Queenie
Author: Candice Carty-Williams
Published by: Orion Publishing
Pages: 330
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Orion Publishing
Pages: 330
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Meet Queenie.
Journalist. Catastrophist.
Expressive. Aggrressive.
Loved. Lonely.
Enough?
A darkly comic and bitingly subversive take on life, love, race and family. Queenie will have you nodding in recognition, crying in solidarity and rooting for this unforgettable character every step of the way.
Journalist. Catastrophist.
Expressive. Aggrressive.
Loved. Lonely.
Enough?
A darkly comic and bitingly subversive take on life, love, race and family. Queenie will have you nodding in recognition, crying in solidarity and rooting for this unforgettable character every step of the way.
My thoughts:
Hailed as the black Bridget Jones, Queenie is an extremely moving and entertaining portrait of love and race in today’s world.
In regard to the Bridget Jones comparisons, it does bear some loose similarities in its story of the ‘conventional female quest for the love of a good man’, as well as the eventual realisation that self-acceptance and self-love are ultimately much more important.
However, Carty-Williams goes much deeper than that in her debut novel, exploring black womanhood and black British life in such a unique way. The politics of blackness pass through the pages and the writing is disarmingly honest throughout.
I loved the complexity of this main character. At first, she seems like just a young woman making the kind of bad choices that many women make during their early twenties and you’re kind of waiting for her to turn things around. But as you slowly begin to learn more about her past, her struggles and her relationships with others, you understand her real strength and start to see her grow.
Queenie is a funny and original character, with what I think of as a very British sense of humour. Queenie is a hot mess. She’s a 26 year old Jamaican woman, living in London, and just a complete mess. We first meet her as she is taking a ‘break’ from her live-in boyfriend – a break which he wants, not her. He asks her to move out and by this point, she’s already on a downward spiral. She can’t face reality. She’s out of control. She puts herself in a few dangerous situations, and things basically go from bad to worse. I sympathised with her and her struggles, and there are some really heart wrenching moments in the story.
The author has tackled a lot of complex issues in this debut. dealing with anxiety, depression, self-loathing and complicated family dynamics. But I think the really key theme of the book is the process of learning to let go of things. We witness Queenie tackle this challenge as she starts going to therapy, and that’s when all the secrets of her past are revealed to us. We see how dramatically her life has been affected by her love life and consistent struggles with anxiety. Knowing her backstory adds so much depth to the character and it becomes easier to understand why she is the way she is. Things do get better.
But I promise it really isn’t as depressing as it sounds. In fact, this really is a highly entertaining story about one young woman’s life. We see Queen develop so much throughout the book. Her story is extremely moving, sharp, funny, heart breaking and relatable.
It’s not always an easy read, but Queenie is a timely, emotional and meaningful novel. I really loved this one!
Overall reaction:
Hailed as the black Bridget Jones, Queenie is an extremely moving and entertaining portrait of love and race in today’s world.
In regard to the Bridget Jones comparisons, it does bear some loose similarities in its story of the ‘conventional female quest for the love of a good man’, as well as the eventual realisation that self-acceptance and self-love are ultimately much more important.
However, Carty-Williams goes much deeper than that in her debut novel, exploring black womanhood and black British life in such a unique way. The politics of blackness pass through the pages and the writing is disarmingly honest throughout.
I loved the complexity of this main character. At first, she seems like just a young woman making the kind of bad choices that many women make during their early twenties and you’re kind of waiting for her to turn things around. But as you slowly begin to learn more about her past, her struggles and her relationships with others, you understand her real strength and start to see her grow.
Queenie is a funny and original character, with what I think of as a very British sense of humour. Queenie is a hot mess. She’s a 26 year old Jamaican woman, living in London, and just a complete mess. We first meet her as she is taking a ‘break’ from her live-in boyfriend – a break which he wants, not her. He asks her to move out and by this point, she’s already on a downward spiral. She can’t face reality. She’s out of control. She puts herself in a few dangerous situations, and things basically go from bad to worse. I sympathised with her and her struggles, and there are some really heart wrenching moments in the story.
The author has tackled a lot of complex issues in this debut. dealing with anxiety, depression, self-loathing and complicated family dynamics. But I think the really key theme of the book is the process of learning to let go of things. We witness Queenie tackle this challenge as she starts going to therapy, and that’s when all the secrets of her past are revealed to us. We see how dramatically her life has been affected by her love life and consistent struggles with anxiety. Knowing her backstory adds so much depth to the character and it becomes easier to understand why she is the way she is. Things do get better.
But I promise it really isn’t as depressing as it sounds. In fact, this really is a highly entertaining story about one young woman’s life. We see Queen develop so much throughout the book. Her story is extremely moving, sharp, funny, heart breaking and relatable.
It’s not always an easy read, but Queenie is a timely, emotional and meaningful novel. I really loved this one!
Overall reaction: