Hello friends! My name is Marines and
today I want to talk about my experience
reading SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid.
I had heard some buzz about this book and
I'd seen the cover a couple of times but
it wasn't on my immediate radar to read.
I did some traveling a couple of weeks
ago and usually when I travel, I either
read an e-book or listen to an audio
book. I had a little bit of extra time at
the airport, so I ended up looking at the
books at the airport and, I don't know, it
kind of spoke to me at that moment and I
felt like it was a good time to read a
physical book and I was actually walking
to the register with a book I had
selected in my hands and when I came out
of that area, I saw that there was a
little mini-display of like bestselling
books and my eye was immediately drawn
to SUCH A FUN AGE. So this book is about
a 25 year old woman named Emira. She's a
black woman that is kind of lost and
directionless after college and she ends
up taking a part-time babysitting job
for a woman named Alix Chamberland who
has two daughters and Emira is mostly
charged with taking care of the older
daughter, the toddler Briar. Alix
kind of a an influencer. She has this
business. Basically, she started it by
writing letters to companies and getting
free stuff and then it kind of turned
into this empowerment influencer sort of
business. Alix's husband is a news anchor
and he kind of "accidentally" says
something racist while on air so their
house is egged but it-- I guess they throw
the egg hard enough that it breaks a
window, so they have to call the police
but Alix doesn't want Briar there while
the police come so she calls Emira.
It's like midnight at this point and
Emira is at a birthday party. She's
dressed for the club, but she needs the
extra money so she decides to leave the
party and go help the Chamberlain's out.
She picks up Briar and just takes her to
the local grocery store to like kill
time and because the little toddler
likes the grocery store. She brings a
friend along with her and they're
entertaining the toddler by like dancing
in the aisles and a woman passing by
basically alerts the security guard
because the two women are black and the
little girl is white and they assume
that Emira has kidnapped the
little girl. It turns into a confrontation that
somebody else, another shopper, gets on
video and Emira ends up having to call
Mr. Chamberlain to come and basically
get her out of the situation because
they're not letting her leave. That all
is like the back of the book description.
It is the inciting incident but that is
all I knew about the book and so I
expected it to be very heavily about
that-- about existing while black caught
on camera. And this incident does very
heavily influence the rest of the story
and it does feel like a jumping off
point but this story was different than
I expected it to be and it surprised me
with what it ended up being, which I
think is much more about a coming of age
story for Emira and it is much more
about existing while black, period-- just
not at this moment caught on camera but
everything about Emira's life: working
for this white family, trying to figure
out her direction, and then also she gets
involved with a man throughout the
course of the story, and because of this
incident Alix really wants to get to
know Emira and almost becomes obsessed
with Emira. I really loved this book. I
really loved this book, so I'm gonna take
you through the elements of it that I
enjoyed starting with the writing.
I think my favorite thing about this book
and the reason that I rated it five
stars personally is that I truly enjoyed
the writing. I will say that in general it
is simple. It is less literary than you
would probably imagine and there is
something about it that just gives the
feeling of enabling this to have like
mass appeal. It is that smooth, easily
consumable, and simple but the thing that
I think sets it apart is just how witty
Reid's writing is. As I mentioned, I mostly
read this like in public, on a plane, at
airports and I was laughing to myself.
I think the place where Reid really shines
is just in her like keen, wonderful
descriptions of people and her-- how she
captures an entire person in just this
description. She kept talking about
people in ways that I'm-- I felt like I've
seen that woman, I know that man, like
I've come across these people in my real life.
Reid is just observant and it comes
through in her writing. This is also
really dramatic. The story is really
dramatic, and it's interesting because
nothing too out of the ordinary happens.
Again, these all feel like people that I
could meet and I could come across and
situations that could really happen, not
only today, but in the year that it was
set, which is about 2015 and so that felt
so accessible and relatable, but the way
that she tells the story is really
dramatic. It reminded me of Elena
Ferrante and the Neapolitan Novels and
these two books like share nothing else
in common except for the way that
Ferrante can really just write about
everyday life, in a market, in this
neighborhood, in a wedding, and someone
wearing a particular pair of shoes and
you're just on the edge of your seat for
the way that it feels like a soap opera.
SUCH A FUN AGE has that same exact
feeling. Things happen that feel like
everyday life and yet they are told with
a flair and a drama that keeps you
reading and really headed towards the
end. I will say that even though this
tackles some heavy topics and there were
things that made me laugh and really wry
observations and things that made me
think in a larger context, this did feel
like it had a light touch.
it wasn't hammering the message over
your head. it really was all about those
observations and describing people and
actions and situations and then just
letting you draw your own conclusions
from there. I love Emira as a
character. I feel like it was so
relatable, the sort of age-- the 25 age
that she was at and just kind of feeling
a little bit lost. I've never been a
person that had like a very clear view
of like, you know, I was born knowing that
this was what I was going to do. I feel
like very few people have that most of
us kind of take steps and figure it out
along the way and Emira just hasn't
figured out what she's passionate about
yet, and so she is worried about what
she's going to do and her friends are
all kind of figuring it out. They're
graduating and they are getting
promotions and they're becoming more
stable in their financial life and she
feels the pressure to do this without
having found out what she's really good at.
