Reviews tagging Kidnapping

Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid

8 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective

4.75


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imogenreads77's review

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Boring, slow-paced, predictable

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laurenjbb's review

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funny informative inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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jaynereel's review

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Sorry, spoilers ahead - (idk how to review this book properly without them)

Definitely enjoyed this!! Loveeeddd the narrator - her voice had so much character and style and I loved her impersonations of Briar. She was awesome. Also loved the writing style of this book.
Spoiler
I found myself giggling and really enjoyed the way Emira and Alix’s paths intersected - the surprise of Kelley being the guy from Alix’s high school and then coming to Thanksgiving cracked me up and I wasn’t expecting it.

Overall this was a great satire on the lengths some white people, especially white liberal women, will go to to feel and appear “woke” while having their own interests at the center of everything, and how these efforts can work to make Black people’s lives even harder. Alix was searching through the whole story to find a way to convince herself and Emira that she isn’t racist. In doing so, she became pretty blind and lacked the empathy needed to really see Emira as a whole person. I loved the way this irony was pulled into her and Kelley’s storylines. 

I reeallllyy wished though that all that powerful satire regarding Alix and Emira was what was focused on in the final bits of the book… like, why was it reduced to Alix being a bad mom? I thought Emira’s final comment to her and the ending lines of the book were a bit weird and out of place considering the rest of the satirical irony that had just gone on. I wished they had focused more on that instead of parenting that wasn’t focused on as much during the rest of the book.  
Would’ve been 5 stars for me if I hadn’t been disappointed by the writing and focus of the ending. Overall would definitely recommend!

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mandi4886's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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hanelimaro's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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jonbrady's review against another edition

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informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Such a Fun Age is a proper page-turner about modern millennial living, privilege, white saviours and black fetishists and the kinds of micro-aggressions that permeate our lives. 

Emira Tucker, down-on-her-luck Black twentysomething, takes a babysitting job for women-empowering blogger Alix Chamberlain - who sees herself, her upmarket home and her Cody family as the life-changing opportunity Emira has been waiting for. But when Emira is racially profiled in a supermarket and the incident is caught on camera, what flares up between the pair reveals much about both and how their race has dictated their lives and the struggles they face.

Kiley Reid’s debut has much to say about the modern power dynamics between Black people and white people, particularly the white people who are seen to make the grandest efforts and gestures to be “anti-racist”. Some of the bit parts aren’t as fleshed out as they could be, and the closing scenes perhaps amp up the conflict a little more than expected, but this is a great study that asks why, so often, Black people are characterised only by what they do for those with white skin. 

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grace_collinson's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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