Come and Get It

This Arkansas-set campus tale about students with money and students without has arguably more to say about the hang-ups and have-nots of modern America. Reid wields a needle not a hammer, gradually loading her minutely observed human relationships with tension over class, race and power. I’ve spent the past three months in America feeling haunted by this novel’s final scene, one of the most devastating excoriations of consumerism you’re likely to read * Sunday Times *
A brilliant book ... Really interesting, looks at the lengths we’ll go to get money, and how it informs our decision making and also our relationships. It’s a really good read -- Fearne Cotton, Happy Place Book Club
Kiley Reid has such a way with words … This book tackles money, privilege, race, and power dynamics ... A book that’s begging to be discussed as Kiley explores these topics and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions. I couldn't stop thinking about it after I finished reading and the more I marinated on this book, the more I appreciated Kiley’s ambition * Glamour *
A deliciously chewy, politically charged novel ... The kind of book I want to debate with a room full of women drinking fishbowl-sized glasses of cheap Pinot Grigio with too much ice in it * Vogue *
A zippy, laugh-out-loud campus novel ... Reid’s writing is so very funny, always rooted in the everyday * i *
This is a book about how money shapes people’s lives, and it’s for you if you enjoya character-driven narrative in which everyone introduced comes with an elaborate backstory * Harper’s Bazaar *
Reading Kiley Reid’s fiction feels a bit like watching a prestige TV series. There are expansive casts of characters ... The plots are pacy and compelling, motored by flashbacks and cliffhangers and twists, while also dealing with social issues – particularly race and class – that add intellectual heft. Dialogue is hyper-realistic ... so that you can hear it aloud in your head ... Reid is a talented comic writer. But it also raises deeper questions about how we view the lives of other people, as material for our own consumption. Are the attractions of books and TV so different from those of eavesdropping? * Guardian *
A master storyteller ... As fun to read as it is thought-provoking ... In heart-breaking and deeply recognisable details ... we see Reid’s pen at its sharpest * Stylist *
A master plotter who’s engineering a spectacular intersection of class, racism, academic politics and journalistic ethics. Reid spots all the grains of irritation and deceit that get caught in the machinery of social life until the whole contraption suddenly lurches to a calamitous halt. Come and get it, indeed! * Washington Post *
A biting comedy of campus manners * Mail on Sunday *
An utter joy * Sunday Times *
With her perceptive eye and ear, Reid imbues her novel with the stuff, literally and figuratively, of life ... As I read Come and Get It I found myself thinking of certain writers who have, over the years, elected themselves as “capital C” Chroniclers of contemporary America. With this book, Reid demonstrates that she deserves a place in the running * New York Times Book Review *
At once highly readable and an important comment on the lose-lose decisions millennials face in a bleak economy, this is a book you'll devour in days * Harper's Bazaar *
It gets to the heart of what Reid is: a consummate storyteller * Service 95 *
Reid brings her sharp gaze to the classic campus novel, and university life provides her with similarly rich material when it comes to deconstructing privilege ... She also cleverly turns some of the genre’s dustier tropes on their heads ... Part of what has always made campus stories so captivating is that they show us character as a work in progress – because our university days have always been about working out our sense of self. But contemporary tales like Reid’s are a necessary reminder: this leisurely exploration is a luxury not everyone can afford * Independent *
Reid has an excellent ear for speech: you get the impression that she, like Agatha, has put in the hours listening to 20-year-olds chatter, bitch and plot. She’s also a sharp observer of the way in which money confers power or withholds it, and how this can intersect with race ... The decision to foreground money is unusual, yet Reid pulls it off * Telegraph *
A wonderfully written and intimate portrayal of entwined lives on campus. Quiet and intense all at the same time, it was a joy to read -- Jessica George, author of MY NAME IS MAAME
Exploring hustle culture and capitalist attitudes, it weaves a compelling story that confronts the consequences of insatiable appetites for success * Elle *
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, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of HAPPY PLACE
Kiley Reid’s books make me feel lucky to be a reader. I’m in awe – Come and Get It is a page-turning pleasure – stylish, sharp and breathtakingly smart. I can’t believe that one book can be this clever, cool and this much fun to read -- Daisy Buchanan, author of INSATIABLE
Another razor-sharp, character-driven, coming-of-age story, which packs a huge emotional punch * Daily Mail *
Smart, funny and perceptive * i news, Best Books to Read in January *
Multi-layered and complex relationships between seriously flawed characters once again take centre stage as its narrative smartly delves into racism, social and economic status, and university campus politics in the 21st century. A perfect read for anyone who loved Netflix’s brilliant The Chair and Jean Hanff Korelitz’s Admission * Stylist *
