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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
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
At times, it was painful to watch the main character make the choices she did, but she turns her life around in the end. It was a satisfying ending without wrapping things up in a bow too neatly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
I liked this book, though the first half wasn’t very enjoyable - but necessary for the story. We have to explore Queenie not doing well and making bad decisions in order to see her fight to get better and go to therapy. I loved the different characters, particularly how Queenie’s three friends all reflected three different parts of her and three different worldviews. I liked the message that there is no right way to be one thing - there’s no one type of black person, or specifically black woman in this case. The characters are very true and human. This book has a lot of heart.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loved it! Funny, sad, pageturner, making me think. I am probably not the targeted age group audience but I don't care because I thoroughly enjoyed this book and want to read Candice Carty-Williams next one. I loved most of the girl gang but mostly Queenie though her grandmother was up there!
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this must be one of the best books i have read this year.
i loved almost everything about it. i think queenie is an incredible character, nuanced and flawed and hurt and self distructive but also strong and brave and kind.
i love that she has multiple friends who are all ver different, i love how they stand with her (at least darcy and kyazike, let's not talk about cassandra). they are so incredibly loving amd supportive and fierce in a good way without being judgemental. i hope i am such a friend to someone.
i love the aspect of how queenie needs strangers' attention and men's 'validation' through being desired and how it can be both temporarily comforting or absolutely devastating if unwanted, but is ultimately damaging if she does not listen to herself. nonetheless, the book is entirely sex positive, but in a good way. having lots of sex can be a great thing, but you need to listen to yourself. it really hit close to home.
the depiction of the men was quite nuanced and felt realistic, especially tom and ted.
i loved the very nuanced depiction of racism and how subtle and personal and degrading it can be and i loved learning about black culture and different black identities.
i did not like ocd being used jokingly and the way gen z was depicted through diana (at least the selfie and social media part, otherwise she was a great and very supportive character).
the discussion of mental health in this is so great, it feels extremely realistic, and although i have always had a supportive environment when it came to mental health struggles and therapy, i felt queenie's pain about her grandmother's words.
i loved the very nuanced depiction of all the people in her family, i loved cassandra's dad. overall, all the characters were so incredibly layered and felt so real.
the situation with queenie's mother sometimes seemed a little underdevelopped, but i liked that everything wasn't just fine between them in the end. i also LOVED that queenie did not end up with anyone.
overall, this book was just so full of realistic, relatable, incredible characters and it treated so many issues so well and i learned so much about black culture and racism in the uk and in general and about mental health in different cultures and adulting and sex and about myself. i learned that i need to love myself not only for relationships but also for casual sex. that supportive friends are the best thing you can have. that you can love your grandmother despite her shortcomings. that friends who drag you down are not worth it. that you don't have to forgive if you don't want to.
i loved how queenie found her voice towards the end. i have never been robbed of mine the way she has, but i still hope it will grow lowder.
also, one last point: i feel like this was one of the first books i've read where the main character is plus size the way i am. you aren't called fat, but it is an accepted fact that you are not as thin as you are supposed to be and everyone finding you beautiful kind of goes against standards. at least it feels that way. being told by women around you who you love and who contribute to the food culture you struggle with that you have to be careful or should lose weight, just when you start to like your body felt soso relatable. also, i loved that queenie's weight loss was not framed as something positive, although jean surely didn't go the best way about it (but she's like 70 something, so it had to be expected).
i loved almost everything about it. i think queenie is an incredible character, nuanced and flawed and hurt and self distructive but also strong and brave and kind.
i love that she has multiple friends who are all ver different, i love how they stand with her (at least darcy and kyazike, let's not talk about cassandra). they are so incredibly loving amd supportive and fierce in a good way without being judgemental. i hope i am such a friend to someone.
i love the aspect of how queenie needs strangers' attention and men's 'validation' through being desired and how it can be both temporarily comforting or absolutely devastating if unwanted, but is ultimately damaging if she does not listen to herself. nonetheless, the book is entirely sex positive, but in a good way. having lots of sex can be a great thing, but you need to listen to yourself. it really hit close to home.
the depiction of the men was quite nuanced and felt realistic, especially tom and ted.
