Such a Fun Age: Reese's Book Club

I pre-ordered this book because of the premise. The complexity of what happens at the cross-section of racial stereotypes, especially with differing points of view, seemed compelling.I spent 80% of this book FURIOUS. For context, I’m a black woman, and that influenced how I read this book.Almost all of the characters in this book were infuriating. The character of Emira, the 25-year old college graduate with no real future, comes across as undeveloped. She’s written with three different personas: the sweet and seemingly only woman to understand and cherish three-year-old Briar (who’s complex personality is confusing for such a little person but okay); the quiet and almost uneducated employee of Alix (some of the interactions had me wondering about Temple’s degree program); and a partying, mid-twenties friend and girlfriend that is depicted as the “real” Emira. The problem is, none of the personas are written well – they all felt like underdeveloped caricatures that needed more complexity. Emira stresses about job security and health insurance the entire book, to the point of being jealous of her friend’s successes and having valid fears about paying bills – yet she didn’t start applying for ANY jobs until her friends made her? It’s one thing to not know your place in life after college; it’s another to seemingly not know how to put yourself in any position to better your situation. This is made clear over and over again. Emira, despite being surrounded by resources of all types, knows nothing about how to do better for herself. This mindset is exactly what Alix preys on, and where the complex of saviorism comes into play.Moving on to Alix. The entitlement and saviorism had me livid. I will say that I appreciated the insight into her thinking, especially when she was talking with her friends. Alix’s perspective is one that I know exists, but never will truly understand. I will never know what it could be like to be a white woman with the world – and people - at her fingertips. The best writing in this book was with Tamra, Jodi and Rachel because in those moments, I could truly appreciate the dilemmas that Alix felt she had. Otherwise, she was selfish, unaware, entitled and absolutely disgusting. Her depiction of the hell of her senior year felt overexaggerated for her to still be affected 15 years later. She’s clearly done well for herself - get over it. To find out that *spoiler alerts in the remainder of this paragraph* Kelley was right about the letter after all, and that she chose to play out a victim narrative for FIFTEEN YEARS is exactly what’s wrong with the world today. Before I found out that she invited Robbie to her house unintentionally, I didn’t have a problem with her calling the police. In that moment, those kids were trespassing on her property without her permission. But knowing that SHE KNEW at the end? GAH.I’m so furious I almost can’t finish this review. But here are a few shorter thoughts to wrap up what’s quickly becoming a novel.Kelley: I can’t decide if Kelley truly fetishizes black people/culture. His only interactions with white people were always negative – is this why he gravitates to black people or the othe way around? I don’t know. Alix went out of her way to find out that Kelley’s other girlfriends were all “lightskinned” or “exotic” and that Emira was the exception. Yet another white person in this novel who wants to save a black person, especially one with darker skin.Tamra: Yet someone else trying to save Emira, but this is supposed to be okay because black on black saviorism is okay. Yeah, no.Emira’s friends: love the support system but the characterization of slang, dress, affectation, etc. is over the top. It’s possible to be relaxed with your friends and speak properly, I promise.And then the ending? *SPOILER ALERT* What was truly resolved? Emira’s still undecided what to do with life, even after her boss literally told her to move up and on. Briar is seemingly still ignored, although it’s unclear if there’s a new black nanny in the picture. No changes from Kelley either, just back to his standard black arm candy to make himself feel better about his life choices.It only gets a two for the friendship stories – those were well written. Outside of that, I’d give this zero stars if I could and I could have done without reading this book.

I pre-ordered this and had high hopes! Premise was very interesting, and I was anticipating a satisfying read. This book was very poorly written. The author makes sure she lets you know that she attended some prestigious workshops, but I honestly didn't see any evidence of that. Her African-American characters were almost caricatures! Even down to the syntax in the way they spoke in the book. All the characters, white and black, were outrageous parodies, it was almost comical. This read like a cheesy young adult novel !! Tantalizing premise, good early beginning -- but this is just swamped in juvenile writing and rife with racial stereotypes. I don't want to reveal spoilers, but this wasn't a good book. I felt as though it an especially egregious attempt to be "politically correct" ...and cover all those bases.. It failed miserably on several counts. What a waste of a pre-order. ..!!

I was looking for a short fun read to start the year and ordered this based on some book reviews. I regretted my choice by half-way through. The premise, which is what drew me in, is completely wasted in execution. It engages neither your head nor your heart, and the characters are superficial caricatures with no depth of caring or understanding. All of the characters in the book, especially the main ones, never get out of their little boxes and have no true relationships with each other. All the dialogue is stilted and the prose does not drive the story in any form. The ending is laughable and looks like the author got bored or just wanted to end my suffering. You could have put the last page at the end of the first chapter and left it at that.

Story was interesting but felt it was very superficial overall. I found myself predicting what would happen next & it did. No challenge in reading this book. The original description did not fit this book at all. If you want an easy to read book with a predictable story line that you have to think about this is your book, but not mine. Disappointed

This is my first Amazon review, I felt so passionately after reading this book that I had to post. Do not believe the hype, I really do not get how this book is top of so many publications "Books of 2020". It makes me lose confidence in all these review writers, have they just been paid off or jumped on a bandwagon? I found it cheesy, immature and at times I literally cringed, it feels best suited as a teen read. The only reason I can see behind the books success so far, is that it addresses topical issues... but not very well. Save your money and buy Educated, Where The Crawdads Sing or any Zadie Smith instead.

I really don't understand why this book comes so highly rated - and I'm not alone. We read this as part of our book club and out of 7 of us 5 gave up and the other 2 said it didn't get any better. I found the characters either shallow or just plain dull. The plot has no highs or lows - it just ambles along. There are much better books out there that deal with inter racial relationships and issues way better : The Hate you Give is a great read and much better at addressing racism and it's consequences on characters. A friend once said ' Life is too short to read a bad book' so I gave up after 30% and started a different one.

I bought this because of the rave reviews , and because I wanted to be in the cultural loop.It was an easy read , indeed an unputdownable book and yet I can't say I'd recommend it to any friends...

The premise set the tone for a completely different book, and the one I ended up reading was quite flat with few gripping moments. Granted, the beginning of the story matched the tone the premise set, but after that the plot took a disappointing nosedive and I barely got through the book. The story is really just a tug-of-war between the employer and boyfriend fighting over the main character, who baffled me with her various personas. Yes, we all change and act a certain way in different company, but during an TV interview you'd at least expect some coherent sentencing. Also, don't get me started on the ending! As disappointing as the book.Overall, the whole book became a struggle to follow and the ending cemented the feeling of wishing you'd never purchased it.

I very rarely leave reviews on here but had to make an exception for this novel. It is absolutely phenomenal; engaging, important & refreshing. The characters are great, it’s accessible and deeply thought-provoking all at once. It deserves to be hugely successful. I only wish I could read it for the first time, all over again. I’m sure I’ll return to it in the future.