Such a Fun Age: Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

I loved this book. I found the characters -- including their concerns, their varying tone and language registers, and their reactions to each other -- entirely relatable. (Context: I am a black woman in her mid-thirties who spent eight years in the northeastern US and has lots of cousins in their mid-twenties, with whom I chat via text every day.) If you prefer plot-driven books and/or don’t like ambiguity, this is probably not the book for you. If you have ever felt like a guest star in your own life, you may be able to relate more easily to the characters. As other reviewers have pointed out, a number of the book’s later events are signalled early. To me, the experience of watching this slow motion train wreck as it happens is central to the narrative’s point. As the book progresses, it explores two central stories and, in each, pushes the reader to question how much control any of us has over our life stories, and even our personalities. How possible is it to assert oneself and reinvent oneself, when others see you in a specific way? To what extent do the blind spots of our lives ultimately define us?Such a Fun Age’s true gift is in exploring what I’ll call “negative space”: the difference between what someone meant and how that action or characteristic is perceived. The novel balances the remarkable feat of using the exploration of this negative space to propel the action forward while also being smoothly readable. Ultimately, we spend more time in characters' heads than we do in exploring "objective" action, as the characters reflect on where they are in life, others’ potential perception of where they are in life, and where they would like to be. Through the eyes of a white woman in her early thirties and a black woman in her mid-twenties, Such a Fun Age explores race, class and power dynamics, but also aspirational motherhood, self-serving narratives, and the difference between who we think ourselves to be and who we might actually be.Other reviewers have suggested that Emira, the black protagonist, is not well fleshed out. It is true that Emira’s character has less nuance and less backstory than the two main white characters (Alix and Kelley), but I was still able to get a strong sense of Emira’s immediate desires, her likes and dislikes, and her concerns and fears -- and that was enough for me. Since Emira spends the book trying to figure out what she wants for herself, it seemed plausible that nothing too jarring might have happened in her life prior to that moment. It also seemed plausible to me that she uses her experiences to figure out what she wants, muddling through ‘no’s until she gets to her ‘yes’. Indeed, part of the book’s point is that it is OK to not buy into a hyper-aspirational narrative -- that it is OK to feel fulfilled with what others might consider to be “mediocre”. I’ve also been in a place where everyone seems to know more about what I should be doing and how I should get there than I do myself, so I found elements of both Emira’s and Alix’s internal spaces entirely relatable. Coming into Emira’s life at this moment of pause -- where she knows she must move forward in order to be considered successful but is paralyzed by her internal lack of clear direction -- also makes sense for some of the themes the book explores. During the course of the novel, we see at least three other characters (two white, one black) treat Emira as a blank space on whom to project their own feelings about what she should be doing at this point in her life. This paternalism ranges from the explicit to the unintentional and is always well meant, even as Emira chafes against it. And in rebuffing that paternalism, Emira reminds the reader that she is very much her own person, even if that person is not who the world -- or even some readers -- want her to be.To the person who said that it is possible for black people to be relaxed with their friends and speak properly, well, duh. Emira and her friends do sometimes speak to each other “properly” -- in person. Sometimes they use a far more casual register; thinking about how I speak with my friends in text and in person, that makes sense, too. I found it completely believable that Emira could receive texts that say, “Trap trap trap trap get that l.l.bean [d**k] gur” (without the brackets and asterisks), and also deploy words like “connoisseur,” as the occasion demanded. I wondered whether the reviewer that wrote this sentence doubting Emira’s language use only had type-A, hyper-aspirational friends.Lastly, I thought the book's ending provided a nice balance between answering the key plot questions while also leaving space for readers to make their own decisions about some aspects of the characters and their paths. Based on some of the other reviews, your mileage may vary! I would have actually been happy with even more ambiguity, but it seems that many people wanted less.

