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by Candice Carty-Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2019

A black Bridget Jones, perfectly of the moment.

The life and loves of Queenie Jenkins, a vibrant, troubled 25-year-old Jamaican Brit who is not having a very good year.

" 'My last girlfriend was black.' I looked at my date and blinked, sure I'd misheard him. 'Sorry?' I asked, leaning across the table." But indeed, that's what he said. Just as she heard correctly when "Balding Alpha," a guy she dates later in her annus horribilus, licks her shoulder and comments, "Tastes like chocolate." Queenie's attempts to get over Tom, the long-term white boyfriend who dumps her at the beginning of Carty-Williams' debut novel, send her stumbling through a mined landscape of interracial dating and friendship, including the occasional white stranger who reaches to fondle her hair as if in a petting zoo. Terrified by the continual news of violence from the United States, Queenie is trying to get the paper she works for in London to cover important issues—"I’d wanted this job so that I could be a force for change"—but her editor responds to her pitches by suggesting a piece on "ten of the best black dresses Me Too movement supporters have worn at awards ceremonies." After all, it's the holiday season, and what people are really thinking about is party dresses! Queenie's main supporters are the three girlfriends who make up a texting group called The Corgis (a reference to the queen's loyal pack of pooches), but one of these relationships is about to detonate due to our heroine's wildly indiscriminate sexual choices, choices that keep her running in and out of the health clinic on a biweekly basis. At least she'll always be able to fall back on the judgmental embrace and reliable hot water of her ultratraditional Jamaican grandparents. Why she ever fell for that drip Tom and why she still loves him so much are never at all clear, but perhaps that's how these things go.

Pub Date: March 19, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5011-9601-0

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018

LITERARY FICTION

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SEEN & HEARD

NEVER LET ME GO

by Kazuo Ishiguro ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2005

A masterpiece of craftsmanship that offers an unparalleled emotional experience. Send a copy to the Swedish Academy.

An ambitious scientific experiment wreaks horrendous toll in the Booker-winning British author’s disturbingly eloquent sixth novel (after When We Were Orphans , 2000).

Ishiguro’s narrator, identified only as Kath(y) H., speaks to us as a 31-year-old social worker of sorts, who’s completing her tenure as a “carer,” prior to becoming herself one of the “donors” whom she visits at various “recovery centers.” The setting is “England, late 1990s”—more than two decades after Kath was raised at a rural private school (Hailsham) whose students, all children of unspecified parentage, were sheltered, encouraged to develop their intellectual and especially artistic capabilities, and groomed to become donors. Visions of Brave New World and 1984 arise as Kath recalls in gradually and increasingly harrowing detail her friendships with fellow students Ruth and Tommy (the latter a sweet, though distractible boy prone to irrational temper tantrums), their “graduation” from Hailsham and years of comparative independence at a remote halfway house (the Cottages), the painful outcome of Ruth’s breakup with Tommy (whom Kath also loves), and the discovery the adult Kath and Tommy make when (while seeking a “deferral” from carer or donor status) they seek out Hailsham’s chastened “guardians” and receive confirmation of the limits long since placed on them. With perfect pacing and infinite subtlety, Ishiguro reveals exactly as much as we need to know about how efforts to regulate the future through genetic engineering create, control, then emotionlessly destroy very real, very human lives—without ever showing us the faces of the culpable, who have “tried to convince themselves. . . . That you were less than human, so it didn’t matter.” That this stunningly brilliant fiction echoes Caryl Churchill’s superb play A Number and Margaret Atwood’s celebrated dystopian novels in no way diminishes its originality and power.

Pub Date: April 11, 2005

ISBN: 1-4000-4339-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005

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by Kazuo Ishiguro ; illustrated by Bianca Bagnarelli

by Kazuo Ishiguro

BOOK TO SCREEN

ABSOLUTE POWER

by David Baldacci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 1996

The mother of all presidential cover-ups is the centerpiece gimmick in this far-fetched thriller from first-novelist Baldacci, a Washington-based attorney. In the dead of night, while burgling an exurban Virginia mansion, career criminal Luther Whitney is forced to conceal himself in a walk-in closet when Christine Sullivan, the lady of the house, arrives in the bedroom he's ransacking with none other than Alan Richmond, President of the US. Through the one-way mirror, Luther watches the drunken couple engage in a bout of rough sex that gets out of hand, ending only when two Secret Service men respond to the Chief Executive's cries of distress and gun down the letter-opener-wielding Christy. Gloria Russell, Richmond's vaultingly ambitious chief of staff, orders the scene rigged to look like a break-in and departs with the still befuddled President, leaving Christy's corpse to be discovered at another time. Luther makes tracks as well, though not before being spotted on the run by agents from the bodyguard detail. Aware that he's shortened his life expectancy, Luther retains trusted friend Jack Graham, a former public defender, but doesn't tell him the whole story. When Luther's slain before he can be arraigned for Christy's murder, Jack concludes he's the designated fall guy in a major scandal. Meanwhile, little Gloria (together with two Secret Service shooters) hopes to erase all tracks that might lead to the White House. But the late Luther seems to have outsmarted her in advance with recurrent demands for hush money. The body count rises as Gloria's attack dogs and Jack search for the evidence cunning Luther's left to incriminate not only a venal Alan Richmond but his homicidal deputies. The not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper climax provides an unsurprising answer to the question of whether a US president can get away with murder. For all its arresting premise, an overblown and tedious tale of capital sins. (Film rights to Castle Rock; Book-of-the-Month selection)

Pub Date: Jan. 18, 1996

ISBN: 0-446-51996-0

Page Count: 480

Publisher: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

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by David Baldacci

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Queenie review: Bitingly funny adaptation lives up to the brilliant book

Candice carty-williams’ novel, hailed as the black british answer to ‘bridget jones’s diary’, is brought to life on channel 4, article bookmarked.

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When Candice Carty-Williams’ debut novel  Queenie  was released back in 2019, it felt like a real publishing phenomenon . You’d spot its colourful covers – readers could choose from a spectrum of rainbow hues – in the hands of bleary-eyed commuters; that summer, it was about as ubiquitous as Zara’s notorious white spotted maxi dress . It was hailed as the Black British answer to  Bridget Jones’s Diary . Five years later, heroine Queenie Jenkins has, like Bridget, been brought to life on screen, in a Channel 4 adaptation that’s bitingly funny and sharply observed.

We first meet Queenie, a 25-year-old British-Jamaican journalist played by Dionne Brown, during an early morning gynaecologist appointment. Undergoing a transvaginal ultrasound is, for most women at least, never the ideal way to kick off your working day, but her doctor’s bracing manner (briskly quizzing her on her sexual history before calling over her colleagues to survey Queenie’s scan) doesn’t exactly alleviate the awkwardness. The whole experience is made even more disconcerting – at least for the viewer – by the fact that said doctor is played by former  Love Island  presenter Laura Whitmore.

It’s a scene that immediately sets the tone for the series, with Queenie’s internal monologue providing a witty running commentary on what’s unfolding on screen. “Are there loads of guys just hanging round in my uterus?” she ponders as Whitmore’s character asks about her past partners. When the doctor brushes off her yelps of pain – “I’m sure you’re fine, strong girl like you!” – it’s the first of many microaggressions directed at our protagonist. Queenie’s scan results prompt her to reconsider her relationship with boyfriend Tom ( Big Boys ’  Jon Pointing), as does a painful dinner with his family, an event that culminates in his grandmother “doing a racial e-fit” of the couple’s hypothetical grandchildren.

Post-breakup, Queenie turns to dating apps for a series of short-term encounters and situationships that soon turn toxic; she’s relentlessly fetishised by her white partners. Working as a social media assistant at a newspaper, she flounders as she deals with an icy boss played by  Bridget Jones  star Sally Phillips (one of a handful of nods to that film) and an overly friendly male colleague whose nice guy persona turns out to be a façade. And then there’s her fraught relationship with her mother Sylvie, rooted in a childhood abandonment that forced Queenie to grow up too fast.

