How far would you go to get the money to lead the life of your dreams? That’s the central question in Come and Get It, Kiley Reid’s second novel. Race relations were the focal point of the American author’s first book, the bestselling and zeitgeisty Such a Fun Age, which was longlisted for the 2020 Booker prize. In that novel Emira, a young black woman, is falsely accused of kidnapping while babysitting the three-year-old daughter of a privileged white family. Now, in Come and Get It, personal wealth (or lack thereof) is the catalyst for the tension in almost every encounter between Reid’s spirited cast of characters – though we’re still in contemporary America, so we haven’t left racism behind either.
At first, the stakes here seem lower than in Such a Fun Age. No one threatens to call the police within the book’s first chapter, anyway. Millie is a 24-year-old resident assistant at the University of Arkansas, a senior who lives in dormitory accommodation and is on hand to help with problems that arise in the halls. It’s a paid position, which is crucial for Millie, who, “after becoming mildly addicted to TV shows featuring tiny houses and youngish owners”, dreams of buying her own home. She just needs to save the money for a downpayment.
