Book Review: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie

By Candice Carty-Williams

(Finished reading: 25/06/20)

4/5 stars

Funny, political, heart-breaking.

“I wished that well-meaning white liberals would think before they said things that they thought were perfectly innocent.”

Queenie Jenkins is a British-Jamaican twenty-five-year old journalist living in London. When her white boyfriend Tom says he wants to take a break, Queenie is forced to re-navigate her life without Tom. She finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

On surface level, Queenie is just another chick lit novel about a twenty-something navigating her work life and her relationships. Only, Queenie is Bridget Jones minus the white privilege. She actively experiences and calls out oppression and injustice in many forms throughout the novel. It’s an exploration of race, gender, sexuality, mental health and family. This of course makes the novel a little darker and heavier than your average rom-com, but the socio-political aspects made me love it all the more. Life is bigger than dating and work drama, the world is full of unfairness, particularly for minority groups. Carty-Williams addresses these problems in our society and forces us to reflect rather than ignore them. Queenie’s story is incredibly powerful despite being so heart-breaking. But her story is not a tragedy, it’s a symbol of hope—and this is exactly what we need from literature right now.

I thought the central issues surrounding race, ethnicity and culture were especially poignant. With the recent Black Lives Matter protests, this story rang particularly strong. The novel covered so many vitally important conversations that so many people are currently having all over the world. There were so many great quotable passages that got me nodding and whispering “yaaaasss” to myself. It was so interesting to read an ‘own voices’ account of casual systemic racism at its finest. So many of the issues raised really got my blood boiling or made me widen my eyes in shock. I loved both Queenie and Kyazike as characters. I loved reading about their struggles but also how they fought back and refused to let these issues wash over them. It was so great to read about the experiences of these two strong black women as this is something that books and media so often fail to represent.

As well as race, I thought Queenie’s experience as a woman is one that so many young women can relate to. One moment you’ll be laughing out loud and the next you’ll be sickened. It felt like a very honest and realistic account of life as a twenty-something woman living in a big city. This is largely shaped by Queenie’s relationship to her friends, family, and men in general. It was so enlightening to follow Queenie’s journey as she comes to terms with these relationships and overcomes her problems. I hope that many women can pick up this book and feel understood and be inspired to fight back.

The novel is written beautifully, the pace was great and everything flowed. It’s such an easy read despite being packed with so many important topics. I thought the humour was also great, it was witty and made some incredible pop-culture references which were right up my street. I think most importantly the book forces the reader to empathise more than any other book I’ve read recently. I thought this was incredibly powerful and something that every writer strives to achieve. I found myself caring deeply about Queenie and understood why she acted the way they did, even if those choices were at times questionable. It was devastating to watch her fall apart but it made it so much more uplifting to watch her fight her demons.

I suppose my only criticism I had with the writing is that it was sometimes unclear whether I was reading a flashback and then also difficult to determine when I returned to the present timeline. It wasn’t hugely uncomfortable to read but did have to flit back and forth to determine where I was in the order of events. This was more of an issue at the beginning of the novel though as I think I settled into it after a while. It would have been nicer to have a little more clarity to guide the reader by establishing when Queenie is reminiscing about the past. In a film I guess this would be established better visually but on the page it was more difficult to tell.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I think Carty-Williams found the perfect balance between light and dark and I absolutely love how she reinvented the genre to incorporate important issues. I’d love to see more writers attempt to blend these tones without keeping them separate.