Half a decade has elapsed since the book’s publication, meaning that Queenie and her mid-twenties pals have now been rewritten as members of Gen Z. There are nods to the 2020s setting: her young cousin Diana performs TikTok dances, and voice notes replace texts. But the main scaffolding of the story is the same: if anything, dating app culture has arguably worsened since the book was written; gentrification has only sped up and London rents are even higher.

Showrunner Carty-Williams and her fellow screenwriters deftly balance these more serious storylines with lighter, comic moments, and Brown (who’s had smaller roles in shows like Apple TV’s  Criminal Record and ITV’s  The Walk-In ) is a deeply empathetic screen presence: she brings pathos to Queenie’s mental health struggles without smoothing over her spiky sense of humour and her many foibles. She’s backed up by a winning ensemble cast: from newcomer Bellah as Queenie’s best pal Kyazike to Samuel Adewunmi as her low-key, slow-burn love interest Frank. And keen-eyed viewers will spot Carty-Williams in a brief cameo role too.

The half-hour episodes mean that some plot strands don’t get quite as much attention as they deserve, and as the series goes on, there’s a slight sense that we’re hurtling towards a conveniently happy ending. Pacing quibbles aside, though,  Queenie is that rare thing: an adaptation that’s sure to be as beloved as the book that inspired it. 

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Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams review – timely and important

I t would make sense to describe Queenie , the debut novel by Candice Carty-Williams , as an important political tome of black womanhood and black British life, a rare perspective from the margins. It is both those things, but primarily it is a highly entertaining, often very moving story about one young woman’s life as affected – in fact, almost destroyed – by her love life, with the politics of blackness permeating the pages. It is rare. It’s still so rare that even its most simple, nondescript moments are something to celebrate. Queenie, for example, taking off her coat and putting it through the strap of her rucksack in a London street while flat-hunting. Her Jamaican grandmother calling: “I’m putting the hot water on. Come down for your porridge and wait for it to warm.” How often do we get to read of black people in novels making porridge for each other and negotiating their rucksack straps? It’s a thing of joy to witness the everyday within a familiar yet still relatively hidden context, particularly when that context has often been shackled to hefty racial themes, its mundane humanity hardly given space to breathe.

South London millennial and budding journalist Queenie is, as she herself admits, a “catastrophist”: someone who worries about worst-case scenarios, unbearable outcomes, general humiliations and the perpetual lead weight of anxiety. The novel opens with a gynaecological examination introducing three causes for worry: the possible loss of her coil, an undetected pregnancy and a preceding sexual episode bordering on abuse. So begins a difficult and painful journey through Queenie’s unfortunate choice of men. There is the Pakistani Muslim BMW driver who addresses her as “big batty” and wants to experience the “forbidden fruit” of sex with a black woman. There’s the sex addict she meets at a party who gives her internal bruising; the neo-Nazi encountered on a dating site, also interested in exotic black-girl sex; and the relatively normal nice white boyfriend, who becomes an ex-boyfriend, which is what leads to the flat-hunting, during which she is groped by a Polish estate agent. “Is this what growing into an adult woman is,” Queenie asks, “having to predict and accordingly arrange for the avoidance of sexual harassment?”

Predictably enough, the novel has been hailed as the black Bridget Jones , and it does bear loose similarities in its portrayal of the conventional female quest for the love of a good man and the realisation that self-acceptance and self-sufficiency are more important. But Carty-Williams goes much deeper than that, casting a full glare on the damaging reductive stereotypes, born of slavery and colonialism, that surround black women’s bodies, sexuality and psychology. The gynaecological beginning seems to make a point in itself, and likewise the sexual frankness throughout is refreshing, smartly and accurately rendered by a voice fully in command of its own narrative and intent on setting the record straight.

During her schooldays, Queenie was accused of being “white on the inside and black on the outside like a coconut”; her friend Kyazike assured her that she can “be any type of black girl” she wants to be. Ripped to shreds is the enduring stereotype of the “strong black woman”: this heroine flails and weeps in a whirl of panic attacks, sleep paralysis and depression, for which her therapist prescribes various cognitive behavioural exercises. There is a touching theme of women supporting each other, and the camaraderie and empathy Queenie gets from her WhatsApp group of friends “The Corgis” are especially affecting. Their text-speak is hilarious, peppered with “KMTs” (kiss my teeth, Jamaican slang), while sometimes the group’s varied backgrounds necessitate translations from white-posh to multicultural London English. Kyazike herself is one of the most alive characters I have come across in any novel; she must be read to be believed.

Amid this centralising of female experience and friendship there is a sustained awareness of surrounding social and political issues, such as race hatred and gentrification. What happened to that old Caribbean bakery there used to be in Brixton? And how is it that Queenie feels so conspicuously out of place at her local pool, the Brockwell Lido, where she overhears two middle-class white women complaining about the tenants in their second homes? The Black Lives Matter movement crops up several times, and we are called on to mourn the black men dying in droves at the hands of US police brutality. This is an important, timely and disarming novel, thirst-quenching and long overdue: one that will be treasured by “any type of black girl” and hordes of other readers besides.

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Book summary and reviews of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

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by Candice Carty-Williams

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Book summary.

Bridget Jones's Diary meets Americanah in this disarmingly honest, boldly political, and truly inclusive novel that will speak to anyone who has gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she's constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. 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 a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, 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. With "fresh and honest" (Jojo Moyes) prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today's world.

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BookBrowse Review "Candice Carty-Williams' first novel, Queenie , has a lot going for it. Her characters are excellent; each feels unique and fully fleshed-out - real-life people with genuine relationships between them. The dialog in particular is stellar, and the author's use of text bubbles and e-mail communication between the characters was perfect. Also, as advertised, it's very funny at times, with the author's outstanding use of dialog playing a key role in conveying the humor. The novel has its flaws, though - too many for me to feel like I can recommend it. Oddly, the number one reason I didn't think the book was great was the fact that the publisher's blurb about it compared it to Americanah , and as such I couldn't help but compare the two as I read, with Queenie falling flat. Americanah was a revelation to me; it helped awaken me to my own subtle prejudices and, I'd like to hope, make me a better person. Queenie , on the other hand, simply made me think, "Well, these people are awful" and move on; the author's stroke was way too broad. In addition, the protagonist was a mess, seeking validation from truly horrible men and putting herself in dangerous circumstances (e.g., inviting a guy she met at a party back to her flat for consensual sex that turned so rough the doctor at her next exam thought she was being abused). Frankly it got old having her lurch from one escapade to another; her behavior started out very bad and just stayed at that level, never really getting worse, with the narrative having her plateau right at the start and just stay there throughout the majority of the book, not reaching the turning point until about 75% of the way through. It may have been a more interesting book had her decline been more gradual. The author attempted to make the story more relevant by including a bit about the Black Lives Matter movement, but this felt like an afterthought and the subject wasn't fully explored. Toward the end of the book the protagonist did seem to be turning her life around, but it happened way too late; I'd lost interest long before then." - Kim Kovacs Other Reviews "Starred Review. A black Bridget Jones, perfectly of the moment." - Kirkus "Starred Review. This is an essential depiction of life as a black woman in the modern world, told in a way that makes Queenie dynamic and memorable." - Publishers Weekly "Starred Review. Fast moving and with a strong sense of Queenie's London, this entertains while tackling topics like mental health and stigma, racism and tokenism, gentrification, and the isolation of social-media and dating-app culture. This smart, funny, and tender debut embraces a modern woman's messiness." - Booklist "Meet Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman who works for a London newspaper, is struggling to fit in, is dealing with a breakup, and is making all kinds of questionable decisions. In other words, she's highly relatable. A must read for '19." - Woman's Day "Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking." - Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You "My favourite novel this year. Queenie is the sort of novel you just can't stop talking about and want everyone you know to read. Snort your tea out funny one moment and utterly heart breaking the next, (and with the best cast of characters you'll read all year), I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to read whatever Candice writes next. If there is anything right in the world, Candice Carty-Williams is going to be a literary superstar." - AJ Pearce, author of Dear Mrs. Bird "This book isn't even out yet and people are talking about it. Written by a new and exciting young woman, it's articulate, brave and, in the new parlance, 'woke.' Funny, wise, and of the moment, this book and this writer are the ones to watch." - Kit de Waal, author of My Name is Leon "Candice gives so generously with her joy, pain and humour that we cannot help but become fully immersed in the life of Queenie - a beautiful and compelling book." - Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)

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Author Information

Candice carty-williams.

