The Education of Kia Greer by Alanna Bennett is a story of agency and identity. Although some readers will not be able to relate to Kia’s privilege, fame, and socioeconomic status, they will still be able to relate to the issues of power, pressure, desire for belonging, and search for identity that Kia endures.
Bennett’s novel is also a love story, but under the influence of Bennett’s pen, we realize that love isn’t always enough. Although the people we encounter throughout life can transform us, as well as encourage and support us, ultimately, we have to dive headfirst into the life that’s meant for us instead of staying stagnant in the one we were raised in. So, when sixteen year old Kiara Greer realizes that she likes learning about the history of things and wishes to go to college rather than pander to the fame and fortune into which she has been born, she asks herself the question penned by Mary Oliver: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (40).
Smart, curious, introverted, and prone to depression and anxiety, Kia spends the rest of the book sorting through that question. Her mother Melora Greer calls the shots: there are film sets, products to promote, podcasts to record, and PR crises to navigate. With a film star father and a social influencer mother, Kia feels less like a person and more like a product “to be packaged, managed, and sold” (234). Floating in a sea of insecurities and indecision, Kia shuns the spotlight and resists the boxes her mother tries to shove her into. But she also feels guilty, since “only the weak wouldn’t be happy in paradise” (277).
When she meets Cassius Campbell, Kia’s life changes. Cass has a “graceful, buoyant way of moving through the world” (59). As their relationship progresses, Kia wonders if Cass is in the relationship for the press or if he really likes her. She also wonders whether she is doing as Cass describes: “Most people just go through the motions assigned to them, the version of themselves other people think they should be. They give up these big pieces of themselves over time, living for the small days or weeks they get to escape the drudgery” (175).
Once Cass cracks open the possibility of an unpredictable independence, Kia walks through the gates, waiting until she turns eighteen, waiting to grow into a new version of herself. But will her mother and her sisters allow her to walk away from Growin’ Up Greer? And what if the public turns on her relationship with Cass? “That could jeopardize plans for the Greer empire” (234),
Bennett explores other interesting plot twists and points out some general truths about life, namely that we all have knowledge gaps and that “personal style should revolve around the three Es: exploration, expression, and elation” (197). She also points out how much we worry about what people might think. “Public reaction ruled everything we did; it’s what sold Greer products” (233). Through the conflicts Kia faces and the battles she fights, we come to realize that we have to live life on our own terms and that love means acceptance, too, accepting the parts of a person that don’t necessarily fit our plans. Getting to that point may involve struggles and self-doubt, but without those obstacles, we may never reach the rewards that life has in store.
- Donna