Hi Online Book Clubbers!

As per your votes, this will be my last online book club post. Going forward, I will share books worth reading, or books that fall under particular categories. Thanks for taking part in this online book club for the past year – it’s been fun!! Now, let’s have some much needed, deep conversations! Here are some questions to get the conversation started.

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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

1. What was your initial thoughts and reaction when Briar’s mom, Alix, called Emira late in the night to babysit (by taking Briar to the grocery store)?
2. How did you feel when the security guard accused Emira of a crime? Did this bring up trauma from experiences you have been apart of or witnessed?
3. The security guard was telling Emira to calm down and was taking actions to restrain her, even when she wasn’t resisting – do you think the security guard would have behaved the same way if it was a different time of day? If Emira had a different colour of skin? If Emira was dressed differently? Is any of that okay?!
4. What did you think about the relationship between Emira and Alix, initially and as the book progressed?
5. Did you guess that Alix and Emira would have a connection with Kelley?
6. This may have been under appreciated with all the big topics in the book, but Briar talks about how her younger sister, Catherine, is the favourite child. Later, Emira brings this up to Alix. What purpose did this point serve in the story?
7. Alix and Kelley both view each other as the “same as they were in high school.” Do you think people can change from high school? Did they change?
8. Kelley “only dated black women” according to his social media history. Is this a bad thing? If so, why? Does this fall under the category of reverse racism? Why? If both members of the couple only dated within in their race, why wouldn’t this be looked at the same way?
9. How would you have reacted to Emira’s tape being released without her permission if you were her?
10. How did your opinion of Alix change once she released Emira’s tape and then offered her full-time work? Why do you think she did these two things?
11. Were you shocked by the realization that Kelley truly never received Alix’s letter in high school? Did that change your opinion of any of the characters?
12. What would you rate this book out of 5 stars, and why?

This was such a light read for such a deep topic, if that makes sense. I flew through this book and wanted to know what was going to happen next, and it even left me with some surprises! The subject matter made it easy to discuss some very important topics of race, class, prejudice, and so much more. I highly, highly suggest this book. I’m giving it 4/5.

Thanks for joining in on our final online Book Club!