A review by bethreadsandnaps
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

5.0

I LOVED this book. Why? I felt it was interesting and new in all sorts of different ways, particularly for fiction.

(1) Queenie, the black main character, just wants to fit in like all of us. In many ways, she tries to mold herself to white society to fit in, and she finds herself in this in-between place where many black people don't accept her while she deals with the systemic racism (both personal and professional) in British society. When we meet her, her white boyfriend Tom broke up with her for a trial 3 months, and she is super upset and then throws herself into lots of casual encounters that don't go so well for her.

(2) The treatment Queenie deals with on a day-to-day basis. This book is fiction, so it's not educating you in a more formal way, like many BLM books I've read in the last year. What it's doing is illustrating so many subtle, and some not-so-subtle, ways, microaggressions and dialogue that black people must deal with All. The. Time.

(3) There were two ways that I saw this novel playing out by 1/3 the way through. When co-worker Tweed Glasses appeared, I thought, "Oh, here we go." When something emerged about her and her career around the same time, I similarly thought, "Oh, here we go." I had predicted how both her personal and professional lives would end up by the end of the book. And...I was wrong. I'm glad I got these tropes wrong. I'm glad the author went in a different direction. I was so glad to be wrong because it felt so authentic to go the way she did.

(4) Queenie. She's such an excellent character.

All the stars!
Accept and close

By using The StoryGraph, you agree to our use of cookies.
We use a small number of cookies to provide you with a great experience.

Find out more