Such a Fun Age

This book starts with an incident in which Emira, a young black woman, is accused of having stolen the white toddler she babysits, Briar, in a grocery-store confrontation. The tone is set immediately to examine inherent racial biases, but less so these explicit moments of racism, and more how even “good white people” exploit black women in subtle, but nefarious ways.

The story follows Emira, a young black woman who, as with many twenty-somethings, is in a bit of a crisis regarding what to do with her life. She falls into a babysitting gig because it pays well, and ends up falling in love with the toddler she cares for, Briar, ostensibly appreciating not only the uncomplicated nature of children, but also a certain flavor of neglect that Briar feels as her upper-class mother is too worried about exteriors to be the best mother she can be. It's not hard to extrapolate out that neglect to upper-class white women generally (cough, myself included, which lent to some uncomfortable moments of introspection): the book asks us to question: how many of our “good intentions” are ultimately self-serving?

At the same time, Emira is developing a relationship with a white man, who fetishizes black bodies and black culture, exclusively dating black women: favorably, this can be interpreted as coincidence, or narrow attraction; less favorably, as black women as commodities (admittedly, a harsh interpretation, and one I would not go quite so far as to take – but gets you thinking).

All in all, I think the book plays on this idea of white people centering themselves in any American narrative as protagonists, including those, like Emira's, that are explicitly not theirs.

This is a great summer/pandemic read. It moves along like a light beach novel, but it handles serious issues with sensitivity.

Emira is a young Black woman, a recent college graduate who hasn't yet found a career path she wants to follow. She takes a part time babysitting job for Alix, a white “influencer” who has a 3 year old daughter, Briar, and an infant, Catherine. Emira connects deeply with Briar, and comes to love taking care of her. In a late night incident in an upscale grocery store, Emira is accused by a security guard and another customer of kidnapping Briar. Kelley, a white male bystander, captures the incident on his cell phone. He and Emira begin seeing each other, unaware that Emira's boss, Alix, also has a history with Kelley. When that history comes to light, the “fun” begins.

I loved how this novel portrayed issues of autonomy and becoming an authentic person in the characters as they dealt with their situations. Power dynamics in employer/employee relations were also a theme, as well as authenticity between Black and white people. Emira emerges as a very likeable, capable young woman with a reliable inner compass and you'll find yourself rooting for her to find her way through the confusion that surrounds her.

This was well written enough and easy to read, but just felt pretty muddled and I never was really invested in anything.