Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

73 reviews

sissix_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexual violence

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Miscarriage, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, and Fatphobia

kelly_e's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Sexism

adelep's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, and Sexual assault

paulawind's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. Mostly in the horrific way. Queenie’s life was falling apart in front of her very eyes and we were accompanying her on the downward spiral. Shit, this was so rough. Thank god that she had some support network because the mere thought of going through all this slime alone is terrifying. Of course it was a bumpy ride, with her family initially not believing in mental health issues, the entire backdrop of Queenie not thinking that she’s lovable because of toxic mix of internalised fatphobia, casual racism she was enduring every day, fetishisation from all romantic partners, and ptsd from her childhood. She is so strong for putting herself back together, massive achievement. Quarterlife crisis hits all of us but she was hit with a tank load of it and emerged victorious even if at some point I was afraid she would pull through

Thank you for not having her end up with a man and having family and friends be the most important relationships in her life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Grief, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Acephobia/Arophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Racism, Rape, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Miscarriage

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Eating disorder, and Child abuse

marissasa's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

bootlegfrank's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-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

The author’s writing style felt contemporary, fresh which made reading the book a enjoyable  and not a linguistic chore. That being said it deals with very intense themes and reflects back how complicated people/our lives are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gaslighting and Racial slurs

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Rape, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Abandonment

Minor: Medical trauma, Violence, and Cultural appropriation

amelia_22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Abandonment, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Toxic friendship