Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid

I took a break from reading Women's Prize longlisters to read this novel which has been super hyped in the book community - Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age. The book begins with the first of our two protagonists, Emira Tucker, a twenty-five year old African-America woman who works as a babysitter for a wealthy white family, the Chamberlains. When an incident occurs in the Chamberlain household one night, Emira is called for emergency help to get their toddler Briar out of the house for a little while. Emira agrees, despite warning them that she is currently at a party, is dressed up for going clubbing and has had a few drinks. She takes Briar to the local high-end supermarket and they harmlessly wander the store, dancing around and pointing out different foods to keep the child occupied whilst the family put things in order back home. This all seems like innocent fun - until a lady reports Emira to security for kidnapping a white child.

This is one of those novels which, despite the light-hearted and highly-readable writing style, really hits home with a strong message. You will definitely want to scream at this book at times, for the pure injustices and shocking moments. The dual narration of both Emira as well as Alix (Mrs Chamberlain) is cleverly woven together despite their extremely different backgrounds. Alix has created her own feminist brand, blog and Instagram following, which she uses to spread important messages such as breaking the taboo of women breastfeeding in public. Due to her social media influence, she becomes determined to help Emira following the events at the supermarket (which Emira would frankly rather forget!), and attempts to take Emira under her wing despite having barely taken an interest in her before. Reid explores the often subconscious racial bias which is prevalent in society, but also much more than that - class, employee/employer relationships, friendship, and the uncomfortable topic of 'anti-racism'. The fact that Alix decides to befriend Emira because it primarily makes her feel better about herself, as well as the questionable white boyfriend of Emira's who only dates black women, certainly make you think about one of the novel's moral questions - is it possible to be the opposite of racist?

Particularly considering this is a debut, this is just a fantastic piece of writing. The accessibility and readability of Reid's narrative, including the playfulness of the language and references to current media, in combination with the really hard-hitting message which underpins this novel, is a brilliant dynamic. I sat and read over 200 pages in one sitting and completely forgot where I was - it's gripping, entertaining and there are a few definite fist-pump moments. It is also the sign of a great writer when you are given challenging, uncomfortable questions interspersed throughout a largely fun and humorous book. I urge people to read this one!