Book: Such a Fun Age
Author: Kiley Reid
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
In the midst of a family crisis one late evening, white blogger Alix Chamberlain calls her African American babysitter, Emira, asking her to take toddler Briar to the local market for distraction. There, the security guard accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, and Alix's efforts to right the situation turn out to be good intentions selfishly mismanaged.
My Review
The reason I picked up this overly hyped book was bookstagram recommendations. This book kept on popping up on insta feed of my fellow booklovers that I was compelled to give it a try. Unfortunately I am not moved by this book.
The story of Such a Fun age revolves around three lives: Alex Chamberlain, her African-American babysitter, Emira, and Emira’s boyfriend Kelly Copeland. Alex, mother of two daughters, is also a wealthy writer and an active blogger who, one evening, asks her babysitter, Emira, to take her daughter Briar to the nearby grocery store in order to avoid an unexpected and uninvited incident. But, in the market, Emira is accused by the security guard of kidnapping Briar. The matter is eventually resolved upon the arrival of Peter Chamberlain (Briar’s father). Kelly Copeland, who happened to be there, recorded the whole unfortunate incident, and later on became Emira’s boyfriend.
After the incident, Alex also finds herself being obsessed with Emira’s personal life by secretly checking her mobile phone, and prying on her love life. She even invites Emira and her boyfriend to her thanksgiving dinner, an attempt to get to know her better. But when she saw that Emira’s boyfriend is the same person who was responsible for Alex’s heartbreak in high school, she could not stand it. Kelly and Alex both try to influence Emira into leaving the other person. Would Emira leave her babysitting job because Alex and Kelly used to know each other in high school? Or would she leave Kelly instead?
I am still actually trying to process the story which felt a bit disjointed and choppy, and at some points did not make sense. The characters also lacked the depth and that’s why I found it hard to connect to any of the characters. Although the story highlights some serious issues of racism, the way it is executed, I think, was a bit bland and failed to deeply touch my heart. Most of the time I felt bored to death, and was so close to DNF it. I don’t normally do it, but I’m not going to recommend this book.
My Favorite Lines:
“I think it best we went our separate ways, and that those paths never crossed again.”
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