Community Reviews
A modern story of racism and classism. I enjoyed this read but kept expecting more. I felt like there was a lot of potential and then the ending fell flat.
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It's so interesting to see different perspectives through the reviews. Honestly, as a black woman, I think all the reviews and comments from non-black people are strikingly obviously non-black. The various interpretations mirror the multitudes of perspectives within this very book.
I do agree that the ending seemed rushed but let's not forget that Alix became so obsessed with Emira that she allowed herself to feel entitled to her. She seemed to need a form of perverse validation from her that purely fulfilled her own ego. When she infringed Emira's privacy by reading her text messages, phone notifications and leaked the video, she was doing so for purely selfish reasons. Even if the leak had succeeded, she wanted Emira by her side as she viewed her as "hers". Alix even manages to convince herself that her feelings and more than questionable actions towards Emira are 'caring'.
So the comments I see about Emira apologising to Alix...why would she ? Apologise for what exactly? For going through her phone? For becoming weirdly obsessed with her life ? For inserting herself into her personal life ? The list goes on.
Emira is happy existing and working a job that allows her to live her life OUTSIDE of work. Her life has not afforded her the privileges of 'finding her passions' and less so 'living her passions'. Her life is very ordinary and that's okay. She chooses to stay away from social media.
Most of our lives are ordinary. Black women do not require validation solely via "black excellence". Here, through the drama with Alix, Emira finally found a sweet spot where she was just content enough in her job properly all the while feel too emotionally involved as she did with Briar.
Emira is like lots of other 25 year olds that are still kind of figuring themselves out in the world. Why do we need a sob story to 'understand why'? Her life is typical and ordinary just as most of the population. THAT'S the true beauty of this story in my humble opinion.
In regards to the ending, it's odd.
It feels rushed stylistically speaking. However, there wasn't much to say. The ending basically means that her ordinary life went on. Emira continued to live an ordinary life and the 2 white people she had in her life went on to continue to live seemingly as they always did ; completely unaware of their privileges and subconscious racist ways (Alix, not too sure but she didn't apologise so I don't think she changed and Kelley continued dating his fetish).
It's a relatively surprising book though. Didn't go how I thought it would. These reviews and comments are even more fascinating.
Edit : A major con to this read is Emira's apparent lack of vocabulary. She was an English major for goodness sake ! It bugs me so much. It makes her character somewhat unbelievable.
I do agree that the ending seemed rushed but let's not forget that Alix became so obsessed with Emira that she allowed herself to feel entitled to her. She seemed to need a form of perverse validation from her that purely fulfilled her own ego. When she infringed Emira's privacy by reading her text messages, phone notifications and leaked the video, she was doing so for purely selfish reasons. Even if the leak had succeeded, she wanted Emira by her side as she viewed her as "hers". Alix even manages to convince herself that her feelings and more than questionable actions towards Emira are 'caring'.
So the comments I see about Emira apologising to Alix...why would she ? Apologise for what exactly? For going through her phone? For becoming weirdly obsessed with her life ? For inserting herself into her personal life ? The list goes on.
Emira is happy existing and working a job that allows her to live her life OUTSIDE of work. Her life has not afforded her the privileges of 'finding her passions' and less so 'living her passions'. Her life is very ordinary and that's okay. She chooses to stay away from social media.
Most of our lives are ordinary. Black women do not require validation solely via "black excellence". Here, through the drama with Alix, Emira finally found a sweet spot where she was just content enough in her job properly all the while feel too emotionally involved as she did with Briar.
Emira is like lots of other 25 year olds that are still kind of figuring themselves out in the world. Why do we need a sob story to 'understand why'? Her life is typical and ordinary just as most of the population. THAT'S the true beauty of this story in my humble opinion.
In regards to the ending, it's odd.
It feels rushed stylistically speaking. However, there wasn't much to say. The ending basically means that her ordinary life went on. Emira continued to live an ordinary life and the 2 white people she had in her life went on to continue to live seemingly as they always did ; completely unaware of their privileges and subconscious racist ways (Alix, not too sure but she didn't apologise so I don't think she changed and Kelley continued dating his fetish).
It's a relatively surprising book though. Didn't go how I thought it would. These reviews and comments are even more fascinating.
Edit : A major con to this read is Emira's apparent lack of vocabulary. She was an English major for goodness sake ! It bugs me so much. It makes her character somewhat unbelievable.
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I connected so deeply with this book! I loved that the book addressed interracial relationships, along with the anxiety millennials have
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Similar manner of the plot unfolding to Little Fires Everywhere, Such a Fun Age developed the story in such a way that felt natural, well- timed, and contemporary -- I felt it could've been entirely based off a true story. There were some writing nuances that made me have to re-read sentences or paragraphs, which took me out of the pace of the book, but otherwise a must read for everyone.
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