I pre-ordered this book because of the premise. The complexity of what happens at the cross-section of racial stereotypes, especially with differing points of view, seemed compelling.I spent 80% of this book FURIOUS. For context, I’m a black woman, and that influenced how I read this book.Almost all of the characters in this book were infuriating. The character of Emira, the 25-year old college graduate with no real future, comes across as undeveloped. She’s written with three different personas: the sweet and seemingly only woman to understand and cherish three-year-old Briar (who’s complex personality is confusing for such a little person but okay); the quiet and almost uneducated employee of Alix (some of the interactions had me wondering about Temple’s degree program); and a partying, mid-twenties friend and girlfriend that is depicted as the “real” Emira. The problem is, none of the personas are written well – they all felt like underdeveloped caricatures that needed more complexity. Emira stresses about job security and health insurance the entire book, to the point of being jealous of her friend’s successes and having valid fears about paying bills – yet she didn’t start applying for ANY jobs until her friends made her? It’s one thing to not know your place in life after college; it’s another to seemingly not know how to put yourself in any position to better your situation. This is made clear over and over again. Emira, despite being surrounded by resources of all types, knows nothing about how to do better for herself. This mindset is exactly what Alix preys on, and where the complex of saviorism comes into play.Moving on to Alix. The entitlement and saviorism had me livid. I will say that I appreciated the insight into her thinking, especially when she was talking with her friends. Alix’s perspective is one that I know exists, but never will truly understand. I will never know what it could be like to be a white woman with the world – and people - at her fingertips. The best writing in this book was with Tamra, Jodi and Rachel because in those moments, I could truly appreciate the dilemmas that Alix felt she had. Otherwise, she was selfish, unaware, entitled and absolutely disgusting. Her depiction of the hell of her senior year felt overexaggerated for her to still be affected 15 years later. She’s clearly done well for herself - get over it. To find out that *spoiler alerts in the remainder of this paragraph* Kelley was right about the letter after all, and that she chose to play out a victim narrative for FIFTEEN YEARS is exactly what’s wrong with the world today. Before I found out that she invited Robbie to her house unintentionally, I didn’t have a problem with her calling the police. In that moment, those kids were trespassing on her property without her permission. But knowing that SHE KNEW at the end? GAH.I’m so furious I almost can’t finish this review. But here are a few shorter thoughts to wrap up what’s quickly becoming a novel.Kelley: I can’t decide if Kelley truly fetishizes black people/culture. His only interactions with white people were always negative – is this why he gravitates to black people or the othe way around? I don’t know. Alix went out of her way to find out that Kelley’s other girlfriends were all “lightskinned” or “exotic” and that Emira was the exception. Yet another white person in this novel who wants to save a black person, especially one with darker skin.Tamra: Yet someone else trying to save Emira, but this is supposed to be okay because black on black saviorism is okay. Yeah, no.Emira’s friends: love the support system but the characterization of slang, dress, affectation, etc. is over the top. It’s possible to be relaxed with your friends and speak properly, I promise.And then the ending? *SPOILER ALERT* What was truly resolved? Emira’s still undecided what to do with life, even after her boss literally told her to move up and on. Briar is seemingly still ignored, although it’s unclear if there’s a new black nanny in the picture. No changes from Kelley either, just back to his standard black arm candy to make himself feel better about his life choices.It only gets a two for the friendship stories – those were well written. Outside of that, I’d give this zero stars if I could and I could have done without reading this book.

La calificación es por la entrega y estado del producto, no por la historia del libro... Llegó dañado como todos los libros de pasta dura que manda Amazon, pero la edición es preciosa! El material de la sobrecubierta se siente muy bien y es muy lindo.

Very interesting book, funny in some moments, very sad in others, but quite attached to the reality of white privilege, lack of empathy and the total descompass between their lives and the other characters lives.

Te deja pensando dos veces en tus actitudes diarias y sobre la realidad del complejo del salvador blanco y el racismo sutil. Además la historia es entretenida y fácil de leer.

Um livro fácil de ler e que tem um roteiro interessante, mas achei o livro devagar, as coisas demoravam muito para acontecer.Este livro é para quem gosta de um desenrolar devagar, com tema social de fundo.

beautifully written with a sense of character’s ambiguities and an ability to present plot twists in a very soft and unexpected way