novel that will make you think about race, and can tolerate reading about white people who do terrible things while pretending to be anti-racist, I do recommend it, with the reservation about some fairly frequent anti-fat bias.