Candice Carty-Williams is a Senior Marketing Executive at Vintage. In 2016, she created and launched the Guardian and 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize, which aims to find, champion, and celebrate Black, Asian, and minority ethnic writers. She contributes regularly to Refinery29 and i-D, and her pieces have been shared globally, especially those about blackness and sexuality. Queenie is her first novel.

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A corner of my life...

in Book Reviews · February 17, 2024

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams | Review

Hi readers, I’m back again with another book review. I stumbled upon Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams back in 2020. Despite my efforts to steer clear of reviews, the buzz surrounding it was impossible to ignore. The draw? A protagonist who’s a bit of a hot mess—my kind of character.

Funny story: I got my copy for $4 at Value Village. And get this, while I was deep into the story, I found a random receipt tucked inside. It was a receipt for rent somewhere in Mississauga. The thought of tracking down the previous owner crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it as potentially creepy and thought it was best to let the mystery of the receipt remain unsolved. Another thing I noticed was how cheap rent used to be.

Now, let’s talk about “Queenie.” She’s a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman trying to make sense of life in London. Freshly single but hanging onto hope for a reunion with her ex, she’s on a rollercoaster of emotions, bombarding him with messages despite his obvious need for space. And guess what? she starts unravelling. She’s trying to navigate life’s twists and turns while struggling with her mental health. Oh, and fair warning: the guys in this book are absolutely terrible. ALL of them. Seriously, I lost count of how many times I muttered “Why are men???” while reading.

But here’s the kicker—the author nails Queenie’s character. I felt for her, got mad at her, and sometimes just wanted to shake some sense into her. It’s a real emotional rollercoaster. And the deeper you dive into her story, the more you understand why she’s the way she is.

Queenie felt like a little sister to me. While I was disappointed by her actions, I also recognized that the most profound growth often arises from life’s experiences. Candice Carty-Williams’ engaging writing style, coupled with the incorporation of texts, added a delightful layer to the narrative.

The author did a wonderful job with crafting such an engaging story. She also tackled heavy themes like anxiety, panic attacks, being a black woman at a work place, relationship, sex, family.

I highly recommend this book. I’m grateful I read it now instead of four years ago because I might have been more judgmental of Queenie back then.

Exciting news! “Queenie” is hitting our screens as a TV series, set to premiere in June 2024! I’m thrilled, especially since Candice Carty-Williams, the author produced the Netflix series “Champion” that I absolutely loved. For those curious about the cast, Channel 4 has all the juicy details in this article here .

If you enjoyed reading this book review, you can read my other reviews here . Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one if you’ve read it.

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Culture Fix: Why you should read Queenie

If you do one thing this week, buy this book

The eponymous Queenie is an enormously complex but entirely loveable character. A Jamaican Brit in London, she spends her life navigating two different worlds - neither of which properly understand her. She’s just broken up with her long-term boyfriend, Tom, who wouldn’t defend his family’s casual racism, and her boss at the newspaper where she works won’t give her the important stories she so wants to write.

.css-1kj42l9{margin:0rem;font-size:1.625rem;line-height:1.2;font-family:Suranna,Suranna-roboto,Suranna-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1kj42l9{font-size:2.375rem;line-height:1.2;}}.css-1kj42l9 em,.css-1kj42l9 i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;}.css-1kj42l9 b,.css-1kj42l9 strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;} This book is joyous, thoughtful, and emotional

The novel has been compared to Bridget Jones’s Diary , and while that isn’t remotely a bad thing (we all adore Helen Fielding), Queenie is so much more than that. It deals with some truly dark, painful and critical issues - from racism, to anxiety and abuse. But Carty-Williams has tackled these in such a way that is compelling without being heavy - Queenie is as warm as it is raw.

It’s one of those novels that had me turning the pages greedily. Every time I wasn’t reading it I was craving to dive back in. It feels so fresh, and so vital. No wonder talk of this book is everywhere at the moment. Go and buy Queenie , and you’ll understand what all the fuss is about.

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Book Review: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Title : Queenie

Author: Candice Carty-Williams

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Orion Publishing Publication date: March 19 2019 Hardcover: 330 pages

Bridget Jones’s Diary  meets  Americanah  in this disarmingly honest, boldly political, and truly inclusive novel that will speak to anyone who has gone looking for love and found something very different in its place. Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. 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 a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, 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.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought

Format (e- or p-) : Audiobook (and it is AWESOME)

I am not really sure how to even begin to address (or unpeel, or unveil) all the different layers in Queenie, this astonishingly good debut by Candice Carty-Williams. I know how not to though: I’ve seen Queenie called “breezy and amusing” and was so taken aback because calling this deeply moving, harrowing, hurricane of a novel “breezy and amusing” is the understatement of the decade .         

25-year-old Queenie is a British-Jamaican woman living in London, going through the trials and tribulations of a young journalist/writer trying to get a decent place to live when her long-term relationship with beloved boyfriend Tom breaks apart (sorry, ahem, they are just on a break ) and then making bad decision after bad decision when navigating the dating scene. She also spends time with her group of best friends with whom she exchanges life advice. If you are thinking of Bridget Jones’s Diary , you are not too off the mark, the marketing material itself makes that connection for us readers with the novel going as far as having a character named Darcy – but here, Darcy is Queenie’s best girl friend (someone who supports her, just as she is ).

I have a lot of good memories about reading Bridget Jones’s Diary in my early twenties, finding in it an energizing novel that not only showed but allowed a woman to be a low-self-esteem hot mess and still get a happy ending with the guy she wanted and deserved. I was young, free, and also a white cis het woman and my preoccupations, unlike like my privileges, were not many.

But then we have Queenie the book and Queenie the character, with an updated take on life-in-London-as-a-woman and building on it by making it not only deeper but also intersectional, contextual and truly focusing on Queenie’s journey of self-awareness and self-esteem in a way that I found not only touching but also so very empowering and inspiring. In a way, now that I think of it, perhaps a closer match would be between this novel and Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, also about the same topic and combining comedy with pain in a similarly heady, devastating way.  

But truly, Queenie is entirely its own thing.

And itstarts with a break.

Ostensibly, the break is Queenie’s three year long relationship with the man she loves coming apart. He tells her she never truly shares herself or her “things” with him and in her mind, going through moments spent together, she believes she is the one at fault for things going pear-shaped. Also in her mind: it is only a matter of time before they are together again, if only she does everything right and gives Tom the space he asked for. She is miserable, lonely and decides to start dating again. Queenie then proceeds to have a number of truly terrible, harrowing, self-destructive sexual encounters that are hard to read because they are so heart-breaking. Queenie is used and abused, barely enjoying any of these encounters, allowing herself to go through this because she deeply believes she doesn’t deserve any better. Things go from bad to worse in a desperately short period of time when her job, her reputation, her friends, her house, her own mental wellness all fall apart.

There is another type of break here,  a foundational break on which Queenie’s life was built: the breaking of her family life with an absent father and a mother who left Queenie to fend for herself when she was really young so her mother could be with an abusive partner. This particular story goes much deeper than this bare summary and Queenie’s “things” have a real foothold on years and years of difficulties and abuse.    

Queenie’s life is also not lived in a vacuum: she is a black woman in Britain now, the subject of racism enduring both macro and micro-aggressions on a daily basis. She is also the granddaughter of Jamaican immigrants, one in the line of women expected to behave a certain way both from external sources and from within their own community. When Queenie tries to ask for help from her family, she is met with a huge amount of love and care but both are given under very strict, historical limitations. Plus, women like her should not, ought not to show their sorrow or express their problems in mental health definitions regardless of the fact that Queenie is having multiple panic attacks.  