And she likes what she's doing she likes
babysitting but it always feels like
it's not a serious job especially
because it's part-time. So, I just related
to her very very much but I also I think
that a lot of times when there is a main
character who is a little bit more
reserved about their emotions people
tend to say that they're a
non-developed character, but you know that
doesn't mean that this character is not
developed it just means that this is the
way that this character is and so it
almost feeds into the theme of the book
where people feel entitled to Emira and
they-- it's almost like a
commodification of black women and you
see the main love interest and you see
her boss just really entitled to her
time, to conversation, to knowing how she
feels about everything, and it almost
seats this idea of a white Savior
complex and just like an everyday life
situation because the white people that
she's engaging with want to save Emira
and so the fact that she almost reads a
certain way to people, a little closed
off or whatnot, almost doubles down on
the theme of like wanting more or
feeling more entitled to Emira. I know
it's not quite right because it is a
character and obviously we're here to
hear from her thoughts in this book or
whatnot, but I just think it's a really
interesting dynamic at the end of the
day. Personally like I said I never felt
like we didn't get enough from Emira.
I enjoyed her character and especially
through her interactions with her best
friends. She has this group of female
best friends who are all women of color
and I freaking love them. They can be
messy at times and they're young in
certain aspects but just the way that
they help each other out, that they are
honest with each other, that they-- I don't
know there was something about them that
it just reminded me of my group of best
friends especially around that age.
It just warmed my heart. I loved all of them
I love that dynamic, and the dialogue was
just really wonderful in this entire
book. Again, it felt like something so
real and relatable. Alis a very
interesting character to me because I
isn't sure-- like I went on a whole
journey with her. At the beginning like I
was more willing to give her the benefit
of the doubt but the more and more she
seats herself in this sort of like white
Savior role and the more and more you
see that it is very self-serving like
your feelings really start to sour on her.
Every once in awhile there's
something that happens to her that she
says that you're like that I get it like
that's relatable but I think that the
whole thing with her and the main male
love interest is that they are so
focused on not being racist that they
almost like over-correct and like just
head into another land of racism. Like,
they're still on the spectrum. They just
they do too much almost, and and she
definitely falls into that trap. Another
thing that I saw people complaining
about and and a big reason that a lot of
people gave this 4 vs. 5 stars was the
ending. I loved it, but I also enjoy
endings that are left a little bit open
in the right situation. So this cleaned
up the main action of the story, but the
ending itself was just kind of like...
that's the way it is. Everybody keeps
living their lives, and I enjoyed that
because it, I don't know, it ties into
this idea that people, even when their
racism is challenged in a specific
instance or or things of that nature,
people in privilege just get to
continue living in privilege. Kike it is
not very often that somebody is
challenged in a way that has real
significance or consequences for them or
that changes their mind in a way that
allows them to change how they're living.
And so everybody just kind of-- I don't
know it just is like and everybody keeps
keeping on is is sort of the thing that
you feel at the end of the book and so
some people felt unsatisfied with that
but that is life and, you know, even when
you encounter racism in real life
especially as a woman of color there
isn't like a big you know I don't know
it changes you. It marks you. It changes
how you see the world
but that's an aggregate thing. There is
nothing
in that moment, there's no ending that
could have been like a tidy bow of "and
that's what racism taught her!" because
this is what racism will continue to
teach her throughout her life is kind
of the way that I felt about it. And it
even talks about just you know how this
period in her life later kind of affects
her and how she reflects on it, but that
is as much of an ending as a story like
this could possibly get. I totally get
why that leaves people feeling a little
wanting, but I loved it. I thought it was
the perfect ending for this particular
story. Even down to the title, you see how
woody that Kiley Reid is. SUCH A FUN AGE
can refer to any number of characters or
the whole situation of this book. It is
either, you know, Alix in her 30s trying
to figure out how to be a businesswoman
and a mother to two or it can be Emira 
at 25 trying to figure out what to do
and how to become financially secure or
it can be Briar as a toddler discovering
and finding things out, or it can just be
like this moment in time. This was kind
of the moment where you know people
being captured on camera-- black people
being captured on camera-- and these
things going viral that was really
taking off. We had a black president so
it was kind of this idea that we were in
a post-racist society and so just the
way that on the journey to being woke
the people forget that black women and
women of color are still people and it
was just so interesting to me that in
all of this everybody was treating Emira
in a certain way, like they wanted to
know everything about her. They wanted to
see-- they were interested in her and
what she thought. They wanted to be
approved by Emira. They wanted her-- like
Alix thinks about how much she wants
Emira to know that her favorite shoes
are from Payless and she has a black
friend. So it's that desperate desire to
find a Emira's approval, that almost like
commodification as I said and all Emira
is worried about is like I need a
full-time job and I'm gonna get kicked
off my parents insurance plan. That idea
of using black women or black people in
this sort of like journey to wokeness
doesn't stop with Emira. You see it and
they
like Alix using her one and only
black friend in order to, you know, pass
ideas by her and make sure she's got her
approval and present her to Emira like
look it's my black friend or the love
interest walks into a bar
with four black men and so it's like
he's like see? I've got black friend.
It was just all of those little details
worked so well together. Obviously I've
been gushing about this book so I really
enjoyed it. It is just the kind of
everyday drama and witty writing that
I love and it is the kind of book that
invites you to think more deeply and to
think about all of the pieces that the
author has laid out for you which I also
love. It was like the perfect book for me.
That's it for me today.
I would love to talk to you guys in the
comments about if this has ever happened
to you, ifyou've ever picked a book up
based on the description, but then it
surprised you with the real direction
that it took. I'd also love to talk to
you if you have read or would like to
read SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid. Thank
you so much for watching this video and
I will see you guys soon.
[OUT TAKES] She ends-- she goes-- she grabs-- She picks up--
Like I could not [snaps at cat who is misbehaving].
That, that idea-- And I--
That idea of using
