Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

112 reviews

angievansprang's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

I really enjoyed this read. Queenie is a young, Black, 20-something trying to find her way in London while coming to terms with some realities about her life. There are LOTS of terrible men, beautiful female friendships, complicated family dynamics, and most importantly, the rocky journey towards self love & self acceptance. Though Queenie is by no means perfect, I found her to still be a lovable character. You want everything to work out for her in the end. Check trigger warnings before picking this one up because there are definitely scenes that are hard to stomach, especially when you as the reader can recognize Queenie’s self-destructive behavior before she does. I thought the mental health representation of anxiety & panic disorders was completely on par in this book and I appreciated that rawness from the author. It was one of the many ways in which Queenie comes alive off the page.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

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: Sexual content, Racism, and Sexual violence

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

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

sandysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.25

I'm gradually adding books I've read in 2021 to give a true reflection of the books I've read since keeping records.  This was the first book I read in 2021, and is what kick started my reading journey having put reading on the back burner whilst bringing up the children, previously being an avid reader.  Queenie is a black journalist navigating her life. Its about live, race and relationships. She and the other characters are not very likeable. She badly navigates the dating scene. Mysogony and racism make uncomfortable reading. I wanted to shake her to make her come to her senses. After counselling it does get better fo  her, but I really disliked some of the characters and situations she found herself in. It's a Bridget Jones type book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Miscarriage

bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

2.5

I wanted to enjoy this book more but overall found myself really struggling to get through this audio book. 

The majority of the characters felt very 1 dimensional. I found Queenie to be incredibly difficult to enjoy as a character for a vast portion of the book and it was only watching her develop towards the end that actually sold it for me.

The fact that pretty much every guy in this book has some form of black fetish or is racist just made the characters feel so impactful in places. Also that Queenie is a so self centred until she has therapy and even then it’s still such a minor change in terms of her actually giving a shit about the people around her.

I can understand the comparisons so similar coming-of-age style books like Bridget jones but the decisions made by Queenie really took me out of a lot of the story and made it very difficult to sympathise with at times when you realise she is meant to be 25/26 and for a huge part acts really immature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

Moderate: Racism and Miscarriage

Minor: Racial slurs

cleansky7's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, and Racial slurs

genthepineapple's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-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: Emotional abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, and Stalking

grandpas_farts's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

franksreads's review

challenging emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Body shaming, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Miscarriage

auteaandtales's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted 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

I loved this. It was an enjoyable read about being Black and British and being in your low twenties in South London navigating dating, friendship and mental health in a humorous way.  

It felt so real, like I was reading a snippet of someone’s actual life, and I really enjoyed the way it did flashbacks. I can see the similarities between this and Bridget Jones, like a lot of people have compared it to before. The very heavy themes in this were handled much better. though. 

I do wish we got to see Queenie slap Tom just…once, a little slap, he got off way too easy. 

I’m glad I finally got around to it, it’s been on my bookshelves forever! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, and Racial slurs

flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Racism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Medical content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship