Such a Fun Age

Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

By: Kiley Reid

Narrated by: Nicole Lewis

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

A Best Book of the Year:

The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • NPR • Vogue • Elle • Real Simple • InStyle • Good Housekeeping • Parade • Slate • Vox • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal • BookPage

Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize

An instant New York Times best seller

A Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Pick

"The most provocative page-turner of the year." (Entertainment Weekly)

"I urge you to read Such a Fun Age." (NPR)

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a binge-worthy and bighearted story about race and privilege, set around a young Black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young Black woman out late with a White child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At 25, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone "family", and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.

©2019 Kiley Reid (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the African American Literary Award

Finalist for:

The New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award

The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award

The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

The NAACP Image Award

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia's Literary Award

A Book Club Pick:

Vox • Marie Claire #ReadWithMC • Buzzfeed • Book Girl Magic • Well-Read Black Girl • WNYC Get Lit With All of It • Nerdette

“Reid constructs a plot so beautifully intricate and real and fascinating that readers will forget it’s also full of tough questions about race, class and identity….With this entertaining novel, Reid subverts our notions of what it means to write about race and class in America, not to mention what it means to write about love. In short, it’s a great way to kick off 2020.”—Washington Post

“A complex, layered page-turner…This is a book that will read, I suspect, quite differently to various audiences—funny to some, deeply uncomfortable and shamefully recognizable to others—but whatever the experience,....Let its empathetic approach to even the ickiest characters stir you, allow yourself to share Emira’s millennial anxieties about adulting, take joy in the innocence of Briar’s still-unmarred personhood, and rejoice that Kiley Reid is only just getting started.”—NPR

“[Such a Fun Age] nestl[es] a nuanced take on racial biases and class divides into a page-turning saga of betrayals, twists, and perfectly awkward relationships....The novel feels bound for book-club glory, due to its sheer readability. The dialogue crackles with naturalistic flair. The plotting is breezy and surprising. Plus, while Reid’s feel for both the funny and the political is undeniable, she imbues her flawed heroes with real heart.”—Entertainment Weekly

No

Not one single person in this book is likable. No one. I finished, but it I kept waiting for so much more.

Mixed Feelings

Parts of this book were a little “trashy.” There was some unnecessary language and the way Kelly called his girlfriends “Miss” was super obnoxious. However, the plot was decent. The ending had a way of wrapping things up, but not too neat, that rigged at your heartstrings.

Amazing!

I loved this book! It started out a little slow in the beginning, but I fell in love with the characters and couldn’t stop listening!

So much to consider

To paraphrase from this book itself, this is a story about race but “without blood and won’t ruin your day”, which might imply that it is lightweight but it offers so much to consider about gender and class and money and our health care system and especially race as the amplifier of all those challenges in 2020. Kiley Reid’s beautiful style of writing and the engaging character of Emira and her genuine relationship with the hilarious child Briar kept the book from being a depressing read and, in fact, balances the serious issues with some very funny dialog. Listening to this book during the Covid lockdowns, with mostly-male governors saying that we should re-open the economy but without any specific supports for childcare or the safety of child care workers makes this an especially timely read.

Best narrator ever.

This narrator was totally believable and authentic sounding, and brought this wonderful story to life.

Elevated by narration

There’s not quite enough story for ten hours, and the writing falters near the end (there’s an unnecessary sorta-twist), but Nicole Lewis keeps it eminently listenable. Her Zara is hilarious.

SO GOOD!!

I enjoyed every minute of this story and the narration was great . Will be watching for more from Kiley Reid.

Excellent dialog. Screenplay adaptation coming?

New favorite author (and performer). Found myself grinning while listening.

The Audible sample did not represent the story well. I was not interested in the sliver of the story that was presented in the sample, but am so glad I got passed that and listened to the whole thing (based on a recommendation). Very well done. Looking for more from either the author or the narrator.

Good story but lacked suspense

This is a good story - that touches on race and motherhood and loving kids that aren’t yours but it lacked suspense in my opinion

Really Really good!!!

Loved this book.Great writing and narrative. I will listen to this one again! Thanks Audible!