Reviews tagging Animal death

Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid

11 reviews

pointlessmoss's review

funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

The lesson I learned from this: white people need to stop meddling!! And they should also stop trying to outdo one another in an imaginary competition of "Who is the least racist" (unless it's for my personal amusement).
For real though, I LOVE the writing and the story and the characters. I feel like I was reading about real people, not made-up fictional characters. Emira has my heart. I enjoyed myself the whole time and I felt so satisfied with how everything came together. So glad I picked this book up :) 
Part of me wants to recommend this to everyone I know, but the other part of me knows not everyone will get invested in a slice-of-life story with this type of writing. I also want to hear what other people took away from this book! I'm curious to see what other interpretations of the story might be, and what I may have missed! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Animal death, Bullying, Police brutality, Fatphobia, and Stalking

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Vomit, Slavery, Alcohol, Animal death, Police brutality, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty

cammiem8's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow, were these characters frustrating! And I know that was the point, and their interactions were interesting and made me listen through it very quickly. Although what Alix/Alex did was objectively worse, I couldn’t help but despise Kelley more than any of the other characters, he just came off to me as so slimy and pretty much got off scotch free in the end. Also have to say the kid was really annoying. I find myself really wanting to talk about this book, and I’ll certainly be thinking about it for a while. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Fatphobia, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Body shaming, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death

jojo_'s review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, Animal death, Death of parent, and Police brutality

greatexpectations77's review

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is absolutely as good as everyone said it was! Can't wait for more from Ms. Reid. She has such a way with natural dialogue that I only dream of even approaching one day. I also really felt like the interactions between the friends felt real and authentic - the phone bowl, the secret job negotiations in a bathroom. To me, those scenes feel so true to your 20s.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, and Racism

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Police brutality

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

marionlundqvist's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Animal death

sophafie's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death, Classism, and Cursing

seawarrior's review

reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a gripping novel, with a poignant final paragraph. Emira's perspective drew me in immediately, she's still finding her way and doesn't fully see herself as a "real" adult, but still manages to possess more wisdom and self-respect than the older characters attempting to mold her do. Emira is a perfect foil to Alix in many ways, she's not invasively interested with the private life of others, nor does she have interest in using people to create more status for herself. Most importantly, she doesn't obsess over these things and herself to the extent that they trump her dedication to raising Briar, as Alix does. Tragically, Emira seems to have more affection for Briar than Alix, and is quicker to notice when Briar is upset or overwhelmed. I felt this created a really interesting and sad dynamic; Emira knows that her life will improve once she quits babysitting Briar, but finds it so difficult to leave that she's nearly willing to sacrifice her own self-interests, while self-interest is nearly all Alix focuses on, to the detriment of Briar and Emira. 

While Emira and Alix are opposites, Alix and Kelley are eerily similar to each other. The pair both seemed to think of themselves as Emira's savior in a way, though Emira never asked for their help or wanted it. They both exploit Emira's presence in their lives to bolster their own self-esteem and sense of righteousness, and both do so in ways that insidiously seem loving at first glance, and are only brought to light by understanding the context of their past exploitation of Black people. I was relieved that by the end of the book,

Spoiler

Emira accepted that Alix and Kelley were both right about the worst parts of each other, but that she owed nothing to either of them. Going forward, Emira finds her way by trusting her instincts and the people who love and admire her even when she doesn't serve as a symbol to prove their goodness.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. It was a very entertaining and engaging read and provided social commentary on race and class without overly traumatizing the Black protagonist who led the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, and Pregnancy

alisazhup's review

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-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

5.0

I agree with other reviewers that the ending was underwhelming (all the discussions the book opened were abruptly sealed), but up until the last 10 or so pages, I was extremely impressed by the complex character dynamics. I loved this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, and Fatphobia

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

Child neglect

belleden's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I look forward to reading anything Reid creates in the future! Her characters and dialogue feel extremely genuine. I was never able to predict what was going to happen next. My only beef with this book is that the ending felt rushed and out of character for Emira.

Spoiler

I loved the mini epilogue that showed the main characters in different, but not necessarily better, places than they were at the beginning of the story.

This is a realistic and fast-paced story about race, class, and performative activism.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Animal death