Let’s Not Cross Paths | In the Silence
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Personal Writer Note: Life has been lifin’ and I’ve been in graduate school so it’s been real hard to keep up with this and reading (outside of school) generally. That said, one thing I try to practice is giving myself the grace to start again with everything — no matter how small or big the thing was and no matter long it has been since I last kept up. So here I am — starting again.✨🤗
That said, this (and the next few posts) will be a short and sweet because it’s been a large gap of time since I read it. Nevertheless, I’m so glad I read this one! It was highly recommended by a friend and always had a long wait time in the library e-book world. I had to stop and start it a few times as I didn’t have time to finish it then my loan would lapse. But ooo, it was entertaining and intriguing!
A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.
…
With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone family, and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.
There are so many things that get touched on through the relationships in the story and throughout the whole thing, I couldn’t help but think about how people with relatively different lives had paths that not only crossed, but tangled. I believe it’s a beautiful phenomenon to think about how so many things had to happen for you and someone else to be in the same place at the same time. When a meaningful event or relationship comes out of this, we often claim it as “destiny” or “fate”. However, there are also situations in which we claim as “destiny” and “fate” because we were not at the same time or place as someone or something else (sadly, often in tragic situations) and perhaps we made a slight last-minute decision that changed our path.
I just think it would be best if we went our separate ways and…that those paths never like…came back together.
— Emira to Alix
An iconic line of the book that first marked the end of Kelley and Alix’s relationship and then the end of Emira and Alix’s relationship, this moment in the book not only had me burst out in laughter, but also made me think about this phenomenon of crossing paths and when we don’t want that to happen. From the small awkward interactions to the major world happenings, there is so many things that each of us wish we missed out on or didn’t have to experience. So as much as I’m grateful for the ways my path has crossed with other paths so far, I’m also grateful for the ways my path has not. And I also am hoping there are paths I won’t ever cross with again.
I’m not the one to give any concrete understanding or answer to how destiny or fate works and how much we can control of it, but this did have me think more about it. And I have to say if Alix and Emira were real life people, I really do believe they would have not crossed paths again.
|Renée|
more quotes:
Alex completely gets off on either having black people work for her or calling the cops on them.
When she really considered a life with him, a real life, a joint-bank-account emergency-contact-both-names-on-the-lease life.
Emira was annoyed, rather than delighted, by the fact that a viral video seemed to make her more qualified than reference letters and a bachelor’s degree. But that didn’t matter anymore because she didn’t need it.
“Listen to me.” Emira turned to her. “I’m doin’ this thing, okay? But as soon as I give you a look, I want you to make a scene.
Zara shook her head in reluctance, obligation, and stoic confirmation. “Mira, don’t play with me ’cause you know I’ll start some sh-t.”Well, the thing is...” Emira turned toward her. “Basically. Her eyes came up to meet with Alix’s. And for a second, Emira appeared as if she’d just remembered a dream she had the night before, “I just think it would be best if we went our separate ways and…that those paths never like…came back together.”
“Yeah, das right!” Zara said to the camera behind Lanev. “Homegirl is out, okay?! She ain’t need this!” By this, Zara meant the white throw pillow Emira had been sitting against, which Zara flicked with a disinterested hand. She wit’ the Green Party now, ni — a! She got money!” Zara began to dip her head at different angles in the camera lens, shouting and clapping on every syllable of “This is what democracy looks like!” As Catherine began to clap with Zara, a privately.
To read more of my book-based musings, visit In The Silence.
#inthesilencebks
