An unputdownable read about race and privilege today. Emira is a babysitter for a white family in Philadelphia, she is out with their young daughter when the police are called on her on a possible kidnapping charge. The story unfolds with surprises with each character's reactions to the video that was taken that night. I highly recommend this to all friends, family, and patrons. It made me rethink how I approach race and coming from a place of privilege. Excellent read.

I understand why this book is getting a lot of buzz (that's not always the case!) It's a powerful, compelling story told with humor and grace, even when it's pretty sticky.

This is a complicated story about race and class. Alix Chamberlain is a wealthy, somewhat famous, privileged white woman. Emira is her nanny, a young black woman with a bachelor's degree and uncertainly about what she wants to do with her life. The one thing she is certain about is her love for Alix's oldest child. Alix calls on Emira in a crisis, asking her to get the child out of the house for a while. They go to a high end grocery store where Emira is approached by security, accusing her of stealing the child. This is only the beginning of the intertwining of these women's lives.

While the novel obviously explores race and class, it's also a deep look into the messiness of human relationships. It questions what drives us in work and friendships, and how we respond to external pressures. The characters are flawed and realistic. I felt intensely for all of them at various points. The author doesn't try to keep everything neat and clean, which I appreciate because life isn't that way. Her writing is sharp and modern, the dialogue felt real.

I highly recommend this book for readers of literary fiction.

You think this is going to be a fun and frothy book based on title and cover. It goes so much deeper than that. This was a terrific book and I would recommend it to everyone.

This was such an easy book to read, but one that I expect is going to sit with me for a while. I expect this one to get plenty of hype in 2020.

At first, the plot seemed predictable based on how these stories seem to always go, but Reid overturned all of the key tropes we see in white saviour stories of this kind, and really hit home how black women often have to fight to maintain a sense of self while also standing up against broader social injustices and the idea of how everyone expects them to act. Without spoilers, I also really liked the ending - it wasn’t the ending that I wanted as a reader, but it’s one that was faithful to Emira as a character, so it was satisfying in that sense.

There were a few small things that required some suspension of belief (like a 25 year old woman who spends most of her spare time at bars with friends not having social media and using email to communicate socially) but the story was so engrossing that I was prepared to go along with them.

After reading a review that compared it to an alternate version of The Help, I couldn’t help seeing parallels all throughout the story. It was such an easy-to-read book, but with a lot packed in to think about. It’s definitely one of those stories that will stay with me and I don’t want to forget.

Both of the white characters thought that they had good intentions, but I think the key message is about who really has the power in the situation. There’s a women’s studies class I’m in where the theme of social injustice often comes up. People will say things in discussions like, “We need to give them opportunities to _____”, “We should allow them the chance to speak at ______.” And the professor continues to gently remind us of the language we’re using - we, them, allow, give.

It’s because it goes deeper than the personal - inequality is embedded within our social structures. But at the same time, if we start to recognize how racism and inequality aren’t just in the big things but the little things too, continuing to check ourselves and learn and recognize our power and privilege, we can be allies instead of false saviours, and see things continue to change.

Such a Fun Age was a wonderful read that I tore through in one sitting. Kiley Reid has a unique way of writing in a light, nearly comical way about heavy topics like race and privilege.

This book follows two women. Alix is a white 30-something who has had a comfortable life with a great deal of personal and career success. Emira is a mid-twenties black woman whose life lacks a plan. She babysits for Alix's family part-time and develops a deep love for her charge, two-year-old Briar. The book opens with Emira being nearly arrested at an upscale supermarket when another patron accuses her of kidnapping Briar (after making judgements about a young black woman and a white child). After this, Alix and Emira's relationship deepens as Alix seeks to make Emira a true part of their family. Without spoiling the book, it explore the motivations of both Alix and Emira's love interest (also white) in helping and protecting Emira.

This book was excellent. I actually found portions of it laugh out loud funny. While it is written in a casual style, it tackles interesting issues of race and how it can affect how people relate to one another. Alix is the embodiment of white privilege, and her attempts to befriend Emira are often cringeworthy. Emira struggles to balance her need for a steady job with her own pride. There is an interesting twist towards the beginning that makes these relationships even more complex. I think this will be a huge book in 2020.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid had me turning pages right away from the opening scene where one of the main characters 25 year old Emira is accused of kidnapping the precocious toddler Briar she babysits for in a neighborhood supermarket. Briars mom is another main character a wealthy blogger named Alix. Add in a twist that Emira starts dating the guy that both witnessed and took a video of the “kidnapping” , and also has a connection to Alix which I won’t give away.