Queenie’s break away from all of this is manifold and above all, it is not done without a huge amount of support: from her closest friends who are all there for her. From her younger, teenager cousin, someone experiencing the same family life but from a modern frame of mind, someone who shares and understands Queenie in ways many of her friends can’t. There is also the unexpected support from her grandfather in a scene that made me sob, as well as the expected support from a therapist.

For Queenie, crossing that clearly delimited yet invisible line (“Our people just don’t do therapy”) is The Moment where she choses herself . I have never read a novel in which the mere fact of the character choosing to see a therapist was both the most rewarding and the most fraught decision ever made. Precisely because there is nothing “mere” about it. But it marks the beginning of Queenie’s journey into healing, coping, finding her voice and falling in love with herself.  

Rating: 10 – Perfection

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Ana Grilo is a Brazilian who moved to the UK because of the weather. No, seriously. She works with translations in RL and hopes one day The Book Smugglers will be her day job. When she’s not here at The Book Smugglers, she is hogging our Twitter feed.

Thank you for reviewing this. It has been on my radar but I’m going to put it on my library request list.

I have been thinking of putting this book on my TBR list for the new year. I was on the fence because I am often weary of books that are described as a new version of a classic, such as Bridget Jones. Yet, this review spins a new perspective for me, thanks.

text twist 2

Also in her mind: it is only a matter of time before they are together again, if only she does everything right and gives Tom the space he asked for. ..

When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name.

Queenie was a really interesting and thought-provoking book. It delved into the mental mechanics behind the lack of self-love. I appreciated the rawness surrounding Queenie’s path of self-destruction in her sexcapades. Her reasoning as to why she was self-destructing was explained and the therapeutic reason was revealed in an exciting and excruciating way.

Angel Belcher

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams is among the books shortlisted for an honor for female parody composing.

The book is shortlisted in the distributed comic books classification of The Comedy Women In Print Prize.

I have been considering putting this book on my TBR list for the new year. I was wavering since I am frequently fatigued of books that are depicted as another adaptation of a work of art

Sleeper Recliner

I was wonder to read about this book here. I have read it and was impressed. Thank you for this review.

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Life of a Female Bibliophile

• Book Review

Book Review: “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams

“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams (2019)

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Adult

Page Length: 330 pages (hardcover edition)

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. 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 a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, 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. (description from Goodreads)

*WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD*

Queenie is the story of a young twenty-something named Queenie who is trying to navigate her life amidst a sea of changes. She and her boyfriend decide to go on a ” break” and it catapults many other events in her life as a domino effect. Like the cover states in the blurb, Queenie slightly reminds me of a black Bridget Jones. Even though Queenie is experiencing such raw pain, indecision, and uncertainty about her work, love, and personal life she she tries to persevere the best way she knows how (through humor).

It may sound weird, but there is so much humor in this novel that it makes the reader laugh out loud despite the juxtaposition of all the hurt Queenie goes through on her journey. It showcases that there is always light in the midst of darkness. I loved Carty-Williams writing and her words had me hooked from page one. Her characters felt very real to me and I liked that she discussed a lot of topics such as gentrification, the Black Lives Matter movement, and mental health among many other things.

Queenie’s journey is not an easy own and I deeply felt her struggles as she tries to the reins of her life back one day at a time. There is no happy ending, but rather the promise that she will continue working towards getting better and working through her issues. I appreciated the conversation surrounding mental health and the stigma of it within the Black community and bringing awareness of how the conversation needs to shift.

I love the strong support system that Queenie’s has in this novel. Her friends and family may have unconventional ways of showing it, but they love her dearly. My favorite character is Kyakize. She’s sassy, unapologetic, and proud, but has the kind of realness you need in a good friend. She may seem superficial on the outside, but she tells it like it is and always has Queenie’s back!

This was a fantastic debut novel and I look forward to more of her future works. It was a novel that was hard to read at times, but is also lighthearted as well.

*Trigger Warnings: abuse, miscarriage, racism, mentions of suicide

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Book Review: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

By: Author Jen - MMB Book Blog

Posted on Published: 17 July 2022  - Last updated: 23 July 2024

Queenie was the debut novel by Candice Carty-Williams and it’s safe to say, it was a HUGE success.

Released in 2019, Queenie was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and went on to win Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. It was also named one of The Times, Guardian, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Evening Standard’s best books of 2019.

Honestly, I have no idea what’s taken me so long to read this book! It’s been on my bookshelf for a while, so when Candice Carty-Williams’ new novel, People Person, was released, I thought it was time to get cracking with her first book.

Disclosure : This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Genre: Literary Fiction Author: Candice Carty-Williams Buy: Amazon | Waterstones Published: 2019

Queenie is a 25 year old, third-generation Jamaican-British woman trying to find her way in the world. After struggling through a breakup, Queenie’s life starts to unravel. Her issues with her friends and family are exacerbated and her mental health starts to suffer. With her confidence at an all-time low, Queenie finds herself in the arms, and beds, of several unsuitable men.

We follow Queenie as she makes increasingly questionable decisions as she tries to deal with the issues she’s facing.

Queenie Book Review

I really enjoyed this book. Queenie was such a frustrating yet sympathetic central character. I found myself rooting for her and wanting her to be happy. Her flaws, of which she had many, just made her seem more realistic.

I loved the supporting cast of characters and especially enjoyed the tales of her friend’s dating mishaps. The dialogue sparkled and I really liked the light-hearted moments.

Queenie isn’t just a breakup story. It tackles hard-hitting topics such as racism, injustice and mental health. Candice Carty-Williams expertly makes the switch from light-hearted and humorous moments, to grittier more emotional topics.

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza did an excellent job of highlighting systemic racism, and the importance of causes like Black Lives Matter. In this book, the exploration of racism is perhaps more subtle but still clearly something Queenie has to live with on a daily basis. The way she tries to validate herself by attracting white men, along with her identity struggles and her friend’s dismissal of Black Lives Matter, all show how racism is still very much a current issue.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the mixture of witty dialogue along with the more thought-provoking moments.

What should I read after Queenie?

If you enjoyed Queenie, I’d suggest reading People Person , also by Candice Carty-Williams. I’d also recommend reading Seven Days in June by Tia Williams.

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Queenie Hardcover – March 19, 2019

• Print length 336 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Gallery/Scout Press
• Publication date March 19, 2019
• Dimensions 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 1501196014
• ISBN-13 978-1501196010
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery/Scout Press; First Edition (March 19, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501196014
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501196010
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.06 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
• #4,313 in Black & African American Women's Fiction (Books)
• #18,449 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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Customers find the plot relatable and feel renewed hope after reading. They also describe the characters as real and raw. Readers describe the emotional tone as relatable yet heartwrenching. They find the writing style funny yet poignant and engaging. Customers also find the content enlightening, gutsy, and nauseating at times. They say the book is worth the read and the narrator is great.

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Customers find the book worth the read, with a well-written story and well-developed characters. They also say the author is talented and the story sucks them in. Customers also mention the book is funny and fun, yet in-depth.

"...It was so great. I watched the Series. But this book so ama!ing . This was so well written. I laughed cried. I didnt want it to end...." Read more

"...I feel like the author is SUPER talented and the story definitely sucks you in from the beginning. I personally couldn’t put it down...." Read more

"...Queenie is such a well-developed , complicated, and lovable character. She's a disaster, but she's smart and funny...." Read more

"...They say it's funny and fun , a "Bridget Jones". NO. None of that, it's not a fun diary of situations that funny...." Read more

Customers find the story relatable on many levels to black women. They also say the ending is satisfying and not completely predictable. Readers mention the book takes them on a journey and provides renewed hope.

"...Its plot is familiar : woman in her mid-twenties (Queenie) flounders through relationships, work, and friendships...." Read more

"...I’m happy I finished. I think the ending was okay , but I’m surprised Queenie was discharged from therapy so quickly when it seems she had so much..." Read more

"...The story is heartbreaking and heart wrenching and gutsy and nauseating at times, too...." Read more

"...The ending was satisfying and not completely predictable. Definitely worth the read." Read more

Customers find the writing style funny yet poignant, engaging, and interesting to learn slang terms and expressions.

