Review | Queenie

Title: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Date Published: March 19, 2019

Date Read: November 22, 2018

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.4/5

My obsession with Goodreads Giveaways continues! I honestly think, of the collection I have started to create, this book has got to be one of my favorites. It has so much to unpack!

Let's start at the beginning. Queenie is a young 20-something living in London who just went through a bad break up. Well, I mean, its kind of an ambiguous break up. Like the, "let's take a break and see where we're at in three months" kind of break up. Her world, once revolving around this boy Tom, is now in a whirlwind. In order to try to find her identity, Queenie finds solace in pretty much any guy who is willing to sleep with her.

I'm going to break this down into three parts:

The Relationships: Relationships in this book are fascinating. As I stated earlier, Queenie finds, and sleeps with, pretty much any man who would have her in order to cope with her break-up, but those aren't the only relationships that matter in this book. Queenie has three very distinct friends who do their best to help her when she's beginning to spiral out of control. I honestly can't think of a book I've read where each supporting character has their own unique voice.

There's Darcy, Queenie's work friend. She's often the voice of reason in Queenie's life. Many times she's the one trying to get Queenie to step back, take a break, and take a breath.

There's Kyazike, Queenie's family friend. Of the three she's probably my favorite simply because she's always pushing Queenie to try new things, but she's there for support when Queenie needs it and boy does she need it. I doubt this is who Carty-Williams had in mind, but I just kept picturing Awkwafina in this role.

Then there's Cassandra. Cassandra is a tough one. She's very hard on Queenie, which sometimes is what Queenie needs, but occasionally she's a little too hard. I went back and forth several times in the novel. There were several times where Queenie was being a certified idiot about her situation and the tough love was warranted, but most times I wanted to jump into the scene and tell Cassandra to pump the breaks a little bit and back off.

Finally, there's Queenie's relationship with her family. Carty-Williams never officially goes into what happened in Queenie's childhood, but she does hint that Queenie's mom's abusive boyfriend traumatized her as a kid which resulted in Queenie's mental state at this point in her life. Understandably, this results in a very strained relationship with her mother and it's really interesting to watch this relationship play out. You can almost feel the utter desire Queenie has to reconnect with her mother simply so that she has someone to talk to when things start going way south. On the other side of that same coin is Queenie's relationship with her grandparents which I want to get more into in this next section.

The Culture: I have a confession to make. I have not been very good at reading books that feature characters who don't look like me: a white girl. I've honestly never really realized that that is something that I needed to change until recently. But when I think about it its pretty obvious that that needs to change. How else are we supposed to grow as a society if we don't learn about other cultures?

Queenie is a Jamaican-British woman living in London. When her life starts to spiral out of control and she makes the decision to seek help, her grandparents are embarrassed of her. I think Carty-Williams does a great job of showing the ups and downs of seeking help. Queenie's spiral felt very real and visceral to me. I felt the anxiety she felt when she thought she was going to lose her job. I felt the hopelessness she felt when she started to cut herself off from her friends and family. I felt her desperation when Tom dumps her. (Though SIDE NOTE: Tom is a piece of trash. Queenie is totally better off without him.)

Finally, I want to talk about:

Author Candice Carty-Williams

The Stigma: I think Carty-Williams does a great job talking about the stigma of seeking help for your mental health. Like I stated earlier, we get to see the repercussions seeking help have on Queenie's relationships both with her friends and her family. However, we also get to see the beginning of her recovery.

I think the scenes where Queenie meets with her therapist are probably some of the strongest scenes in Queenie. The readers really get to see the steps she's taking to becoming healthy again and I honestly think its very moving. I appreciate that Carty-Williams doesn't end the book with this beautiful bow where Queenie is "all better" because a lot of times that's not the case. Mental illness really is just a roller coaster and I think Queenie does a great job of showing that.

Final Thoughts: Usually when a book is all about a woman losing her mind over some kind of heartbreak I roll my eyes. I don't need more books about how a woman can only exist with a man in her life. However, I didn't get that feeling with Queenie. I got the sense that this breakup was merely the trigger for lurking memories Queenie had repressed to reserface. Yeah, it sucks that her trash ex-boyfriend is who she idolizes in her brain for a majority of the book, but I think it adds an interesting side to her story.

Another note, this book has some pretty graphic descriptions of rough sex. It wasn't as though it was every itty bitty detail about what was going on, but it was enough detail to make me wince while reading it. There is also some language that might affect survivors of sexual assault. Queenie describes the sex she has with this man in such a passive way. Like there are several sentences that sound like she's pretty sure she doesn't like it, but she also doesn't want to tell him to stop. Even after, when she goes to whatever the equivalent of Planned Parenthood is in London, the doctor she meets with tells her that she looks like a survivor of sexual assault. Like holy shit. My heart breaks even more for Queenie.

That being said, when Queenie starts to turn her life around and gets back at the people who mistreated her, I wanted to stand up and cheer. I was really happy to see this woman, who had fallen so low was rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Again, she wasn't completely 100% and there's a possibility that she never will be, but I think Carty-Williams did a great job of proving that there is hope of getting better.

Long Story Short:

• This book comes out in March. Don't forget to read it!

• Mental health is so important. Take some time for yourself.

• Branch out and read new things. Learn about something you didn't know before.

My Rating: 5/5