I was one of the few people who didn’t really like Such a Fun Age. I think it might have suffered from being overhyped in my case.
So I was planning to skip this new book by Kiley Reid, but then the Nerdette podcast listed it as their February book club pick, so I went ahead and got it from my library.
I didn’t love it, but I think I liked it more than I liked her last book.
Like Such a Fun Age, this one deals a lot with money and power, but in subtle ways. It’s not as obvious as your boss asking you for a blowjob, but there are definitely some questionable moments in here.
The book takes place on the University of Arkansas campus, and while I’ve never been to Arkansas, and I didn’t go to a big state school, I was an RA my senior year of college, and there are some aspects of dorm life and being an RA that are universal.
The book starts off with Agatha Paul visiting the campus to ask some of the students about their thoughts on wedding planning. It only takes a few minutes for Agatha to realize she doesn’t care enough about wedding planning to write a whole book about it.
But you can’t really talk about wedding planning without talking about money, and Agatha is fascinated with the way the girls talk about money, so she asks them questions along those lines.
Agatha is currently going through a separation (maybe divorce?) with her partner, Robin, and money is also an issue in their relationship.
Robin works as a dancer, and when they got together, she didn’t have much money, so Agatha paid for everything. But when Robin got a steady, well-paid gig, Agatha still ended up paying for everything.
We only see these flashbacks from Agatha’s perspective, so we can only guess that Robin has no intention of taking advantage of Agatha. She’s just really bad at managing her money, and she probably thinks it’s no big deal for Agatha to cover the check because she always has.
As far as students, the book ends up focusing on four girls who live in the dorm. There’s Millie, the black RA whose residents refer to her as “ghetto” because she’s black. It sounds like Millie’s parents are well off, but not wealthy, and they make it clear she has to pay for her own education. So she moves to Arkansas and takes a year off between high school and college to work at a bed and breakfast to a) earn money b) be able to claim she’s a citizen of Arkansas so she can get the reduced tuition for in-state students.
After some more odd jobs and another year off to work and take care of her sick mom, Millie is saving up to buy her own house, which I wasn’t even thinking about when I was a student.
Then there are the three girls who share the corner room next to Millie’s single. Specifically, Tyler and Kennedy. The room has a common space, a double bedroom, and a single bedroom. At first, Tyler and Kennedy are bunked up in the double bedroom together, but Kennedy has way too much stuff. Rather than talk to her about it directly, Tyler gets Millie to help out and make it seem like it’s Millie’s idea for Kennedy to move. They’re successful, but that comes back to bite Millie in the butt later on.
In the meantime, Tyler plays a prank on Millie. It is kind of mean, but it is just a prank that didn’t hurt anyone. Millie decides to get back at her in an underhanded way by inviting Agatha back to her room on Thursday nights so the two of them can listen to the three girls through the wall they share with Millie. I do wonder if this revenge had more to do with Millie overhearing Tyler call her “ghetto” than the prank itself.
In return, Agatha pays Millie $40/session and Millie adds it to her house fund.
As if that weren’t cringy enough, Agatha and Millie start sleeping together. To be clear, Millie makes the first move, and because she has had to take a couple years off, she’s in her twenties, so it’s legal. But legal is not the same as moral, especially since she and Agatha keep up their weekly eavesdropping sessions and Agatha keeps paying her for them. Agatha knows how cringe this whole thing is, but she keeps finding ways to justify it to herself, which is gross, but also, let’s be honest, don’t we all do that when we’re doing something we know we shouldn’t?
Honestly, I think the worst part about the relationship between Agatha and Millie is not the age difference or the money, but the fact that Millie thinks this is a real relationship and Agatha is just using her as a rebound to get over her breakup from Robin. Agatha’s time in Arkansas was always limited, and while Millie knows that on an intellectual level, I don’t think she ever really thinks about how it will feel to be with Agatha, just to watch her leave, and it does hurt.
But other than that, no one really has to suffer any consequences from what happens — least of all Agatha, who gets to move back to Chicago with Robin and write her book. Millie doesn’t get the promotion she was hoping to get, but she does get to buy her house. Tyler gets a ton of money, some good stories to tell, and requests to move to another dorm.
I’m not sure it’s clear what Kennedy’s future holds. She had a pretty rocky past that prompted her to transfer to U of A halfway through her college career, and it’s always tough to try to start fresh as a junior after everyone else has already made friends. It’s not impossible, especially at a big state school, but it is harder, especially when you don’t have anyone to share a bedroom with.
Speaking of which, when it comes to Kennedy, I should warn you this book has big-time trigger warnings for depression and suicidal thoughts.
Other than that, it was a pretty quick, fun read!