"...I watched the Series. But this book so ama!ing. This was so well written . I laughed cried. I didnt want it to end...." Read more

"...It's really well-written and it's the kind of book that will remind you why you love reading, and why you're a people person after all." Read more

"...stereotyping and abusive relationships into an easy-to-read, often funny story ...." Read more

"...The writing is engaging and, though fit to their roles in the story and in their relationship to Queenie, the side characters feel full-bodied and..." Read more

Customers find the book enlightening, exploring political and social issues without losing connection. They also appreciate the author's relatable parts and relatable issues. Readers also say the book makes relevant and real references that bring the story to life. They find the content refreshingly different and nauseating at times.

"...in part because of its specificity and thoughtful exploration of intersectionality : being a dark-skinned, curvy black woman of Caribbean descent in..." Read more

"...This is a good novel for book club as there are so many potential discussion points ." Read more

"...The story is heartbreaking and heart wrenching and gutsy and nauseating at times , too...." Read more

"...It tackled so many tough topics like mental health, racism in the U.S. and abroad, toxic relationships, and family drama...." Read more

Customers find the characters in the book real and painful. They appreciate the accurate depiction of mental health crises and the realistic portrait of a young woman in subconscious turmoil.

"...What I love about this story is its masterful understanding of character . Queenie is such a well-developed, complicated, and lovable character...." Read more

"...in the story and in their relationship to Queenie, the side characters feel full-bodied and individuals on their own two feet...." Read more

"Queenie was a very interesting character with some highly questionable morals...." Read more

"...5 stars for entertaining and realism ." Read more

Customers find the emotional tone relatable yet heartwrenching. They also say the book comforts, makes them laugh, and helps them. Readers also say it shines a light on mental health and stability.

"...I keep coming back to it because it comforts me , makes me laugh, and helps me to cry...." Read more

"... Modern story about mental health and relationships . Main character 2nd generation immigrant which lends an interesting bent on the story...." Read more

"...This book was not funny but actually really sad ...." Read more

"... Heartbreaking , hopeful and eye-opening in equal measure. I loved this book." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book very slow for most of the time. They also say the storyline is not very original.

"Something in the beginning of the book made this read extremely slow ...." Read more

"...It starts off a bit slow , but stick with it. Queenie's story is worth the read." Read more

"...Depressing, slow , frustrating, not at all the story touted on the back of the book description...." Read more

"...I felt like it started off slow , got really good in the middle and then was rushed and let me down closer to the end...." Read more

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A review of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams - a fiercely exposing novel

This brazen contemporary novel follows the life of titular character, Queenie Jenkins, detailing her tumultuous relationships as she navigates the world as a 25-year-old writer in South London. Often adopting a comedic tone, Carty- Williams creates several eye-opening scenarios for Queenie which expose her difficulty to neatly identify with both her Jamaican and British culture. As we follow the protagonist’s everyday life, we are subjected to the raw realities of racism, trauma, sexual violence, the complexities of dating, mental health, and childhood. The novel is bold, politically charged, honest and exceptionally well- written.

Carty-Williams’ descriptions of Queenie’s interactions with men are the most uncomfortable, yet necessary to read, as she examines their disrespectful, abusive and often physically violent nature. The frankness in which she speaks of Queenie’s dating life and her sexual encounters is incredibly sincere to the real-life experiences of women today, leaving readers thinking ‘me too’ as they follow the narrative. That feeling runs throughout, particularly during Queenie’s struggle to find herself as a woman working in a middle-class, male-dominated industry. Her inability to evade both sexism and racial prejudice leaves her frequently questioning: “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”

Carty-Williams does well to bring other women alive too through characters like Kyazike. Her no-nonsense personality spills off the page as she speaks about how proud she is to be a Black woman. A standout moment of the book is when Kyazike pulls out a megaphone and begins leading chants at the Black Lives Matter march. You feel so completely immersed in the atmosphere that you can hear the crowd’s yells and feel their anger.

Fellow critics and avid readers have also been swept up by the relatable and compelling nature of Queenie upon its publication in 2019. The novel made Carty-Williams the first Black writer to win Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. It also entered The Sunday Times Bestseller charts in second place, demonstrating this debut is undeniably a well-acclaimed, commendable piece of literature.

It bares stark similarities to Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other with their shared focus on girlhood, womanhood, sexuality, identity and the pain caused by prejudice. However, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that the publication of Evaristo’s Booker Prize winning novel, less than two months after Queenie , stunted Carty-Williams’ claim to fame because people became entranced by Evaristo’s powerful interconnected narrative and the depth she awards her characters. Carty-Williams’ dark humour and concentration on a female character likens her novel to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy television series, Fleabag . And those who enjoy the work of Jojo Moyes, Dolly Alderton and Sally Rooney can expect to devour Queenie . It is an even more candid 21 st century Bridget Jones’s Diary .

This novel is one that will be used in years to come as a textbook of the gruelling experiences faced by women and the Black community in the early 21 st century. Despite its scrutiny of serious topical areas, it’s also an amusing read that’s perfect to enjoy leisurely.

Ready for more?

Slanted Spines

Queenie: A Book Review

Each month of 2020 has a specific Slanted Spines Book pick, and the July novel is Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams! My book review is an in-depth discussion about the book, but I include some spoiler warnings in case anyone hasn’t read it yet!

Queenie is a novel written in first person about Queenie Jenkins, a twenty-five-year-old woman living in London and working a job at a newspaper. It begins with a “break” in her relationship, which is initiated by her boyfriend Tom, who asks her to move out of their apartment. Thus begins somewhat of a downward spiral for Queenie, as she struggles to understand herself and where she belongs. Although proud of her Jamaican-British ancestry, she is often mistreated by co-workers and harassed by men because of her outward appearance, causing her to question if she can even be loved for who she is. In this incredibly engaging, entertaining, and deeply emotional book, Queenie embarks on a journey of self-empowerment.

Author Candice Carty-Williams is herself a resident of south London and writes as a journalist and contributor to a variety of magazines, such as Refinery29 . Queenie is her first novel.

The Writing

When I began reading Queenie , I was immediately sucked into her story, and I finished this book in just a few lengthy sittings—I needed to find out what would happen next in Queenie’s life.

The writing is pretty good and certainly relatable, and Queenie’s experiences are told in a really real and honest way. That being said, for me, it did sort of read like a debut novel. Occasionally I felt that the characters’ surroundings faded away while they were talking, and the story was quite heavy with the internal monologue. There weren’t really any moments when the prose stood out to me, however I will say that I don’t think that that was the intent of this book at all. Carry-Williams’ writing is really accessible and I think its merit partially lies in that it’s a straightforward telling of some real shit .

What I didn’t realize I would love about this book was the text conversations. I kind of wish every writer formatted their characters’ text conversations in actual speech bubbles, because it made the reading experience so much more “real.” How a person texts reveals information about their character—for example, Kyazike sends multiple, short messages, seemingly instantly, while Cassandra is less responsive and always includes a period at the end of her paragraphs. From this, Kyazike is characterized to seem like she’s on her phone more often, whereas Cassandra seems more assertive regarding the tone of her texts. It was actually refreshing that Carty-Williams didn’t try to include the texts within the prose, writing out all the “she texted back moments later” and “My thumbs tapped my response”s.

At this point in our lives, texting is so automatic, so ingrained in our daily experiences, that I also think perhaps seeing the texts within the book satisfies some part of our brain, as a reader. I don’t know any real science about this, but I bet at least a little bit of dopamine is produced when our conditioned brain reads “text messages” within a good old-fashioned book, or at least it satisfies some technology-hungry part of our attention that allows us to better retain interest in the book.

The Characters

Why I prefer reading female-authored books is that they’re far more likely to offer a wide variety of female characters, which Queenie certainly does. Aside from Queenie, there are at least ten established female characters, a majority of whom played essential roles in the story. On the flip side, however, most of the male characters who appeared throughout the book were notably horrible human beings.

