Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

19 reviews

holliesatchell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

mari1532's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I listened to this audiobook with Libby through my library.

Brief Summary: Queenie is a woman trying to find herself after a devastating breakup. However, the more she tries to avoid her problems the more problems she seems to have.

Thoughts: If I was rating this book simply on writing it would be 5 out of 5. Carty-Williams writes with such emotionally vivid gripping detail that you can't help but sympathize or empathize with her characters. That being said this book was a lot. The book blurb describes it as Bridget Jones meets Americanah and I did not get the quicky, cheery vibes of Bridget Jones until the last 10 pages of the book. 

I appreciated how this was written to read as if we were reading Queenie's thoughts as if she were writing in a journal because it made her seem vulnerable and relatable. There were quite a few points where I was yelling at Queenie to not do that thing. Carty-Williams wrote her in such a way that you immediately felt that Queenie was your friend and you wanted the best for her. I think the nuance of Queeni and every other character in the book was my favourite part.    

Of course, there were a few people I did not like in this book even though they were well-written. Men whose names start with T, random Guys, and backstabbing friends were the villains of this book. On some level, I do think these subplots highlight the mess of being a woman in your 20s and on another level that some people truly never leave high school. 

I also really liked the journey that Queenie went on with therapy and her family. The arc of that plot line was beautiful to see and highlighted how people can sometimes surprise you.

This was a really good book and I would recommend it as a read. However, this is more a coming-of-age story and what it takes to discover who you are as a person, rather than a rom-com. It is exquisitely written.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

justcallmeemily's review against another edition

funny sad 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

2.5

If it wasn't for book club, i would've DNFed a long time ago. Definitely not my kind of book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

marissab's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Rape, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Classism

georgie_mb's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-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

5.0

For me, this lived up to the hype that I’d heard about this. 

Queenie is a modern flawed woman who I came to love through this audiobook (highly recommend listening as Tamara Lawrence is just FAB).She is going through everything from the breakdown of long-term relationships, a miscarriage, casual sex, systematic racism, workplace romances, childhood trauma and mental health issues and I just found her journey from beginning to end to inspiring. 

I was truly gripped from start to finish and was rooting for Queenie like she was a real person! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

marissasa's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.5

This story is a realistic and sharp look at a Black-British 20-something woman's life and struggles. I read most of the book physically and listened to a few chapters on audiobook, which was very entertainingly British and Jamaican with all the narrators' accents. Queenie herself is a deeply hurt and traumatized character, who for the first part of the book continuously makes bad choices and spirals deeper and deeper into her messy situation. Throughout it all you get to see her struggle with her suffering but also slowly start to realize her own role in her pain, but the writing very intentionally showed this growth in a humorous and relatable way through Queenie, her friends, and her family's unique voices. I loved that each character felt like a real person and had their own motivations and personalities, even the smaller side ones. The character development in this book was really well done, and showed the wide range of both positive and negative relationships that young women today may find in their lives. I found myself both cringing at her choices and rooting for things to go right for her, which made her feel so realistic and so human and relatable. I loved seeing our flawed character begin to accept that she has issues and actively try to get better for her own health and happiness through therapy and setting boundaries. So much of the dialogue and humor in this book felt like things I would talk about with my own friends in real life, and I genuinely felt like the use of email and text messages in this format added to the book in meaningful ways. I'm so glad Queenie got a realistic but positive ending that felt satisfying but not too cliché.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lectrixnoctis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense 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

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British young woman living in London, perching two cultures and slotting into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she is frequently forced to compare herself to her white middle-class equivalents. After a messy break-up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places, including several hazardous men who do an excellent job of occupying brain space and a bad position of establishing self-worth.

As Queenie reels from one debatable decision to another, she wonders why she is doing all this or why does she not stop, although it might not be something she wants —all of the inquiries today's women must encounter in a world trying to reply them for her.

This story is incredibly raw, and I think that everyone in his early adulthood would enjoy this piece of fiction. I can see why this novel has won the award. I found it fascinating to read about all these different characters and how they intertwine in the story, but the focus is still on the protagonist herself. I think it has so much nuance that you probably don't get in mainstream books by white authors.

How the author approaches tough topics like anxiety or racism is astonishing, and  I cannot get enough of her writing style. Although it was so raw, it was so beautifully written that I just wanted to keep reading; although it was so natural, it was so beautifully written that I just wanted to keep reading. 

Sadly, I had a big reading slump; however, I finally found the time again to pick it up and finish it in one go, and I think it has a lot to do with the book itself. I don't believe that every reader could've done that; I did not have a reading slump because of it.

Overall I highly recommend this book. When you're in your early 20s are becoming an adult, you should read this book. All women or female-presenting people can relate to a situation somehow. The nuance with interracial dating and racism was so interesting that I will read more of the works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

foolishg_irl's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

huttonki's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment