Come & Get It – Kiley Reid
Expectation: A racially-charged exploration of college life in the Southern United States.
Reality: A dissection of capitalism from the perspectives of different students, professors and resident advisors delivered with biting commentary and razor-sharp dialogue.
My Take:
In my review of Kiley Reid’s debut “Such a Fun Age,” I accused the author of going too easy on her characters and failing to deliver the “reckoning” the entire story had been building towards.
This disappointment led me to initially pass over her follow-up “Come & Get It,” but once I saw the abysmal ratings on Goodreads (3.45 average) and reviews calling it a “book about nothing,” I was intrigued, because character-driven novels are my catnip.
Go into this knowing there isn’t a plot as much as there is a theme — money — and through each chapter we learn how it motivates each of the characters whose lives intersect at the “Belgrade '' dormitory at the University of Arkansas.
Comparisons will likely be made to Brandon Taylor’s “The Late Americans” — another plotless book set in a college town — but unlike Taylor’s showy (and sleep-inducing) prose and short-story collection sensibilities, Reid delivers her characterizations and scenarios with more cohesiveness and, honestly, fun.
Immediately Reid sets the tone with visiting professor Agatha interviewing an assortment of female college students about their perspectives on weddings. Through razor sharp dialogue and a fair share of microaggressions, the author unpacks capitalism from racial, class-based and geographical perspectives.
If you are hooked by the first chapter, then you’re in for a treat. If it doesn’t grab your attention, then nothing else in the novel will either. This anthropological interest in customs and social mores in the melting pot of a college dorm is essentially the novel's “plot.”
While we get perspectives from eight or so characters, the majority of time is spent on three, and Reid slowly peels the layers of their malcontent via alternating POVs. Agatha, is a 30-something lesbian leaving a financially imbalanced marriage with a younger woman; Millie is a Black, non-traditional student and resident advisor who knows how the game is played; and Kennedy, a transfer student from Iowa, is looking for a fresh start.
While I was captivated by each of these narratives, it was many of the supporting players — fellow students and resident advisors — that stole the show, allowing Reid to deliver some of her most biting commentary and one-liners. This was a novel that could’ve easily veered into heavy-handed territory but the author found a consistent and even tone.
While this will certainly be one of my favorite reads of the year, it falls short of a five-star rating simply because the last third dragged a bit. Still, the ride was well worth it and showed a tremendous amount of growth by Reid as a storyteller.
This is one I highly recommend tackling as an audiobook. A friend of mine got bored by the physical copy, but there was nothing dull about Nicole Lewis’ narration. The characters are given a distinct personality, and she found the balance and humanity within each.
That’s no simple task when one (Tyler) speaks with over-exaggerated and faux enthusiasm, others (Collette and Rylan) veer to the madcap and Agatha, Millie and Kennedy need to stay grounded as the heart of the story. Throughout, you could tell that Lewis gave it her all.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Penguin Random House Audio and the author for providing me with an advanced listener copy. This exchange of goods did not influence my review.
Rating (story): 4.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 5/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (personal library)
Dates read: January 10 – January 21, 2024
Multi-tasking: Okay. This is character-driven storytelling at its finest so if you don’t pay close attention, you’ll miss the little details that made this an engrossing and layered read.