Overall, I felt that the female characters were entertaining and vibrant, while the male characters drove me crazy. Some of my favorite characters were Queenie’s friends Kyazike and Darcy, and her cousin Diana. But if you are a person generally frustrated with men (as I imagine many of my female peers are), this book will fuel your distaste.

Most of the male characters that appear in this book are inconsiderate, crass, at least a little racist, and predominantly sex-driven. Unfortunately, I know that there are many men like this in real life, and I cannot imagine the sort of disrespect that Black women endure from the worst of them. (This is an awesome opportunity to talk about the long history of the mistreatment of Black women! *Trigger warning* Black women have been fetishized for centuries, and in the U.S. white slave owners would often rape Black women, and have historically been the subject of rampant, horribly brutal abuse! Black women are far more likely to be abused in their lifetime yet far less likely to report it for a myriad of reasons! We must do better to respect and legitimately uplift—and not over-sexualize—Black women!! They have been inventors, scholars, entrepreneurs, artists, and more, yet history has a tendency to erase them and minimize them into stereotypes!!)

Even though the men in this book are quite irritating and problematic, Queenie never really calls them out about it, and so their actions and words mostly speak for themselves. (I wrote “men are trash” in the margins of my copy seven different times throughout the book, and these were just the parts that upset me the most—never mind all the casual interactions in which male characters reveal their lack of integrity!) And although the male characters are the worst part of this book, they are also a large part of the problems, so they receive a lot of attention throughout the novel.

Anyway, Queenie is a very complex protagonist and there is a lot to discuss about her. These next few paragraphs may contain *SPOILERS* about her character development!

In this book, Queenie goes through it . Her main issues are boy problems: her boyfriend Tom initiated a “break” in their relationship, and Queenie spirals into an alarming cycle of sleeping with men who are blatantly scum bags. However, Queenie’s deeply-ingrained trauma plays a major factor in this; throughout her life, she has been taught that she is inherently worthless, and has value only when she acts a sexual object and feels she has never been unconditionally loved for who she is. As a Jamaican-British woman, she is a minority among her society and is often judged, mistreated, and disrespected because of others’ racial bias. To cope with her deep-set emotional pain, she finds solace in self-punishment, and seemingly becomes addicted to the abuse she endures. Repeatedly sleeping with a violent, impersonal men, skipping meals, self-sabotaging by slacking off at work because her thoughts are so distracted—Queenie finds herself in a really low place and struggles to find her own sense of security.

Moreover, at the beginning of the novel (and as a side note, I appreciate the bold opening scene, which takes place in a gynecologist’s exam room) immediately, Queenie discovers some troubling information, which is that despite that she has an IUD, she had conceived a child, but had a miscarriage—which would have been her and Tom’s baby. This discovery weighs heavily on her, and despite the multiple times she wants to tell Tom, ultimately she bears this burden herself, adding even more to her baggage.

There were many times when, as a reader, I was cringing at what Queenie experiences. Growing up with phrases like “This girl won’t amount to nuttin’ at all” and “Yuh ruin everything” constantly hurled at her by her mother’s abusive boyfriend, she develops a self-hatred which leads to codependency issues (pages 232;233). Queenie feels like she needs Tom in order for her to be okay, because being with Tom (at any cost)—to her—means that she’s loved . He’s her first real boyfriend, and she writes, “I hadn’t known what such closeness was like, to be able to share everything with one person, to have someone love you unconditionally, and to love them, despite each other’s -isms” (page 148).

But when she loses Tom, her sense of self-validation isn’t strong enough to endure; she fears that she may never be loved again. And so she allows men to use and abuse her, which is the predominant relationship dynamic she’s had with men, save for Tom. Because she feels as though she is fundamentally unlovable, she’s willing to settle for any scrap of attention to distract her from her persistent self-hatred. “Why didn’t I matter to any of the men who had run out of my life the first chance they could get?” Queenie wonders (page 138). There are times when, after having sex with her particularly abusive lover Guy, all she wants to do is cuddle, but is denied even that base physical intimacy, which understandably makes her feel even more lonely and self-loathing.

Although Queenie is sleeping around with men, she does not feel particularly happy about any of these activities (although she pretends to, when texting her friends). At the same time she craves male attention, she also uses these sexual encounters as a way to punish herself. When she hooks up with Guy, he’s so rough with her body that the health clinic believes Queenie is an assault survivor, and yet Queenie continues to subject herself to sexual appointments with him. During intercourse, she reflects, “I was in pain, but still I didn’t cry out, didn’t ask him to stop. I didn’t want him to. This is what you get when you push love away. This is what you’re left with ” (page 101). She internalizes her break-up with Tom, assuming full responsibility for their failed relationship, as though there is something inherently wrong—inherently broken—with her. Sadly, this is her default experience with male relations, and so she is trained to repeat the cycle that her own mother set as an example, especially when she’s at such an emotionally vulnerable low.

Even when it’s not male attention she seeks, it’s the attention of her friends. At work, Queenie is constantly interrupting Darcy’s productivity to talk about her own problems, which Darcy is goodnatured about but is clearly bothered by. Queenie even creates a chat message for The Corgis so that she can consult the female friend group for life advice. When life goes slightly astray, she immediately confers with The Corgis, further exhibiting codependent behavior.

Fortunately, this is not Queenie’s fate forever. After hitting a rock bottom, losing her job, and moving back in with her strict grandparents, Queenie finally accepts a helping hand and attends therapy (with only minor friction from her grandmother), beginning her journey towards healing old wounds and developing more productive coping mechanisms. (In her family, mental health is rarely discussed, and so growing up Queenie had learned harmful emotional outlets for her thoughts and feelings.)

Additionally, she begins to slowly repair her relationship with her mother as she begins to see her more clearly. Queenie writes of her mom, “She’d been so mentally and physically battered by men that she couldn’t find her voice anymore. But she was still my mum” (page 270). Finally, Queenie humanizes her mother in her eyes, and realizes that many of the struggles that Queenie has dealt with, her mother has also endured. She recognizes their similar circumstances and starts to empathize. “I’ve followed in her footsteps,” she says, “Like mother, like daughter. Except this time, I’m the one to blame” (page 258). Accepting the past for what it was and assuming responsibility over her own current choices, Queenie grows exponentially , concluding the book with a new, healthier outlook on her life, with family, friends, and no man (for now, anyway)!!

Queenie’s character arc was quite satisfying for me, and I was also happy to read about all of Queenie’s gal friends. Many of my favorite parts of the book were when the Corgis conferred. I loved reading about a supportive female friend group (except when Cassandra’s “tough love” texts bordered on just plain mean, even if accurate) and Kyazike and Darcy had such a sweet dynamic. I was also happy when Queenie and Kyazike had their own time together, as well as how Diana really warmed up to Queenie.

Maybe it was because I was rooting so fiercely for Queenie, I felt that Queenie’s downward spiral dragged on for a long time, with very few “wins” along the way. But rather than the book concluding with her finally attending therapy, the novel actually follows her throughout several weeks of counseling, detailing some of her ups and downs along the way. So this book actually covers a decent chunk of time during a pivotal point in her adulthood.

Overall, the plot contained enough drama to keep me interested, and I was invested in seeing Queenie’s recovery through until the end. Although it was a fairly predictable book, there was one twist that took me by surprise!

**SPOILERS** I’m very glad that Queenie didn’t magically fall in love with the perfect man at the end of the novel to seal her recovery (although for a moment I thought that’s what was going to happen with Chuck). I think it was very important for Queenie to learn how to love herself and set personal boundaries before she began a new relationship (casual or not). I’m pleased with the ending, and I admire her for forgiving Cassandra, who I would’ve probably dismissed from my dinner table.

Queenie and Carrie Pilby

About halfway through this book, I realized the lonely tone of the narrator reminded me of somebody else hopelessly lonely—Carrie Pilby! Earlier this year, I read and reviewed Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner, which is a novel about a young white woman living in New York City, attending therapy, and following a list in order to “put herself out there” socially ( read here ). Of course, there are quite a number of stark differences; first of all, Queenie is a Black woman, and faces a plethora of racially motivated mistreatments because of this one aspect of her identity, a sort of oppression that rich, privileged Carrie has no understanding of. However, if we look at Queenie as being about a young woman living in London, attending therapy, and following a list of items to help habilitated her, we notice some patterns.

