Madeline
Such a Fun Age is a book full of subtle and hidden biases exposed after a slight but traumatic event. The book opens up with an African American babysitter, Emira, taking the toddler she is watching to the ritzy mostly white grocery store down the street. While there, she is accused of taking the toddler and security is called. The situation escalates and a bystander starts to film the interaction. This event triggers the rest of the story evaluating relationships and race.
Premise of Such a Fun Age
Emira is a babysitter of a very precocious toddler. She loves the child but not the job. As she is taking care of the child, late night at a supermarket just to get the child away from a police situation over the house being egged, she is accused of kidnapping the child. She is filmed by a stranger whom she later runs into and becomes romantically involved. He sends her the footage and deletes it from his phone, but that is not the end.
The rest of the book is about her relationship with this stranger and her employer. Race and racism plays a huge part of the book and not in the most obvious way and the hidden biases exposed of these characters.
Hidden Biases Exposed By Subtlety
On the surface, Such a Fun Age is about a girl, her employer, and the inner workings of their lives. Look a little deeper, and there is much more there. As the story unwraps, the subtle racism of the two white characters closely to the main character, Emira, her employer and her boyfriend. These two people have a past that cause them both to believe that their relationship with Emira is not as pure as they come off.
This Book Reminds Me of The Hate U Give
While discussing this book with my sister, she mentioned that she had an aha moment in regards to Black Lives Matter. And after reading this book I completely understand that. For me, that book was The Hate U Give, which I have brought up before in The 10 Books I have read with the highest Goodreads Rating and other articles.
For two white girls living in this nation, it has been increasingly important for us to understand how African Americans are being judged in an unfair way. I can not pretended I fully understand it, but these two books have allowed me to take a huge leap forward in my understanding.
Final Thoughts
I cannot express how much I enjoyed this book. I hung onto every word and as the story began to unfold, I could not wait to see what happened last. Although it ended not the way I expected, I was very satisfied. As it is Goodreads Choice Awards season, I put in my votes and a number of them were for Such a Fun Age.
