Come and Get It

by Kiley REid

Bloomsbury

Desire. Consumption. Reckless abandon. Money. Indiscretion. Bad behaviour.  Its all there in the new campus novel from Kiley Reid, author of the smash hit, Such a Fun Age.   Everyone is doing something slightly wrong – not criminally wrong – but just not right!

It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie’s starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardised by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks and illicit intrigue.

The story unfurls like a magic trick, its breeziness disguising an incisive and damning exploration of economics and ethics in America…Reid is a social observer of the highest order, knowing exactly when a small detail or beat of dialogue will resonate beyond the confines of the scene. . . . It’s a testament to Reid’s gifts that . . . she never judges her characters. Her world, like the real one, is populated by people whose shortsightedness lives alongside good intentions. . . . With her perceptive eye and ear, Reid imbues her novel with the stuff, literally and figuratively, of life. . . . Her characters feel unique, often lovable — and always human. Money drives them in the way it drives us all, and that’s the beauty (and the terror) of Reid’s point. With her remarkable examination of American monoculture — from fast food to pop culture to handed-down ideals — she tells a story about economics that’s neither poverty porn nor finance fantasy. Instead, it’s about the hows and whys of everyday consumerism and the insidious toll it takes on our lives. . . .” —The New York Times Book – New York Times

Reid really shines. The dialogue and personalities she created for each dorm resident, each classmate and each parent are so complete, it’s like tuning into a juicy reality show already in progress. . . . Consumerism, race, desire, grief and growth are key themes in Reid’s novel, but connection might be the thread through them all.” —USA Today

“Kiley Reid is an expert at teasing apart the messy, complicated, nuanced layers of social dynamics, and has a rare gift for making the unknown feel intimately familiar and the familiar feel brand new. In Come and Get It, she’s crafted a story that moves with the momentum and inevitability of a snowball rolling down a mountain. I couldn’t put it down, and I didn’t want to either.” —Emily Henry, author of Happy Place