This Week in Reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Such a Fun Age is a novel told from dual vantage points: half from the perspective of Alix Chamberlain, a wealthy, white mother, and half from the perspective of her Black babysitter, Emira. Alix is beautiful and successful and runs a business vaguely centered around the concept of female empowerment. After her husband makes a racially insensitive comment on the local news, she decides to atone for her whiteness by befriending Emira, a recent college grad who is deeply uncomfortable with Alix’s sudden and transparent chumminess. The novel illustrates the chasm between Alix’s intentions, and the way they are perceived by Emira. Alix desperately wants Emira’s approval—she tries to downplay her privilege with self deprecating stories about scoring bargains on home décor and fancy wine, offhandedly criticizes the ridiculous white mothers that she herself invited to her daughter’s birthday party. She wants to enjoy the luxuries of her status while distancing herself from the characterizations that come with it. Alix doesn’t feel like she belongs to the community of wealthy white moms she finds herself in in Philadelphia. She is an entrepreneur, a self-starter! One of her best friends is Black! She only wants what is best for Emira; she believes herself to be motivated exclusively by benevolence.
not that kind of white person
not that kind of white person
not that kind of white person
This Week in Reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Such a Fun Age is a novel told from dual vantage points: half from the perspective of Alix Chamberlain, a wealthy, white mother, and half from the perspective of her Black babysitter, Emira. Alix is beautiful and successful and runs a business vaguely centered around the concept of female empowerment. After her husband makes a racially insensitive comment on the local news, she decides to atone for her whiteness by befriending Emira, a recent college grad who is deeply uncomfortable with Alix’s sudden and transparent chumminess. The novel illustrates the chasm between Alix’s intentions, and the way they are perceived by Emira. Alix desperately wants Emira’s approval—she tries to downplay her privilege with self deprecating stories about scoring bargains on home décor and fancy wine, offhandedly criticizes the ridiculous white mothers that she herself invited to her daughter’s birthday party. She wants to enjoy the luxuries of her status while distancing herself from the characterizations that come with it. Alix doesn’t feel like she belongs to the community of wealthy white moms she finds herself in in Philadelphia. She is an entrepreneur, a self-starter! One of her best friends is Black! She only wants what is best for Emira; she believes herself to be motivated exclusively by benevolence.