Queenie is also far more sexual than Carrie Pilby , and is placed more firmly in our modern times, referencing the Black Lives Matters movement and including Queenie’s experience with the app OKCupid—which is huge technological progress from the classifieds that Carrie responds to in the newspaper. Both of these young women are lonely within a city and feel disconnected from their peers—albeit for totally different reasons, but point towards a shared female experience.

Because I read a lot of books written by women, I notice a lot of emotional trends, such as this peculiar brand of loneliness. Quite frankly, I’m glad that all these books exist, both Carrie Pilby and Queenie , because they both offer an emotional story about a young woman that readers can relate to, and find solidarity with. Earlier this year, I asked the question: Why do we not have a female Holden Caulfield? And the answer, as I’ve realized, is that we do! Carrie is our Holden, Queenie is our Holden, and so are the female protagonists of many other books that women have poured their hearts into, but we’ve just never read, because they haven’t been arbitrarily deemed “classics.”

Of course, I’m full aware that Queenie may never make its way into a school—it contains a medley of sexually explicit scenes and portrays some disturbing abuse and dissociation. But I am glad that this book exists, and I will celebrate Candice Carty-Williams for publishing this book so that young women who see themselves in Queenie can feel less alone, and have hope for their own healing (and maybe learn something from Queenie’s mistakes!).

The Problematic Men of Queenie

One of the aspects of this book that frustrated me was how Queenie would let men mistreat her without speaking up for herself. Granted, I understand that Queenie has learned from her society that what these men think is what the majority of people think, and that to stand up for herself will provoke violence upon her (like Roy conditioned her to think). However, I wish there was slightly more payoff at the end during which she yells at Adi, or explains to Guy just what he can go do to himself for being such a hog. (Unfortunately for my desires of revenge, Queenie’s therapy is working a bit too well and she moves on from them.)

Queenie does grow, and we see that when she goes out with Courtney; after realizing he has some rather strongly racist views, she argues with him for two hours. “It must be nice to be so detached from a life that someone like me actually has to live!” Queenie shouts at him at the end of their lengthy debate (page 302). It was incredibly gratifying to finally see Queenie tell someone off. Speak your truth, Queenie!

However, since many of the men were not told off, I felt inspired to do so myself. So without further ado:

Adi is an absolute pig, and it’s disgusting that he speaks to Queenie so graphically and casually, as though she were not a human being with feelings. He is fixated on Queenie’s butt and is not at all weary to exclaim so, which is another male trope we can witness in real life: men who feel entitled to remarking on women’s appearances. (Carrie Pilby herself comments on how she hates when random men tell her to smile—the PG version of catcalling.)

Guy is straight-up abusive and totally unapologetic that he only views black women as sex objects of conquest, which is utterly disturbing. He’s quick to ignore Queenie’s boundaries, like when he hits Queenie’s bum so hard that it hurts her quite bad (page 100), but then as soon as she starts to cuddle him afterwards, he rejects her and says he doesn’t like people touching him , expecting his own boundaries to be respected (page 102). He graphically tells Queenie what he likes about black women, which is—shocking—merely a lewd physical description of a stereotypical body figure.

Oh, and also Guy is a two-faced liar, so there’s that.

And Ted—what a pest! He stalks and harasses her for weeks, and then as soon as he rather assertively convinces her to have sex with him in a bathroom (which is brief and unsatisfying for Queenie), he avoids her and then files a report against her, causing her suspension from work? What a life-ruining jerk! To find out that he has an expectant wife is completely on-brand for him (and on-brand for all of the other men who pursue Queenie while in a relationship), and I was soooo glad when Queenie turns his emails into her boss and gets him fired. (Now this—this was enjoyable to read!!)

Which isn’t even to mention all the gross messages Queenie receives from total strangers on OKCupid. Why do these men think it’s okay to speak to women like this? They send the most brazenly sexual, disrespectful, profane messages. And yet, I must remind you reader: what occurs in this book happens to a lot of women very often . So if you are appalled by this behavior, then you should feel very empathetic towards women and especially Black women who actually have to put up with this crap.

Time and time again, in Queenie’s society and in our American society, Black women are treated as bodies and lumped together in likeness. It is deplorable how our cultures both fetishize and dispose of Black female bodies, just like we have for centuries . Perhaps the popularity of this book will shed some light on this unacceptable behavior and spread awareness that this is not okay . Queenie—although, yes, a fictional character—is a living, breathing human, and the people around her made it a habit to speak to her like she doesn’t even have emotions. She is repeatedly dehumanized by her society! And even when she’s in a relationship with somebody who probably loves her, she’s taught that her feelings ultimately don’t matter.

Tom is a spineless loser, and while he seems to be less harmful compared to the other men in Queenie’s life, he’s still not that great and it’s unfortunate that Queenie spends so much of the book pining after him. Although he has many good moments as Queenie reflects over their relationship, there are several times when he gaslights her or downplays his family’s racist behavior. More than a few times, Tom’s family makes uncomfortable race-related remarks, and when Queenie feels disturbed by this, Tom says things like, “He was joking, Queenie, don’t get worked up!” (page 38).

Let me ASSURE YOU, if any member of my family ever said “Was it the n***** in the pantry?” like Uncle Stephen did, whether or not it was in the presence of my boyfriend, that family member would have FIVE SECONDS to rebuke their statement and beg for forgiveness before I never speak to them again because I will honor NO relation of mine to a racist. My boyfriend’s basic terms of humanity are not the lofty topic of a dinner table political discussion, nor the punchline for a malicious and humorless “joke.” And the fact that Tom is perfectly willing to justify casual racism time and time again shows that he’s willing to be complicit and therefore on the wrong side of this argument, no matter how upset he is with how Queenie responds to this. There are so many ways to handle that situation without making Queenie, who already feels like an “other” in Tom’s family’s household, feel even more alienated. This, too, on Tom’s part, is emotional abandonment.

Tom’s family just says the worst things to her. During a Christmas game, Tom’s uncle tells the group they’ll split into two teams, light shirts and dark shirts, and then goes out of his way to point out that, despite Queenie wearing a white dress, “technically there’s a bit more dark” on her (page 133). How creepy! It’s like Stephen can only see her for a Black person and must point it out at every occasion as though she could have forgotten . Talk about a creepy uncle making you feel uncomfortable in your own skin at holiday gatherings.

So clearly, Queenie deserves better than that, someone who won’t feel inconvenienced by her feelings, but rather empathize with her and support her when she needs help.

I enjoyed this book, although I did not enjoy reading about Queenie’s suffering. While the novel has its minor shortcomings, overwhelmingly I think it brings up many important topics, including many of the everyday struggles of trauma survivors and Black women living within a racist society. It is rather explicit, so I do not recommend it for young audiences at all, nor is the prose particularly artful, however it is an incredibly valid perspective and a voice that needs to be heard.

Thanks so much for reading!

To read more book reviews by Slanted Spines, check out this page .

The Slanted Spines August Book pick is The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, a science fiction novel! On the last Friday of the month, I’ll post my book review, so grab a copy and read along with me!

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Julia's books

Sharing my passion for books with views, news and reviews

Book review – “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams

Most of my reviews recently seem to have been of quite high-brow books. I wouldn’t want to give the impression that I’m any kind of snob when it comes to reading it’s just that it has all been quite literary of late. I’m currently reading Claudia Winkelman’s Quite in the crevices of my life (when the complex plotting of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starts to make my head hurt!), my book club’s choice  and which one of my friends described as ‘hubba bubba’! If you are old enough to remember what that is, well, it is describes the book perfectly! Look out for my review of that soon.

A novel I read recently, which was at the more popular end of the spectrum (no judgement intended), was Queenie , the debut novel by Candice Carty-Williams. It was shortlisted for a number of prizes, including the Waterstones Book of the Year and the Costa First Novel Award, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize last year and won in two categories of the British Book Awards in 2020 – Book of the Year and Debut Book of the Year. So, it was quite a sensation, and its thirty-two year old author seemed to be everywhere!