i loved the very nuanced depiction of racism and how subtle and personal and degrading it can be and i loved learning about black culture and different black identities.
i did not like ocd being used jokingly and the way gen z was depicted through diana (at least the selfie and social media part, otherwise she was a great and very supportive character).
the discussion of mental health in this is so great, it feels extremely realistic, and although i have always had a supportive environment when it came to mental health struggles and therapy, i felt queenie's pain about her grandmother's words.
i loved the very nuanced depiction of all the people in her family, i loved cassandra's dad. overall, all the characters were so incredibly layered and felt so real.
the situation with queenie's mother sometimes seemed a little underdevelopped, but i liked that everything wasn't just fine between them in the end. i also LOVED that queenie did not end up with anyone.
overall, this book was just so full of realistic, relatable, incredible characters and it treated so many issues so well and i learned so much about black culture and racism in the uk and in general and about mental health in different cultures and adulting and sex and about myself. i learned that i need to love myself not only for relationships but also for casual sex. that supportive friends are the best thing you can have. that you can love your grandmother despite her shortcomings. that friends who drag you down are not worth it. that you don't have to forgive if you don't want to.
i loved how queenie found her voice towards the end. i have never been robbed of mine the way she has, but i still hope it will grow lowder.
also, one last point: i feel like this was one of the first books i've read where the main character is plus size the way i am. you aren't called fat, but it is an accepted fact that you are not as thin as you are supposed to be and everyone finding you beautiful kind of goes against standards. at least it feels that way. being told by women around you who you love and who contribute to the food culture you struggle with that you have to be careful or should lose weight, just when you start to like your body felt soso relatable. also, i loved that queenie's weight loss was not framed as something positive, although jean surely didn't go the best way about it (but she's like 70 something, so it had to be expected).
This book got a lot of love before people read it and then a lot of hate afterwards and I can totally understand why. I almost DNF'd this three times but I really wanted to see what happened in the end so I resisted and surprisingly I'm glad I read the whole thing. Queenie made such horrible decisions that I started to question her mental health pretty early on and then my own because I kept reading and expecting better. That's the worst part about this book though, it's not very enjoyable to read about someone being self-destructive. If I've learned anything from reading or hearing about terrible relationships it's that it's hard to see how bad off you are until you're looking back on the situation. Let's be honest, Tom sucked! And he may be an archetype of what a lot of black women in interracial relationships are going through (like Queenie) and also an archetype of why some black women won't date men from another race (like Kyazike). Imagine being in love with someone who refuses to stand up for you much less admit when you're being discriminated against due to the color of your skin. Candice Carty-Williams did touch upon a number of issues black women go through when dating (being fetishized, judged for being sexual, etc.) and also a bunch of things we go through in general (racism, Black Lives Matter, dealing with "friends" who make offhand comments about your race, constantly viewed as aggressive for doing the littlest things, being ashamed of needing therapy, etc.) I connected with the whole working twice as hard to get half as much and constantly being aware of how you're treated differently than others. Queenie was a hot mess for a majority of this book but thankfully she got the help she needed and got it together by the end. Before I started reading I was expecting Queenie to be a pioneer for single black women but I had to remind myself that neither her race nor gender fully defined her. Her story explored so much more than that...like being Jamaican, living in a city that's being gentrified, not meeting your career goals, having to live with roommates and/or parents in your twenties when you want to be independent, using sex as a coping mechanism, etc. It's so rare to see a black female main character that I put more pressure on them to be everything I want and more, which brings me back to the whole twice as good thing. Queenie was exactly who she needed to be and I'm glad I got to read this book. It was needed. Thank you, Candice Carty-Williams.
For some reason every time I read a character driven book I tend to have a hard time getting through it. Although I struggle with that, Queenie was such a good book. This shows the world of a modern day Jamaican British black woman going though very relatable struggles as a woman but eye opening struggles of a black woman in life and trying to figure out the right way but also the wrong ways of how any real person would react. (I don’t think that made sense). This gave me a Salley Rooney type vibe so if you love her I think you would like this. It was very real and easy to follow. This book touches on the way that society views black women through the eyes of Queenie. There were times that really opened my eyes to new perspectives and an appreciation for Candice Carty-Williams writing. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.