Review: Such a Fun Age

4 stars. Man, we're all just clueless, aren't we? Every last one of us. Apes with phones. We're all complicated creatures who contain multitudes and that makes navigating life successfully, what. Basically impossible? We all try and try and try and we all fail each other. I think that's one of the reasons why, despite the snappy writing and brisk pace, I found reading this to be exhausting. It's too real, too familiar, too headspace-y in a way that rings so true. I get that it was going for Big Little Lies - dishy, juicy, funny - with an undercurrent of skewering criticism on race and class and America - and it gets there. It really does. Painfully. If you’re prone to strong second-hand embarrassment, this book will hurt. My teeth itched with every word. 

Such a Fun Age is told from the perspectives of two women: Emira Tucker, a young Black woman trying to make ends meet in Philadelphia, and Alix Chamberlain, a successful white business owner with two daughters. Emira works for Alix as a babysitter and begins the story feeling directionless and anxious about health insurance. After a racially charged incident in a grocery store, Alix becomes obsessed with Emira - befriending her, helping her, guiding her to success. But when Emira begins dating Alix's ex-boyfriend, things spin out of control and both women's lives are changed forever.

I'm quite certain there's a ton of commentary about this book and why it's so great and so crucial and such a must-read for everyone. I'm sure most of the reviews that focus on race and class and privilege and transactional relationships are much more intelligent and articulate than anything I could cobble together. Instead I'll just list a few components I really enjoyed and leave it at that. 

I loved the juxtaposition of Emira and Alix. Recognizing that's a big part of the point - to place the feelings and thoughts and interests of these women next to each other - I just loved how much they shared and where they differed. Two desperate women, desperate for totally different things. I loved and hated Kelley, who reminded me so deeply of a guy I hooked up with for awhile back in college I almost couldn't read his scenes. I loved that when a child turned up in a scene, Reid put that child in the scene, disrupting conversations and making messes all over what would normally be a smooth back-and-forth dialogue. I loved the little details, like the Clinton campaign and a perfect nugget about the 2016 election that made me snort. 

I docked a star because I did not love the ending. Well, the climax was perfect, and satisfying in a horribly disturbing kind of way. I just didn't like the style. The writing changed a bit abruptly. I didn't like that certain characters were basically voiceless (I honestly wanted to know more about Peter?). But these are such minor quibbles that probably have more to do with the reader than anything else. Honestly, I’m a little hungover today and feeling grumpy so - well, that’s why Goodreads isn’t so serious about ratings, right? Such a Fun Age is, honestly, a book for this year. So go read it now. You've been warned.

Such a Fun Age on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads