Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Queenie

This was really really good and super necessary. In Queenie, we follow a first person account from the lovable yet flawed protagonist Queenie. She is experiencing a ‘break’ from her boyfriend Tom and how she’s ‘coping’ with it - by having a lot of sex with men she doesn’t want to have a relationship with whilst she waits for Tom to come back. This, along with issues at work, with friends, her family and past make her go through a bad mental patch. We see how in her search for clarity and success, it is not an easy ride to recovery with lapses and hurdles along the way but she does find a way to love herself and understand that she is enough.

That was a very short kinda summary of the plot and whilst this is a prominent part of the novel, it’s the characters and character studies that was my favourite bits. Queenie is definitely a flawed person, she does lots of things that make you want to shake her out of it, she’s a catastrophist for sure but I just wanted good things to come her way so badly. You fall head over heels in love with her and all her nuances, you get inside her head, go though what she’s going through, her thoughts and feelings and understand why she does the things she does. She is so real it’s unbelievable - Carty-Williams really did something by creating this character like wow!! Also her two best friends Kyazike and Darcy are nuanced but loveable too, they are such great friends and this bond, albeit strained at parts, was so lovely to read and they are also super realised. The other characters in the book are all so real too, like her grandparents, mum, cousin Diana, aunt Maggie, Cassandra and her family, Ted (ughhhh!!), the men (major eye roll inserted🙄), Janet the psychologist, Gina her boss and Yhh everybody was written so lifelike - they’re not all likeable, many in fact are portrayed so badly you actively hate them instigating a visceral response within.

Additionally, the outlook on life from Queenie’s POV is very refreshing and vital and I need to read more books from this perspective of women, but specifically black women in contemporary settings. She deals with a lot of everyday systemic racism, predominantly from the men she meets and so this is an attack directed at black women in particular, where they feel it’s okay to say things about her big black curves and dark skin, that she tastes like chocolate and lots of other horrible remarks. She also talks about how these men might not see her as a person but just a fetish or something to try and it’s definitely a hard read but necessary to understand how this thinking is not okay and we as a society need to condemn these attitudes. Hair is a predominant motif throughout the book, how black women care for their hair and what it represents but also how white people are astonished by it and in some cases feel a desire to touch it so much that it materialises and how that it’s just such a ‘no no’ like I was reading it like ‘what!? How can you really feel like you have the right to just go up and touch someone’s hair… ummm nope’ so Yhh overall it makes you think and understand the black female experience better. Being set in London (my city - the references and just everything I loved, when you know the places it really adds to the lifelikeness), the dialect and settings once again add to the realness of the book but it plays a part in how black people are seen internally and externally in a contemporary British way. Very very impactful and eye opening.

My only qualm was I felt it a little bloated in parts and somewhat repetitive in how certain scenarios and conversations occurred multiple times. Some plot points I wasn’t too happy with but overall I did really enjoy it. The character studies and Queenie’s POV was what I liked the most and I would certainly recommend giving this a read.

Content Warnings

paulawind's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. Mostly in the horrific way. Queenie’s life was falling apart in front of her very eyes and we were accompanying her on the downward spiral. Shit, this was so rough. Thank god that she had some support network because the mere thought of going through all this slime alone is terrifying. Of course it was a bumpy ride, with her family initially not believing in mental health issues, the entire backdrop of Queenie not thinking that she’s lovable because of toxic mix of internalised fatphobia, casual racism she was enduring every day, fetishisation from all romantic partners, and ptsd from her childhood. She is so strong for putting herself back together, massive achievement. Quarterlife crisis hits all of us but she was hit with a tank load of it and emerged victorious even if at some point I was afraid she would pull through

Thank you for not having her end up with a man and having family and friends be the most important relationships in her life

Content Warnings

bootlegfrank's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The author’s writing style felt contemporary, fresh which made reading the book a enjoyable and not a linguistic chore. That being said it deals with very intense themes and reflects back how complicated people/our lives are.

Content Warnings

sweetpeach's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

alisonannk's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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