The characters are well developed and the themes of race/racism , social media -in this instance being the cell video of the “kidnapping”, the use of social media apps such as twitter , as well as Alixs career as a blogger are relevant to these times. The way the story was told was unique and kept me interested, and also cringing at some of Alixs behavior, as well as surprise when the twist that you as a reader know is coming is revealed to Alix at a gathering and what ensues from there. I am still thinking about this books themes and its characters days later and will definitely recommend it to others.

Alix Chamberlain is a remarkably well-written antagonist!
About halfway through this book, I typed a quick note into a google doc: "I can’t wrap my head around why a successful, financially well-off wife and mother would be so hung up on some silly high school mistakes. It seems incredibly over-dramatic and superficial." At this point, I was angry at the book and the author for being shallow and fake until I had an epiphany that my anger should be directed towards Alix Chamberlain because that was the author's intent. I was soooo wrapped up in Alix and her flaws that I completely forgot she's a fictional character and someone made her the way she is for a reason. None of Alix's flaws were overtly malicious... she's just a regular person with some issues and that's what makes her such a great antagonist for this story.
Side notes: Emira is a so great and relatable as a young woman making the transition into adulthood and Briar is a precious little bean of a child.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/Putnam for allowing me to read this ARC!

I really liked this book! It was easy to read and very engaging. I liked how it talked about race relations. I will look forward to more books by this debut author. I have ordered this book for the library and am excited to recommend it to my patrons. GREAT BOOK!!!

This book is tricky. As many other reviewers have said, it starts off as a light and fluffy book about a college graduate working as a babysitter for a seemingly privileged family. Once you get past that, the story really begins!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release December 2019.

Such a creative way to explore deep subjects, I'm still in awe of this book!!!

It was so hard to put this book down, it had such an interesting plot, it was fast-paced and the way the author intertwined both worlds, Alix and Emira's was really surprising.

I felt as if this book talked what people wanna say, but most of the time don't have the courage to, with the plot of a black babysitter being accused of kidnapping a white child, which let's be honest, it's something that black people face a lot, and the fact that her white employee tried to help her, by finding ways to get Emira's life better, but actually helping her own situation. I know it doesn't make any sense, but reading the book you'll understand. All the hippocratic ways Alix found to get involved in Emira's life, were so well written. I was furious at her, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. That woman was so smart.

The link between the two women, the bystander who recorded Emira's being accused at the store, although surprising like I mentioned above, in the end felt a bit flat for me. That plot was built in such an interesting way that left me with lots of expectations and anxiety. Once "concluded" though, left me missing something. Perhaps the author could've focused a bit more in there, or perhaps it's me, who wanted people to pay for their mistakes.

What I most loved about this book though, was the fact that we get to follow Emira's life and how she starts to mature and understand what she wants from life. It was such a deep and beautiful process and I saw myself in her in so many times. In a world of white privilege, where people tried to look down at her because of the color of her skin, Emira proved that all that BS didn't determine who she was and her worth. Highly recommended!!!

This book was absolutely phenomenal! I think that it's an important story that really needed to be told. The writing it absolutely beautiful in a way that makes the story so fast and captivating. I truly wanted to jump into the book and give Emira a hug!

For some reason, I expected that this was going to be an "MFA fiction" style story, with beautiful but challenging writing. Instead it's written in a compulsively readable style, with a lot of thoughtfulness and depth. I tore through this one, and what I expected would be the pivotal ending point ended up happening at the halfway point, leaving so much more story to be told. It's a book that will challenge readers and inspire thought and conversation. While this comes out at the tail end of 2019, it's going to generate a lot of buzz in 2020 (fellow librarians and book club leaders, take note- this will be a great book club book as there is much to discuss).

What a wonderful debut novel. The easy reading and quick pace doesn’t detract from the serious issues that are discussed in this book. Presented in a way that isn’t trying to hit you over the head, Such A Fun Age does a wonderful job exploring race relations and female relationships in our current world.

I loved the writing style in this book. It was compulsively readable.

I loved Emira, and am so confused by Alix. She is not that likeable and had zero redemption throughout this book, she just got worse to me. I found the surprising connection between them to be lackluster. His involvement in Alix's life did not seem to warrant such a huge issue to me.

Regardless, I found this book to be very engaging, but slow at times. It did tackle some important issues, and the racial incident at the grocery store was very well written.

Four + stars. - "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid available December 31, 2019.

Synopsis: Emira, a young black woman lacking direction in life, has a part time job babysitting for Alix, a well-off blogger who is trying to write a book while pretending to be living in New York. While Emira helps Alix out of a bind, she ends up being a target of racial profiling. She wants to move on and forget it but Alix wants to make it up to her and will go to disturbing lengths to do so.

