Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Queenie

How to review this book...
I do think it's a good book with a good message. Queenie is a 25 years old woman, who loses her boyfriend, job, one of her best girl friends and her dignity in a very short amount of time. Her life sucks, men are using her, she has to move back into her grandparent's house and all of this is coated with a thick layer of racism on top.
This is a good story, relatable in some parts and uncomfortably unrelatable in other parts (I'm a white woman). So why do I only give three stars? Because I hate contemporary stories. I dislike the genre and don't enjoy spending my time reading about normal people with normal problems.
If your job is bad, you better be a reaper. If your family is dysfunctional, your parents better be Lillith and the Archangel Gabriel. If your partner sucks, they better be a vampire, or at least a fae.
If I read books without any fantasy elements, they're usually at least some cozy mysteries.

But Queenie was a gift some Christmases ago and a) I plan to reduce my physical TBR this year significantly and b) in honor of Black History Month, I wanted to read it and I finished it, because I think the story deserves to be read, even though I don't like it much. I skimmed roughly two thirds of the book, but I followed the plot and the development. And if you like contemporary stories, I would recommend the book.

Content Warnings

teh_niarr's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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georgie_mb's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For me, this lived up to the hype that I’d heard about this.

Queenie is a modern flawed woman who I came to love through this audiobook (highly recommend listening as Tamara Lawrence is just FAB).She is going through everything from the breakdown of long-term relationships, a miscarriage, casual sex, systematic racism, workplace romances, childhood trauma and mental health issues and I just found her journey from beginning to end to inspiring.

I was truly gripped from start to finish and was rooting for Queenie like she was a real person!

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Title: Queenie
Author: Candice Carty-Williams
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 2.5
Pub Date: March 19, 2019

T H R E E • W O R D S

Compelling • Vulgar • Important

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, caught between two cultures and not feeling entirely comfortable in either. She has worked hard to obtain a job at a national newspaper, but finds herself comparing herself to her white, middle-class peers. After a break-up with her long-term boyfriend, she seeks comfort in all the wrong places and making a string of bad decisions. As her life unravels, she questions her place and meaning in the world.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams debut, tackles a host of themes, including but not limited to female friendship, modern romantic relationships, racism, sexual harassment, mental health, childhood trauma, abuse, and interracial relationships, with candidness and honesty. Yet, because it tackles so much, at times it felt like the author's purpose was unclear and/or lost completely.

What stood out for me was definitely the writing. The natural dialogue, use of mixed media (texts, emails, etc.) and the narration of the audiobook really brought the story to life. Something else I appreciated was the mental heath aspect, which was handled with care.

However, the dark humour and Queenie's antics were not for me. I understand this is part of the artistry used by the author, yet I found it incredibly frustrating to the point of annoyance. Although in some ways Queenie's growth is evident, I am not sure she learned anything or has changed.

At the end of the day, Queenie is a powerful and important debut but was an exhausting reading experience. Sometimes there are books that are just not meant for me, and this was one of them. That's not to say this isn't a wonderful book, it simply means it wasn't the book for me. I definitely think Candice Carty-Williams is an up-and-coming author to watch.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• anyone seeking #OwnVoices accounts
• readers who enjoyed Red At the Bone

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"The road to recovery is not linear. It’s not straight. It’s a bumpy path, with lots of twists and turns. But you’re on the right track."

"Being brave isn't the same as being okay."

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amal_101's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Queeeenie! I feel for Queenie. At times I wanted to DNF. There are so many heavy topics main character was experiencing but at the same time you want to constant ask her why? oh why?

It’s written well. Great dialogue between characters. I was listening to the Audiobook but I think this would’ve been good to have read instead.

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marissasa's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This story is a realistic and sharp look at a Black-British 20-something woman's life and struggles. I read most of the book physically and listened to a few chapters on audiobook, which was very entertainingly British and Jamaican with all the narrators' accents. Queenie herself is a deeply hurt and traumatized character, who for the first part of the book continuously makes bad choices and spirals deeper and deeper into her messy situation. Throughout it all you get to see her struggle with her suffering but also slowly start to realize her own role in her pain, but the writing very intentionally showed this growth in a humorous and relatable way through Queenie, her friends, and her family's unique voices. I loved that each character felt like a real person and had their own motivations and personalities, even the smaller side ones. The character development in this book was really well done, and showed the wide range of both positive and negative relationships that young women today may find in their lives. I found myself both cringing at her choices and rooting for things to go right for her, which made her feel so realistic and so human and relatable. I loved seeing our flawed character begin to accept that she has issues and actively try to get better for her own health and happiness through therapy and setting boundaries. So much of the dialogue and humor in this book felt like things I would talk about with my own friends in real life, and I genuinely felt like the use of email and text messages in this format added to the book in meaningful ways. I'm so glad Queenie got a realistic but positive ending that felt satisfying but not too cliché.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I wanted to read this book as I've heard so many good things about it. My wonderful friends bought this book for me for my birthday. This book was not what I was expecting it to be.

This book is based around 25-year-old Queenie Jenkins who is a Jamaican British woman living in London and she is straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places . . . including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be” - all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

Wow, this book was difficult and it’s only when I was about 50% through that I realise that this is about her mental health . . . and I think that was the point of it. It was very hard-hitting and brutal and shows you how mental health can affected different people and not even realise it until they’ve hit wrong bottom. Queenie had a lot of bad stuff happen to her from the moment of page 1 up to the last chapter and you can see how she handles it and how things got worse and worse. I would 10000% as always check the trigger warnings with this book as it was brutal and the way that Candice describes Queenie’s mental health can be a bit triggering. I didn’t have anything to hate about this book, I just thought it was really slow-paced and heavy.

I would love another book to see how Queenie is doing later on in life, when she’s back on track but not as a chick flick or anything like that. Just a little novella on how Queenie and the Corgis are doing.

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lectrixnoctis's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British young woman living in London, perching two cultures and slotting into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she is frequently forced to compare herself to her white middle-class equivalents. After a messy break-up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places, including several hazardous men who do an excellent job of occupying brain space and a bad position of establishing self-worth.

As Queenie reels from one debatable decision to another, she wonders why she is doing all this or why does she not stop, although it might not be something she wants —all of the inquiries today's women must encounter in a world trying to reply them for her.

This story is incredibly raw, and I think that everyone in his early adulthood would enjoy this piece of fiction. I can see why this novel has won the award. I found it fascinating to read about all these different characters and how they intertwine in the story, but the focus is still on the protagonist herself. I think it has so much nuance that you probably don't get in mainstream books by white authors.

How the author approaches tough topics like anxiety or racism is astonishing, and I cannot get enough of her writing style. Although it was so raw, it was so beautifully written that I just wanted to keep reading; although it was so natural, it was so beautifully written that I just wanted to keep reading.

Sadly, I had a big reading slump; however, I finally found the time again to pick it up and finish it in one go, and I think it has a lot to do with the book itself. I don't believe that every reader could've done that; I did not have a reading slump because of it.

Overall I highly recommend this book. When you're in your early 20s are becoming an adult, you should read this book. All women or female-presenting people can relate to a situation somehow. The nuance with interracial dating and racism was so interesting that I will read more of the works.

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