Reviews with content warning for Racism - Queenie

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

369 reviews

bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to enjoy this book more but overall found myself really struggling to get through this audio book.

The majority of the characters felt very 1 dimensional. I found Queenie to be incredibly difficult to enjoy as a character for a vast portion of the book and it was only watching her develop towards the end that actually sold it for me.

The fact that pretty much every guy in this book has some form of black fetish or is racist just made the characters feel so impactful in places. Also that Queenie is a so self centred until she has therapy and even then it’s still such a minor change in terms of her actually giving a shit about the people around her.

I can understand the comparisons so similar coming-of-age style books like Bridget jones but the decisions made by Queenie really took me out of a lot of the story and made it very difficult to sympathise with at times when you realise she is meant to be 25/26 and for a huge part acts really immature.

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rockyreading's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

In full transparency, I saw a lot of myself in this book. A lot of my darkest times and worst decisions is reflected in Queenie and what she went through. We're human, we're not perfect, and sometimes we go on paths of self destruction before coming back out of the rubble and realizing who we are and what we deserve.

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trixster33's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

Queenie is a great pace story, very emotional rollercoaster, hope she gets a sequel where she's a little further on her healing journey, because she does not catch a break.

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cleansky7's review

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4.0

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brigitta_anna's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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thissagreads's review against another edition

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challenging funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A must read! This book had me shaking my head, laughing, getting defensive over Queenie, and emphasizing. This book was a refreshing read with a fresh perspective on a black British woman finding her way and figuring her sh*t out. Readers follow Queenie’s journey as she tries to get over her breakup, date/sleep around, keep up her relationships with friends and Jamaican family, working through all the various traumas she’s experienced AND tackles her mental health.

Just a warning: this is a heavier read and there are some trigger warnings SA:

Queenie is sexually assaulted, harassed and raped by a guy at work who pretended to show interest in her, and by this hook up that she liked a little bit until they had sex.
!!!!!!!!!!! GRAPHIC WARNING BELOW !!!!!!!!!
The colleague at work implied they were going to have sexy, sneaky sex at work in the bathroom but Queenie was turned around and he roughly penetrated her roughly, not waiting for consent and not caring to know if she was okay with what was happening. The most graphic!!! Was that during a hook up Queenie was roughly penetrated anally without consent!!!! It was aggressive he did not ask, and unfortunately she was too uncomfortable to stop him or to say something. In fact, she goes back to him a few more times for sex because she’s emotionally hurting and missing her ex boyfriend. Personally I think she was so depressed that she wanted to feel loved and wanted so she kept going back to him even though this asshole was assaulting her. Because when she goes to the doctor to check for STI’s or pregnancy, they ring alarm bells for seeing the tearing and bruises and she’s just casually says it was “rough sex” even though she knows it was rape but is trying to cope. Fortunately the doctors and nurses point her to a therapist and she agrees later on to go thankfully.
!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRAPHIC WARNING OVER!!!!!!!!!!

So Queenie goes to therapy reluctantly at first but willingly by the end, and completes therapy sessions. But I wish the author made that asshole hookup pay for what he did! I wanted karma to get him hard! I wanted him to be in pain and HURT. And I wanted Queenie to have more therapy sessions- especially since she got her job back in the end, she could’ve kept going! There was so much more that readers learned about her, just through those sessions. Sigh oh well…

I wanted to be a friend to Queenie as she clumsily traversed through her journey, with the perfect amount of humor. And I’m glad her friend Kyazike (pronounced Chess-keh) because she ALWAYS had Queenie’s back. And as another black woman she understood Queenie better than her other nonblack friends, so they connected on a deep level. Their relationship was so important to this story. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars, is that

I wanted payback and karma for those mother fuck*rs who assaulted and wronged Queenie. And I wished the author delved more into Queenie’s relationship with her mother and her mother’s asshole ex abusive boyfriend. I wish the book was longer so Queenie could in fact have a few harder conversations with her mother and grandparents about her childhood, even if she basically decided to forgive her and take her mother for who she is now that they’re older and her mom is so weak and broken from her ex boyfriend. But I wish there was more accountability taken. I know that culturally Queenie’s grandparents just loved their daughter regardless, but Queenie’s mother and the ex gave Queenie a lot of childhood trauma and not enough people are taking accountability in my humble opinion haha.

Regardless, I still HIGHLY recommend this read, and I hope there will be a part two because there’s so much more of Queenie’s story!

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latashman's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The conclusion to this book was a nice wrap up and conclusion to the growth that Queenie underwent. I hated a lot of this book, the choices Queenie made, the abuse she endured, but I felt compelled to see how it ended. I think the writing was good, it elicited a strong emotional response from me.

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