SUCH A FUN AGE by KILEY REID

Booker Prize Longlist #1

I chose this book based on its popularity and not because I knew anything about it. Normally I’d caution against this - being a sheep and all, but this Bookstagram community is one that is rarely wrong and this book delivered!

A black babysitter, her three friends, her rich white boss who is desperate to prove that she is a black ally, an enchanting little girl, a white man who only befriends and dates black people... That’s the line-up. What could possibly go wrong?!

This book is not only completely readable thanks to Reid’s professionalism as a writer, it is also a powerful political piece.

It brings up issues of racism that may not initially seem to be acts of racism such as the fetishisation of black people. Or the selfish need to prove that you are a black ally because of the way it will make you look and feel and not because it’s simply the right thing to do.

***SPOILER***
Sometimes you don’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils. Sometimes you can walk away from both. I loved this idea because like a chump I was expecting this novel to follow that typical storyline - girl chooses boy and all is ok in the end. I’m embarrassed to even admit that, but again, I’ll blame it on Reid’s fantastic writing and assume she led me towards that idea on purpose 🤫
Well anyway, I was very chuffed with the fact that she didn’t have to choose either of them. They were both toxic people and she removed them from her life. Lovely. Much better ending.
SPOILER OVER.

I’ve never talked about the ending in a review before but I really felt like I had to. If anyone else has read this, let me know what you thought about it.

I don’t even feel like I’ve said everything I wanted to say but I thought this book was a real gem and that’s the main thing I want to convey.

Comments

ANOTHER BROOKLYN by JACQUELINE WOODSON

ANOTHER BROOKLYN by JACQUELINE WOODSON I read this book in the space of a few hours and as soon as I finished I turned back to the first page again. I didn’t read it all again - just that first page and it worked. It’s a cyclical book. It doesn’t need to be read in any particular order. Memories manifest in any way they want to. This book is a series of memories told from the point of view of August; a teenager growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. She states early on in the book that life would have been different if she’d known about jazz, but all she knew of was the top 40 (white artists mostly). And “it never quite figured us out.” I found that one statement to be huge! It’s a 170 page novel, but that statement to me felt bigger than the messages I’ve taken from 1000 page novels. If we can’t see ourselves represented, how can we see ourselves at all? My own white privilege means that this is something I rarely have to think about, but this book helped me to understand how that...

BONJOUR TRISTESSE / A CERTAIN SMILE by FRACOISE SAGAN

BONJOUR TRISTESSE by FRACOISE SAGAN French Literature at its finest. There are actually two novels in this book and Bonjour Tristesse is the first and that is the one I’ll review first. The novella (100 pages) takes place over a summer on the French Riviera. Cecile and her father have rented the villa for two months to escape from the heat of Paris. Her widowed father brings with him his young and beautiful mistress, but then another guest turns up... The star of this book, though, is the setting. The French Riviera. The beach. The glistening ocean. The sailing. The sex. The sun. The wine. The cigarettes. The sadness that only comes with being seventeen and in love, or not in love. I just can’t get over the fact that the author was 18 when she wrote this. A CERTAIN SMILE by FRACOISE SAGAN Well, well, well, I had no idea that I could love the second novella more than the first. What an exquisite story. I felt like I was reading a French Sally Rooney. It is very much like Conversati...

THE GRAVITY OF US by PHIL STAMPER

THE GRAVITY OF US by PHIL STAMPER Pretty much all I need to hear to know that I’m going to love a book are the words: queer love story. I do wish I’d listened a bit harder because this one is also about space travel - not the most interesting topic in the world (or out of it) for me. Regardless of that, I did enjoy this book. It’s lighthearted and young but it still managed to cover some serious issues including mental health. I appreciated the honesty of the characters and the cute love story and this is definitely a book I would be happy to recommend to any of my teenage students, but for me it was a little too spacey and a little too young. It’s not this wonderful book’s fault; I’m just not the target audience! I still love Leon, though ❤️

Libby's Bookshelf

Search This Blog