A review by yellowbrickfly
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective relaxing medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so easy, important and perfectly crafted that it feels difficult to talk about it without doing it a disservice. Kiley Reid writes about how race, class and age play a role in everyday life. Impossibly, she does this with humour, insight and care.

Reid’s style of writing is immersive and easy to fall into. The words flow off the page, making it seem as if it’s been written in a breezy tone - when in fact every word and nuance is chosen with purpose. The plot is engaging and the characters whole, strong and brilliant. The reader is placed in a third-person almost-objective vantage point, observing how the plot plays out in a set of oddly interconnected lives. By doing this, Reid places the onus of judgment on the reader by writing about gray areas and misunderstandings in a way that nearly justifies each character’s perspective.

This book champions friendship and chosen family not by putting it in the spotlight, but by showing how it’s always in the background, reliable and constant. What Reid chooses to put in the spotlight, however, is that particular brand of performative wokeness that is so confident and self-assured that it can be nearly impossible to detect when encountered in real life. She exposes how “kindness” and “acceptance” can be centered on the giver rather than the receiver. Reid writes about all of this lovingly, honouring good intent, but also scathingly - favouring impact.