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  • Such a Fun Age

  • By: Kiley Reid
  • Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
  • Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,059 ratings)

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Such a Fun Age cover art

Such a Fun Age

By: Kiley Reid
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
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Publisher's Summary

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020

Bloomsbury presents Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, read by Nicole Lewis.

The instant Sunday Times and New York Times best seller.

When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for ‘kidnapping’ the white child she’s actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with the best of intentions, resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix’s desire to help. When a surprising connection emerges between the two women, it sends them on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know – about themselves, each other and the messy dynamics of privilege.

A Reese Witherspoon and Zoella Book Club Pick.

A Times, Stylist, Elle, Glamour and BBC Best Book of 2020

©2020 Kiley Reid (P)2020 Penguin Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"The first time in a long time that I had a novel glued to my hands for two days." (Jessie Burton) 

"Sharp and observant and pacey. Will have the same impact as Sally Rooney." (Pandora Sykes)  

"A book that is clever, funny and shrewd, written by an author whose empathy can make you weep and smile, sometimes at the same time. A beautiful tale of how we live now." (Elizabeth Day) 

What listeners say about Such a Fun Age

Average Customer Ratings
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Disappointing

I was considering returning this after a couple of hours & wouldn't have missed anything if I had. I spend life avoiding characters like Alix & disappointed to listen to anything like her character traits. A grown woman with a family still banging on about her high school boyfriend?!? Seriously. The child voice used was really, really annoying. Being Australian the story & racism storyline did not resonate at all with me.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Meh.

Really didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Characters layered, but story lacked any real punch or real feeling of narrative. Story was dull, quite pointless and while the social commentary was current and quite thoughtful, none of the characters inspired me to really care about them...

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I tried very hard to persevere with this book, but in the end I had to give up. The storyline was in places unbelievable and illogical, the dialogue was cringeworthy and un-natural and the narrator’s child voice was unbearable. It had the backbones of a good story but unfortunately missed the mark

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An indescribable story

An indescribable story. The narrative was so enjoyable that it’s powerful undertones crept up on me like a kick in the guts. I found myself feeling mortified, defiant, elated then horrified all within the space of a few pages. It’s not hard to see why this story is so highly recommended.

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5 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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cliched, full of stereotypes and boring.

quite a boring story, characters shallow and storyline thin. was not very motivated to keep listening!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect for Jane Austen fans.

A novel of manners about interracial African American / White relationships with a millennial edge. The narrator, Nicole Lewis is spot on in bringing the characters to vivid life.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Easy Reading , Lighthearted Entertainment

A fun,humorous and entertaining read.
Relatable characters (mostly) and an easy to follow storyline.

Nothing mind blowingly incredible, but an enjoyable quick read.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An easy modern read with purpose

The lives of two women from different worlds reveal the subtleties of underlying racial prejudice in a modern American city.
Amira is 25, Alix is 32, both trying to find themselves. Each prides themselves on not being prejudice but inter-racial relationships prove more complex than either expected.
With engaging and likeable characters, you find yourself wondering who is to blame.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great

Different type of story and very enjoyable. Great narrator. The sort of book you want to keep reading - or listening to. Not predictable so more enjoyable.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

very disappointing

I didn't like the characters and the story went nowhere. I chose the book based on positive reviews but it just didn't grab me.

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1 person found this helpful

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  • H C FRASER-MACKENZIE
  • 23-02-2020

Why did I waste my time?

This took so long to get going/ kept hoping it would improve but now realise there are hours of my life I will never get back.
Themes were promising but it’s juvenile and a boring listen.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Elsabe Erasmus
  • 25-02-2023

My first audio book listen, it was great!

I am a hard copy reader, this was my first audio book, but i loved it. Laughed out loud many times. I liked the story & characters!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 24-02-2022

Excellent

Really poignant book about the sadly intrinsic racism in our society. gave some food for thought and reflection

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 11-07-2021

Brilliant

I could not stop listening to this incredible book. It not only kept me captivated, but sparked many reflections. Highly highly recommend.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jamie Holton
  • 20-06-2021

Great narrator!