Wonderfully immersive, propulsive, and beautifully paced. On page one, there is a story that is already happening, and you’re plunged right into the novel’s world, already up and running, full of real people, and complicated – that is, substantive – as all hell. Just great -- Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THIS OTHER EDEN and TINKERS
Come and Get It is an engrossing novel full of intimately portrayed characters and the seemingly innocuous choices that lead to life-altering mistakes -- Elizabeth Acevedo, author of FAMILY LORE and THE POET X
The book has a Netflix box-set breezy pace and knowing tone as it satirises staff and student attitudes towards money, hierarchy and status … An absorbingly twisty page-turner * i paper *
The pleasure of Come and Get It lies in its plunge into the unfamiliar. This is a society in which poorer students work for richer ones — the Tyler types can call up Millie at all hours to settle dorm disputes or shift furniture — or save money by camping overnight outside a new branch of Chick-fil-A to win a year’s worth of free fried chicken. The tone is breezy and comic, but what’s really happening is shocking * The Times *
Reid...masterfully captures the quiet misalignments that stem from a varying sense of what’s at stake…[A] novel of manners that acutely captures the modern moment * Vogue, The Best Books of 2024 So Far *
A witty and nuanced exploration of race and female-occupied spaces – I loved the thread of menace running through it * Red *
Kiley Reid's next must-read ... It's packed with those awkward moments Reid is so talented at creating, making your toes curl as you read * Grazia, Hot to Drop *
A brilliant author who creates ultra-memorable characters * Glamour, Best New Books of January 2024 *
If you loved the smash hit Such a Fun Age, don't sleep on Reid's newest ... This is a story of indiscretions and gray areas, power dynamics and privilege that's wound as tight as a violin string. Just don't forget to breathe while you're reading (go ahead and thank us later) * Good Housekeeping *
A deft exploration of how microaggressions can lead to macro consequences, Reid’s second outing will appeal to readers who enjoy slow-burn, character-driven novels * Booklist *
Kiley Reid returns with another incisive novel everyone will be talking about … A riveting and fascinating tale * Town & Country, Best Books of Winter *
Kiley Reid's characters are always layered with ethical dilemmas … Subterfuge, sex and self-seeking make things compellingly messy * Sainsbury’s Magazine *
A sardonic and no-holds-barred comedy of manners ... Reid is a keen observer­ – every page sparkles with sharp analysis of her characters. This blistering send-up of academia is interlaced with piercing moral clarity * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
An illuminating study of power, responsibility, and the bad choices we sometimes make, written in the fresh, bright language for which she’s known * Library Journal *
Reid’s fiction, which highlights the ordinary social interactions in which larger forces – of class and racial inequality, financial and cultural capital – make themselves known. There are few outright villains in her stories; her characters often blunder along with good intentions, to comic and disastrous effect * Guardian *
Reading a Kiley Reid novel is like watching a docuseries designed exactly for you. She captures those exceedingly awkward and real human interactions with such precision and specificity that you’re fully invested by the first page. Come and Get It is genius. It’s perfect -- Liz Moore, author of LONG BRIGHT RIVER
[A] sharp, edgy social novel … Reid is a genius of mimicry and social observation * Kirkus *
Beautifully told through the eyes of multiple characters, this intimate and revealing story from the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age is not to be missed * BookBub, The 22 Best Books of Winter *
An exciting new portrait of desire, consumption and recklessness, we have no doubt Reid’s new novel will be just as popular as the first * Luxury London, Best New Books *
Come and Get It is a festival of micro-aggressions; it’s uneasy, and Reid doesn’t give any character a free ride. She skewers mean girls, mummy’s girls and freeloaders with both clarity and subtlety ... The dialogue and little details [are] so excruciatingly accurate * AnOther magazine, Best Fiction for 2024 *
Come and Get It is a page-turning read filled with vengeful pranks and intrigue, but at its heart, it is a fascinating portrait of our obsession with material wealth * Chicago Review of Books, Must-Read Books of January 2024 *
It’s a perfect recipe ... in a college setting, about discretion and desire, about money, want, and, most importantly, it’s by Kiley Reid * LitHub, Most Anticipated Books of 2024 *
The result is heartbreak that money can’t fix, and a smart novel that says a lot about race, money and female friendships * Heat *
A thrilling, delectable look at wealth, privilege and desire * People Magazine, Best Books To Read in January 2024 *
The book is funny ... The dialogue is particularly snappy … Most importantly, “Come and Get It” offers a deft examination of how young people negotiate their first brushes with independence and responsibility. Reid is particularly attuned to how her characters navigate matters of money and consumption ... Reid’s novel carves its own path, capturing a sort of tragic malaise that itself suggests a state of young adulthood * Arkansas Times *
Reid’s skillful storytelling and vibrant characters are sure to give you a great time * Book Riot *
The kind of book you put down and immediately want to discuss * Vulture *