A review by thevietvegan
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

emotional 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? No

3.0

Alright, I have a lot of feelings about this book. This book does that thing where it'll specify when a character is BIPOC, but will not always specify if someone is white, as if to imply that white is default or the norm. I get that it's based in England, but I think that it matters to clarify, especially since anti-racism and microaggressions are a significant part of this book.

The beginning of this book was just self-sabotage after self-sabotage, with rough life decisions, irresponsibility, terrible communication and just a lot of emotional exhaustion. The first half of this book is ROUGH and pretty draining to read. I was just getting really frustrated at the main character, the crappy people around her, and some of the less supportive people in her life.

HOWEVER, the last 30% of this book is the reason why this is a 3 star review and not a 1 star. I really appreciated that there wasn't the typical "find love" happy ending. Queenie made a lot of progress but is still on her road to healing and coping. Her friends were really nice and supportive, and hammered down that friends are there for both the good and the bad, and you don't need to be a perfect, happy-go-lucky person to be deserving of supportive friendship.

Queenie's grandparents were my favourite in this book, especially her grandad. They were such vibrant and real characters, I loved them so much.


I enjoyed Queenie's journey in this book, I liked the patois peppered through the book, I like that it touched on gentrification and the impact on minority communities. There was a lot of heavy stuff for a person to go through and it was hard to see her internalize and minimalize a lot of stuff that happened to her.
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