The narrator definitely made the story come to life, she added the emotion, the drama, and the humour that the story called for. Would recommend!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Jess
  • 31-01-2021

Meh

This book gets a big old ‘meh’ from me. I wanted to like it, and at times I did. But, mostly, I found the story and what it was trying to achieve (a narrative around white privilege and race) clunky and clumsy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Bookworm
  • 20-09-2020

Incredible!

After hearing rave reviews of this book, I found it impossible to put down and raced through it in a day. Absolutely loved it!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 19-07-2020

Excellent narration

Quite easily the best narration I have listened to. Nicole Lewis is genius. A great listen.

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  • Rochelle James
  • 21-03-2020

Loved It

I really enjoyed this story. I listened it in its entirety without putting it down. I would have liked added voices, but the narrator did great. Wonder when we will see the movie on Netflix?

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  • Tsundoko and Tea
  • 10-01-2020

doesn't live up to the hype

Wow, I think I’m in the minority here having seen such good reviews! This was boring! I kept going expecting something to happen but it never really came!

Alix is a really intolerable woman! I ended thinking what an arsehole she was!!

Kelley was totally unbelievable as a 32-year-old man and if I ever met a man that acted and spoke like that when I was 25 I’d have been like ‘Thank you, next!’

The best thing about this book was the relationship between Emira and Briar and Emira and her fab girlfriends!

I totally get the intention of the book but it wasn’t entertaining as a novel

The narration was great though!

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36 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • LucyB
  • 05-02-2020

Really quite dull!

This has such great reviews, but it is a very dull story, nothing much happens, I dont get why people love it so?

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15 people found this helpful

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  • Dohm64
  • 16-01-2020

Fun, light but filled with deep meaning!

I loved this; I found the black women familiar, and I love how Reid explored the beauty and complexities of black female friendships.
This storyline is so smart: the exploration of the white/black paid services dynamic was so powerful!
Finally, the dialogue is so funny and well written!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Layla36
  • 12-10-2020

Very Thought Provoking

So much to unpack in this story, sometimes it overtly confronts issue and sometimes it simmers in the background. Very intruiging, and the more I think about the purpose of the title, the more I love it. However, I wasn't a fan of the writing/storytelling and whilst most of the characters were fully fleshed and amazing, some were underdeveloped imo.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Judimaxx
  • 13-01-2020

Great read characters and story

Characters are not what you would expect and the story has a reasonabke voice. I got a little bored of the race comparisons and mummy /kid dialogue but simple story of coming of age and social expectation.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Emma Henwood
  • 23-08-2020

Great book, important content and strong performance

This book is one of the most important books you should be listening to. The story of Emira and her interactions with a white family whilst she babysits for three year old Briar and the everyday racism she encounters makes you really think. However it’s also a really fun book with a lighthearted tone which covers other important themes like money between friends and struggling to get started in your twenties. It doesn’t seem to make any real judgement about the characters in the book which seems to leave it open to interpretation and as such is more realistic.

The book is narrated perfectly and every character is given a well chosen and delivered voice. Perfect. I recommend it!

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Rona Hunnisett
  • 26-02-2020

I stuck with it, but not sure why!

This rambled on relentlessly, and I guess I stuck with it to see what happened to the child, but it really didn't move me AT ALL!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • papapownall
  • 04-11-2020

Such a shallow plot

This debut novel from American author Kiley Reid starts promisingly enough with a black woman who is accused by a security guard of kidnapping a white child in an upmarket grocery store. Most of the rest of the book considers the aftermath of this event and, in addition, there is a fairly far fetched coincidence regarding the previous relationships of two of people involved. The characters are well defined and issues of race and privilege are tactfully tackled. For me though, there simply was not a strong enough story line to warrant the plaudits that this book has received and I was hoping that this was going to be much better than it was.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 18-04-2020

Entertaining yet eye opening.

I learned a lot about cultural differences also I enjoyed the way narrator gave soul to characters.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Marianne Thomson
  • 13-01-2020

Couldn’t put it down

Excellent and totally absorbing. I finished the whole thing in 3 days and couldn’t put it down

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.