I’m continuing to talk about some of my picks for our list of Best Beach Reads of All Time, and this one is a doozy. It seemed destined to get little attention, publishing at the very end of the year in 2019, but it was picked up by Reese’s Book Club, it won a Goodreads Choice Award for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel, it was longlisted for the Booker Prize–it did not hit the shelves quietly. I am one of its many fans because I love reading train wreck stories, even when the maddening conductors barreling down that ill-fated track produce flames on the side of my face. You will want to cover your eyes and you will cringe much, but you will not want to put this book down.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Alix Chamberlain often comes to mind when I witness well-meaning white liberal performative allyship in real life. Alix is mom to Briar and employer to Emira, Briar’s babysitter, and she gives Nicole Daniels playing babysitting mom. She is a girl boss (I have so many things to say about the girl boss philosophy and none of them positive, but that’s for another time) and she is ruled by the brand she’s created for herself. So when a racist security guard at a store accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, and the whole humiliating, hurtful event gets caught on camera, you know Alix steps in and makes the most out of Emira’s pain. Alix is so high on her own supply, she’s convinced that she is the right person to step in and guide Emira through this nightmare (that Emira mostly hopes to forget about). Alix isn’t the only person trying to tell Emira how to handle racism. Emira gets caught up in Alix’s history and a mess is born.
Reid illustrates her mastery with injecting sharp social commentary into a thoroughly entertaining, if exacerbating, narrative. Emira isn’t cast as some heroic figure, but as a 20-something who’s trying to get paid, stay insured, and who doesn’t have the privilege of sitting around asking herself what she wants to do with her one wild and precious life. I get Emira. I get why she doesn’t have the energy or risk tolerance to get on her soapbox about this awful, caught-on-camera moment. I get why, to a Black woman, even still a struggling Black woman, that sounds like an unpaid full-time job.
That moment in the store is the tip of the iceberg. Class dynamics are also at play here, with Alix being someone who can afford a luxe place to live and childcare in New York City, and Emira being someone who lives in a closet-sized apartment and can’t afford insurance. The power dynamics are on full display when Alix begins inserting herself in Emira’s life. Boundaries are all the way crossed. Alix and Emira could have fallen into stereotype city, but I believe this book was successful because both are much more complicated than who they appear to be.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
It’s Pride Month, and while we celebrate queer literature here all year long, we go especially rainbow bold in June. This week, we’re excited to take a look at the favorite queer books of beloved queer authors.
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It’s Pride month, which is the perfect excuse to buy and read a bunch of queer books. One method I really enjoy for finding new books is to take the recommendations of my favorite authors. Carmen Maria Machado hasn’t led me astray yet. Unfortunately, I don’t have these authors on speed dial, but luckily, they usually have shared their recommendations publicly.
Below I’ve put together queer book recommendations from 11 beloved queer authors. Some are from interviews where they discussed their favorite books, and others are book blurbs. Both the authors’ works and the books they recommend cover a wide spectrum of genres and formats, including graphic novels, literary fiction, poetry, biographies, horror, sci-fi, YA fantasy, and more, so there’s something for every kind of reader.
Akwaeke Emezi recommends…
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde
“Some of the most spectacular writing I’ve ever encountered in my life… Vagabonds! brought me to tears because it gave me a world in which my country could be home again.”
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