Queenie’s life is falling apart. Her relationship with her boyfriend has crumbled, which she replaces with meaningless sexual encounters, and now she’s struggling at her dream job at a newspaper in London. As she hits rock bottom, will she be able to bring herself back up?
Queenie is funny, truthful, and you’ll be rooting for her every step of the way.
I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. To put it simply, Queenie is the story of a young black woman struggling. The book deals with a lot of quite heavy subjects, from race, gender, family and sexuality. But despite these important themes, it’s also quite funny and light-hearted at times.
Queenie is an instantly loveable character. She’s bold, confident, but is also flawed. At times I got a bit frustrated with her, like when she kept sleeping with people who were using her for her body, but that’s what makes the book so enjoyable - we get to see Queenie’s growth.
I have never read a book from a black woman’s perspective, which is definitely why this is quite an important read – Candice Carty-Williams shows what black women have to deal with, like racism, fetishes, and racial stereotypes. The scenes with Queenie’s ex-boyfriend’s family and their racist comments were awful to read, especially when her ex did very little to help her.
The humour was very British (which I loved) and definitely captured London culture.
Whilst the story is heavily focused on love, family and friendship, it’s most important theme was self-love and appreciation. We have all at some point struggled, and what matters is not what others think of us, but how we view ourselves. Queenie was loveable, annoying, but most importantly, real.
I really enjoyed this book, and I think that this was a great debut by Candice Carty-Williams.
Favourite quotes:
“Black lives matter does not diminish any lives other than ours. That’s not what it’s about. What we’re saying right now is that we are the ones who are suffering.”
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