Kiley Reid
Author of Such a Fun Age
About the Author
Works by Kiley Reid
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Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1987
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Country (for map)
- USA
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Occupations
- novelist
- Agent
- Claudia Ballard
- Short biography
- Kiley Reid (born 1987) is an American novelist. Her debut novel, Such a Fun Age, was published in December 2019.
Reid was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987 and raised in Tucson, Arizona, from the age of seven to 20. She graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School and studied theater at the University of Arizona for two years before transferring to Marymount Manhattan College. She later graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
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2020 Booker Prize Longlist: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid in Booker Prize (August 2020)
Reviews
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Loved it!
I don't know why but I couldn't put this book down. It was compulsive. Kiley Reid's writing here was so good it felt effortless. She's asking questions about what it means to be a paid member of someone else's family, about how (if you're white) to be an ally (and how much of an obligation is imposed on BIPOC by people trying to be allies) and, fundamentally, how possible is it for even the most "woke" person to really get it?
As a title, Such a Fun Age feels very playful. Is Reid talking about the supposedly carefree years of our twenties, when we move from education into the workforce but we're not yet weighed down by the burdens of child-rearing, mortgages and aging parents? This is where the chief protagonist finds herself. Boomers, Lost Gens, Gen-Xers and millennials all seem to view this period in one's life as The Most Fun We Ever Had. But talk to many twenty-somethings in 2020 and you get a totally different perspective. The reality of exponentially-increasing inequality means that life is much harder for a 25-year-old today than it has been in decades. So is this what the title is meant to get us thinking about?
The other possibility is that the "fun age" refers to precocious toddler Briar, blonde, fluffy-headed, asker-of-constant-questions chatterbox adored by her black babysitter. Emira's "favorite little human." But possibly not the favorite child in her own family, especially not when baby Catherine is an exact replica of her mother and is "such an easy baby." Neither Briar, with her "raspy voice" and frequently awkward observations, nor Emira, who is struggling to find a path in life, are full of fun, but they do find a lot of fun with and in each other and that was the most fun part for this reader.
… (more)
As a title, Such a Fun Age feels very playful. Is Reid talking about the supposedly carefree years of our twenties, when we move from education into the workforce but we're not yet weighed down by the burdens of child-rearing, mortgages and aging parents? This is where the chief protagonist finds herself. Boomers, Lost Gens, Gen-Xers and millennials all seem to view this period in one's life as The Most Fun We Ever Had. But talk to many twenty-somethings in 2020 and you get a totally different perspective. The reality of exponentially-increasing inequality means that life is much harder for a 25-year-old today than it has been in decades. So is this what the title is meant to get us thinking about?
The other possibility is that the "fun age" refers to precocious toddler Briar, blonde, fluffy-headed, asker-of-constant-questions chatterbox adored by her black babysitter. Emira's "favorite little human." But possibly not the favorite child in her own family, especially not when baby Catherine is an exact replica of her mother and is "such an easy baby." Neither Briar, with her "raspy voice" and frequently awkward observations, nor Emira, who is struggling to find a path in life, are full of fun, but they do find a lot of fun with and in each other and that was the most fun part for this reader.
… (more)
Highly enjoyable. I'm a bit surprised this was long-listed for the Booker, since it's not what I consider a literary achievement. But as an engaging, contemporary read, you can't go wrong. Painfully accurate characters and those tiny moments of self-doubt and failed human interaction that torment anyone with a brain. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the character of Briar; how many three-year-olds emerge from a novel with a fully-rounded personality and most of the best lines?
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Statistics
- Works
- 4
- Members
- 3,472
- Popularity
- #7,326
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 188
- ISBNs
- 42
- Languages
- 7
- Favorited
- 1