This book was a nice surprise. I expected to enjoy it but I ended up falling in love with the characters and could relate to them while still finding big flaws in their choices. I think this book does a good job confronting tough issues while still managing to be down to earth and believable. This would make a great book club pick.

Thank you to G.P. Putman's Sons Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was sucked into Kiley Reid's debut novel of a young black woman who is accused of kidnapping the child she is babysitting. This is a novel that covers deep topics but in a light, fun, and fast paced way. I was sucked into these character's lives and the backstories that were provided to explain their choices. This is definitely a novel everybody is going to be talking about this winter.

While I didn't finish this book, I will purchase it and recommend it to some of the younger patrons we have. I found the black dialect -- or maybe it's just the young talk -- confusing. I did find it well written and the characters believable.

A quick read that is different from many employer/nanny stories. Alix, a successful mother of two hires Emira, a 25 year old black babysitter to help out with her children. Both are struggling are struggling to find their way in the world. This story gives readers a view of racial stereotypes from both the black and white perspectives.

Wow! I hope this becomes one of those books everyone reads and talks about because it deserves to be. Not just because of the complex and important subject matter but because Such a Fun Age is an absolute joy to read. So much so, that I cannot wait for Kiley Reid’s next book! I think it takes a tremendous amount of talent to write a book like this- one so compulsively and enjoyably readable and one able to tackle big issues in such a complex and interesting way.

Emira is 25, and like so many her age, despite having her bachelors degree is struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She has some really fun, fab, close friends in Zara, Shaunie, and Josefa but can’t help but judge her life compared to theirs and feel as if she’s falling behind. She works two part time jobs, doing transcription and babysitting for the Chamberlain children which means no benefits, which is about to be a problem when she turns 26 and is kicked off her parents health insurance plan.

Alix Chamberlain is the 34 year old mother of 3 year old Briar and new baby Catherine, and if she’s honest, she struggles to be around Briar who is always talking and asking questions. Alix and her husband recently moved from NYC to Philadelphia and it’s been tough on Alix who is very into keeping up appearances after enjoying some very public success with her letter writing business.

One night Alix calls Emira in an emergency to come take Briar out. Emira, who was at a friend’s birthday party really needs the money and genuinely enjoys spending time with young Briar. So Emira arrives, late that night, and follows Alix’s suggestion to take Briar to the nearby high end grocery store where Briar likes to look at all the different nuts arranged in the bulk bins. It’s while they’re there that the incident occurs. An overly nosy and “concerned” woman reports her- Black Emira and this blonde haired white child to the security. There’s a big showdown and it’s all caught on video by another customer.

The story spirals out from here and we see Alix become almost obsessed with Emira and perhaps, proving that she is not racist. It’s such a fascinating and well told story I can’t really do it justice to sum it up. What I can say is that it’s incredibly well done, with a lot of nuance and the kind of book that would be great for book clubs and frankly, one that I hope makes people think about race in a new and more nuanced way. There are so many layers to this story and the characters.

Beyond that, I think there’s some interesting things going on with regard to growing up. We see Alix still obsessed with her high school days and it’s almost ironic that she and her very privileged friends (which includes an ultra privileged and successful wealthy black woman who plays an interesting role in the book as well and I think is an excellent contrast in different generations and ways that people deal with being marginalized, not to mention the issues of class also apparent in the book) try to improve Emira’s life or believe she’s so young and lost when if anything, it’s Alix who ends up seeming very immature and unstable in her identity. That juxtaposition was fantastically well done and one I so want to discuss with other readers.

I also just ADORED Briar and felt for her and for Emira who tried so hard to make up for how clearly Alix ignored Briar and favored the baby. Emira is an amazing babysitter and truly loves Briar and this was an aspect of the book that was just so pleasurable to read.

Easily, this is one of my favorite reads this year and in a long time. While there’s plenty of books and discussions going on about race, this book brings something new to the table and eases you into it with its incredible writing and characterization. It was first and foremost, such a fun book, and while things get heavier, I was already so in love with Briar and Emira and enjoyed Emira’s friends so much that it made it easy to keep reading. This book packs a couple of punches I didn’t see coming but is never preachy and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions. Just so excellently done. I can’t even believe this is the author’s first book. Loved every minute of it and I want everyone to read it, not just for the nuanced, complex, and realistic depictions of race related issues, but because it’s just plain a fantastic and well written book! This isn’t an after school special, life lesson, heavy handed, topical kind of read. It’s literature at its finest, reflecting and making us think about the world and times we live in. A book I’d recommend highly to absolutely everyone.