Review: Such A Fun Age

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Never have I been so clueless about what to write in a book review, as I am right now. After hearing so much about how relevant and timely Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid is, I was looking froward to read something about racism and discrimination from the perspective of a black woman. I was ready to delve deep into how a black woman feels, and how the behaviours of people around her influence her. What I got was a confused story about black people and white people, with unexpected racist as well as classist undertones.

When I say racist undertones, I mean that Such A Fun Age is blatant about racism against black people, but the way the other characters have been written, the writer comes across as someone who discriminates against white people! There is so much juvenile posturing that you become confused about the age of the characters.

First, the writer tries to assure us that there is nothing wrong with Emira being aimless and without a regular job even at the age of 26, and then herself goes on to judge her for being that way. Similarly, the character of Alix is written with so much loathing that you can’t help but feel that the writer hates her. Kelley could have been a normal man who is friends with people regardless of their skin colour, but no, he too had to become this strange fetishist by the end of the book! In some places, the language used is almost like a white woman is trying to write what a black woman might say!

Then there is the classist tone of the whole book. All thirty-something married women with children who live in New York are conviniently portrayed as a “type”; Alix and her friends had so much potential, yet they are all painted with the broad brushstrokes of vain New York women, even when there is a token black woman among them. This woman, Tamra, is there to sprout some wisdoms that are actually disparaging to all black people! Her only purpose seems to be to justify Kelley as being a fetishist or some weird jerk like that.

Kelley’s character, again, is what a twenty-something would believe a thirthy-something to be. He behaves in a certain way and suddenly his behaviour becomes suspect because he apparently doesn’t have enough weaknesses in his character ( I really want to roll my eyes here!)

Alix is downright evil and a stalker to boot, who happens to have a successful career that she must have gotten by luck only, and she is a terrible mother, because she can hire people to look after her kid. (Another eye roll here!) She goes through her sitter’s phone and fantasizes about having an unreal relationship with her, which sort of takes the book into psychological thriller category, except that there is nothing thrilling about this book.

Emira, is the biggest problem of them all. I assume the writer wanted to convey that it’s okay to not know your path in life, and to be unambitious, but what comes across is a weak character, who is easily swayed by her friends, and who in turn has an unhealthy obsession with the child she babysits!

I fail to understand how such a problematic book like Such A Fun Age is garnering all this praise. It is a waste of time and energy, and imparts nothing of value.