Review: Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

The interesting thing about this book is the spoken language it portrays, which is that of young people in today's urban USA. It often baffles me, an ancient Brit, and not just because of its references to objects by their brand names, and leaves me thinking, to adopt the idiom, “Seriously?” This is a good thing, because it means that USAmerican English is continuing to evolve faster than my fellow Brits can keep up with it, leaving them room to help Britspeak evolve through innovation, not just emulation.
Reid's novel is an addition to the literature of identity politics. She seems particularly keen to deny the possibility of love or even friendship between members of different ethnic groups. This conceit, that the racists were right all along (but just misidentified the bad guys) is itself a bad fiction.
The central character is engaging: a passive young woman who from time to time leaps into life when she is egged on or just egged. She ends up stewing in her own juice, alone but with health insurance. The other characters are stereotypes. The plot hinges on a coincidence that defies belief.