Such a Fun Age

This book starts with an incident in which Emira, a young black woman, is accused of having stolen the white toddler she babysits, Briar, in a grocery-store confrontation. The tone is set immediately to examine inherent racial biases, but less so these explicit moments of racism, and more how even “good white people” exploit black women in subtle, but nefarious ways.

The story follows Emira, a young black woman who, as with many twenty-somethings, is in a bit of a crisis regarding what to do with her life. She falls into a babysitting gig because it pays well, and ends up falling in love with the toddler she cares for, Briar, ostensibly appreciating not only the uncomplicated nature of children, but also a certain flavor of neglect that Briar feels as her upper-class mother is too worried about exteriors to be the best mother she can be. It's not hard to extrapolate out that neglect to upper-class white women generally (cough, myself included, which lent to some uncomfortable moments of introspection): the book asks us to question: how many of our “good intentions” are ultimately self-serving?

At the same time, Emira is developing a relationship with a white man, who fetishizes black bodies and black culture, exclusively dating black women: favorably, this can be interpreted as coincidence, or narrow attraction; less favorably, as black women as commodities (admittedly, a harsh interpretation, and one I would not go quite so far as to take – but gets you thinking).

All in all, I think the book plays on this idea of white people centering themselves in any American narrative as protagonists, including those, like Emira's, that are explicitly not theirs.

One summer night, Emira Tucker is confronted by security at a supermarket and is accused of kidnapping the two-year-old girl she is babysitting.

I think this book falls under the saying, “don't judge a book by its cover.” The bright colors and fun title masks the heavy undertones within the pages of this book. It tackles race and privilege in depths I didn't think Reid was going to take. I was intrigued as to how the story was going to play out and couldn't put it down. I was a little disappointed with how certain situations played out, because I was expecting a little more from it, but I thoroughly enjoyed following the lives of Alix and Emira!

Briar's relationship with Emira is one of the things I loved about this book. Reid captures the struggles and the joy of babysitting or being a nanny that are oftentimes under-appreciated. Another thing I loved is the multiple points of view and the different issues the characters go through that one can see or experience in real life.

If you're looking for a book with realistic situations, fun dialogue, relatable moments, and crazy bosses, I would definitely recommend this read.