Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

146 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

clara01's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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

3.75

I liked this book, it's incredibly raw, relatable and thought provoking. At times it was cringy or hard to get through because the FMC is flawed and real, she makes mistakes and says or does the wrong thing. I found myself either wanting to shake her or hug her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Medical content

smittonwith's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams is an amazing five star read! I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a good coming of age story. “Queenie” follows the story of a Jamaican-British woman as she searches for her place in life following a big transition. The reader is pulled into the life of Queenie as she searches for her peace and her sanity. This story is incredibly moving for anyone who has felt the slightest out of place, or slightly out of control, and the character development, validation and self-love that Queenie undergoes is incredible. I listened to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“The road to recovery is not linear. It’s not straight. It’s a bumpy path, with lots of twists and turns. But you’re on the right track.” 

“Maybe if all ah we had learned to talk about our troubles, we wouldn’t carry so much on our shoulders all the way to the grave.”

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Grief

shaynicole's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Sexual harassment

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

meat_muffin's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• 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: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm

kimberlynpeterson50's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.75

While I felt frustrated by Queenie’s whining and steady self destruction, it was a necessary build up so she could crash and find her way back to herself. The reality of Queenie’s intersectional oppression makes this an important read for anyone struggling to understand, while the slow reveal of how trauma informs every part of life is incredibly informative. If you can make it through some horrifying sex scenes, you’ll be glad you did so you can see Queenie’s journey of self discovery, her amazing support network, and the normalization of mental health care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

madamelacy's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This wasn’t my usual read as it was a bit Gen Z but I found the main character’s struggle with coming to terms with neglect as a child, coping with racism and realisation that she doesn’t have to put up with sexual violence very believable, as it wasn’t a smooth journey. The ending was really uplifting and I wanted to hug Queenie when she finally learned to love herself, but she’s not a hugger.

There were aspects I liked less. There appeared to be a suggestion that her life disintegrated due to pregnancy loss, but it was clearly spiralling before that. I didn’t find the amenability or the responses from the counsellor very credible. 

Overall an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Emotional abuse

kquixotic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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: Mental illness and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment

The main character’s experience of Racialized sexualization and exotification by men, and her complicated relationship to these encounters, is what made this book stand out to me. I’ve not found contemporary literature to grapple with these themes in such a relatable way.

jrlucier's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective 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: Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Miscarriage and Racial slurs