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talesandcupsoftea's reviews
58 reviews
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
3.0
This book was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me, in the way that my opinion of it changed a lot whilst reading. Overall, I would say that this book fell victim to its own hype. Going into reading this all I’d heard was praise, so I had very high expectations.
Queenie was not as light-hearted as I expected, but that is certainly not a fault, it offers a brutally honest portrayal into self-sabotaging behaviour and the struggles of mental health issues. I also found the revelation of cultural stigma towards mental health issues to be very educational, and overall it offered an insight into the issues of interracial relationships, to an extent I had never considered.
However, it just didn’t quite have the drive I wanted it to, I understand this is a book that it just very real, there’s no exaggerated tropes or dramatic twists, just the honest story of a girl struggling to pick herself back up after a lifetime of struggles. But, as I said I was expecting a light hearted sort of read, so it took me a while to get into it (not a fault of the book - my fault for not doing the research) and it didn’t pick up as much as I wanted it to until the last 1/3 of the book. It seemed to just fall a bit flat in the middle and it wasn’t a ‘can’t put it down’ read.
But once revelations into her past struggles, the toxic relationship in which she had to cope with a heap of casual racism, an abusive presence when she was younger, I felt myself connect with Queenie much more. I was cheering her on as she started to seek help and get better, so I just wish some of that momentum could’ve been brought into the beginning of the book.
Queenie is a good read, it’s real, honest, and helped me to better understand some of the struggles of WOC, but the development of the main character just felt a bit flat, up until the quite close to the end. Plus, after only hearing rave reviews, I think I had very very high expectations that weren’t quite met!
Queenie was not as light-hearted as I expected, but that is certainly not a fault, it offers a brutally honest portrayal into self-sabotaging behaviour and the struggles of mental health issues. I also found the revelation of cultural stigma towards mental health issues to be very educational, and overall it offered an insight into the issues of interracial relationships, to an extent I had never considered.
However, it just didn’t quite have the drive I wanted it to, I understand this is a book that it just very real, there’s no exaggerated tropes or dramatic twists, just the honest story of a girl struggling to pick herself back up after a lifetime of struggles. But, as I said I was expecting a light hearted sort of read, so it took me a while to get into it (not a fault of the book - my fault for not doing the research) and it didn’t pick up as much as I wanted it to until the last 1/3 of the book. It seemed to just fall a bit flat in the middle and it wasn’t a ‘can’t put it down’ read.
But once revelations into her past struggles, the toxic relationship in which she had to cope with a heap of casual racism, an abusive presence when she was younger, I felt myself connect with Queenie much more. I was cheering her on as she started to seek help and get better, so I just wish some of that momentum could’ve been brought into the beginning of the book.
Queenie is a good read, it’s real, honest, and helped me to better understand some of the struggles of WOC, but the development of the main character just felt a bit flat, up until the quite close to the end. Plus, after only hearing rave reviews, I think I had very very high expectations that weren’t quite met!