Rightly so, because it is a super book, very readable. In my head I thought it was a YA novel, the cover and the marketing scream YA, but it’s really quite adult; I’m not sure I’d be giving it to my 16 year-old for another year or so, for example. Lots of quite graphic sex.

Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-something Londoner of Jamaican origin and the novel begins with her break-up from long-term (white, middle-class) boyfriend Tom. He initially tells her it is a “break” but it becomes quite clear that he is simply trying to let her down gently. Or failing to be honest with her, depending on your perspective.

Queenie’s life soon spirals out of control. She has to move out of the apartment she shared with Tom into a much more shabby and smaller room in a house. She also finds herself engaging in a series of brief and bruising sexual encounters. Some are literally bruising – one affair with a junior doctor leaves her with a physical damage and a STD. Almost worse, however, is the work colleague who seems nice, approaches her with sensitivity and understanding, but, guess what? He just wants the sex and turns out to have…other commitments!

This is more than just a break-up novel, however. The book has been described by some as the ‘black Bridget Jones ’, but it is far more complex than that. Queenie experiences gaslighting of the nastiest kind, and you can’t help but notice the racial dimension to that. But it’s not exactly a ‘race’ novel either…it is more complex than that too! It is a novel about sisterhood because it is friendship that gives Queenie the leg-up she needs to get her life back on track, her relationships with ‘The Corgis’ – the title of the Whatsapp group she invites her three closest confidantes to join. 

This book is a good read. I don’t want to say ‘fun’ (like Bridget Jones) because it is at times deeply harrowing, although the author has a deft comic touch that quickly lifts you out of the gloom. It’s snappily written, with a style that a younger readership will recognise and engage with, but which is not too beyond the comprehension of this middle-aged reader either!

So, proof – I’m not just into classics and high-brow!

Recommended.

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Author: Julia's books

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4 thoughts on “Book review – “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams”

Agree, I loved this book but didn’t get the whole Bridget Jones Comparison

It’s strange isn’t it. I loved Bridget Jones when it first came out, but it’s a totally different novel. Much darker and more complex.

Same I love Bridget and completely it agree Queenie goes to some really dark places

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TV & Movies

The Queenie Book Ends With An Optimistic Twist

The creator also weighs in on the show’s future.

Since it was published in 2019, Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie quickly became a best-selling sensation and was named the Book of the Year at the 2020 British Book Awards. So naturally, the pressure was on when it came to bringing the titular protagonist’s life to screen.

Fortunately, Carty-Williams herself serves as the creator and showrunner of Hulu’s Queenie adaptation. So, she got to infuse the series (which premiered on June 7) with the same heart that fills the pages of her debut novel.

“There is obviously the long-running question: Are you Queenie? No, but she reminds me of a version of me, and a lot of people can see themselves in her when she was that age,” Carty-Williams tells Bustle. “She was 25, and just trying to change the world. But she always had, you know, her stuff.”

As for the future of Queenie, Carty-Williams doesn’t think the eight-episode series needs a second season. “I wrote it so that she is in this TV series as complete as she’s going to be for this point in her life,” she says, noting that the Queenie team managed to “remix” the book’s conflicts as necessary to make it work for the screen.

Want to compare as you watch? Ahead, here’s a recap of the Queenie book ending and plot summary.

It Begins With A Breakup

Queenie is a Jamaican British woman who’s on a break with her boyfriend, Tom, when readers meet her at a gynecological appointment. She learns she’s had a miscarriage while trying to prevent pregnancy with an IUD, and the experience precipitates a period of upheaval in her personal life.

Queenie spends time with her friends, including close confidant Kyazike, as well as her grandparents and Aunt Maggie. Believing that she’ll get back together with Tom, she has a series of sexual encounters in the interim, though they aren’t fulfilling. She’s surprised to learn that one partner is actually dating her friend, while another, her co-worker, is married with a baby on the way.

All the while, Queenie struggles with her estranged relationship with her mother and her work as a writer at the Daily Read starts to slip as she’s not granted the opportunity to write about important issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. While being suspended by her boss, she has a panic attack. This prompts her to move in with her grandparents and start going to therapy.

An Optimistic Ending

Fortunately, Queenie has some breakthroughs from here. She shares with her therapist about her mother’s abusive relationship with a man, Roy, and how she had to effectively raise herself as a child. In opening up about this trauma, Queenie begins to understand what her mother has been through and works toward healing their relationship.

In the final pages of the novel, Queenie reveals that she’s been given a promotion at her job, while Ted (the married co-worker) has been fired for misconduct. She takes a break from dating and deletes Tom’s number, moving on once and for all. Most importantly, she acknowledges that she’s worthy of love — and that she has the support system and tools in place to manage her anxiety going forward.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org .

If you or someone you know is seeking help for mental health concerns, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website , or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). For confidential treatment referrals, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ( SAMHSA ) website, or call the National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). In an emergency, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or call 911.

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Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

• Publication Date: November 5, 2019
• Genres: Fiction , Women's Fiction
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
• ISBN-10: 1501196022
• ISBN-13: 9781501196027
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Book Review: Call the script doctor! ‘Feh’ explores the toxic storyline of a religious education

This book cover image released by Riverhead shows “Feh” by Shalom Auslander. (Riverhead via AP)

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A few years ago, the writer Shalom Auslander was hospitalized with a potentially fatal case of pancreatitis after taking a banned performance-enhancing drug to lose weight. His psychiatrist said he was trying to kill himself. Auslander, then unemployed, in his 40s, with a wife and two children, disagreed. He said he did it because he was tired of hating himself for being fat and believed that if he were thinner, it might be easier to find work and provide for his family.

Auslander relates this tale at the beginning of his latest memoir, “Feh,” a poignant, profane, and scabrously funny exploration of the way that organized religion, but also scientists and philosophers, conspire to teach us that we are “feh,” a Yiddish expression of contempt. If you don’t believe this, he argues, consider the fact that according to Genesis, the first human was called Adam, whose name derives from “adamah,” the Hebrew word for dirt.

Auslander says he was inspired to write this sequel of sorts to his acclaimed 2007 memoir, “Foreskin’s Lament,” by his friendship with Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of a drug overdose in 2014. In the Irish Catholic actor, Auslander perceived a kindred soul raised with the same story of “feh” that was drilled into him by the rabbis in charge of his religious education in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Monsey, New York (Auslander originally wrote the since-cancelled Showtime series, “Happyish,” for Hoffman.)

As Auslander attempts to exorcise his demons and rewrite his origin story in a more positive light, the book takes on a “meta” flavor in line with the narrative we humans have been telling ourselves lately about the way we use storytelling to make sense of our lives.

One of his favorite storytellers is Franz Kafka. He recalls falling in love with his stories, the way he laughed at shame and mocked his accusers. “Critics… claimed he was attacking bureaucracy or government or the justice system, but I knew he wasn’t. He was attacking `feh.’ Kafka was the inmate in the cell beside mine, tapping on our shared wall, letting me know I wasn’t alone. This, I had thought, is writing. This is the secular, the free, the accepting.”

For now, Auslander’s story seems to have a happier ending than Hoffman’s, transformed and redeemed by his love for his family and desire to see his boys grow up without the self-loathing he has carried around since he first learned at age 6 that God created man out of dirt and the angels said “feh.”

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

• 2024 Elections

J.D. Vance Endorsed Book That Calls Progressives “Unhumans” and Praises Jan. 6 Rioters

The gop veep candidate embraced the extreme view that today’s left is part of a centuries-long effort to “destroy” civilization..

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During his acceptance speech at the Republican convention last week, Sen. J.D. Vance, the GOP vice presidential candidate, praised Donald Trump’s call for “unity.” But this year, Vance endorsed a new book co-written by a far-right conspiracy-monger that calls progressives “unhumans” and claims they are waging an “Irregular Communist Revolution” against American civilization.

The book, Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them) , was written by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec. Posobiec is a well-known alt-right agitator and conservative media personality who promoted the bonkers Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Lisec is a professional ghostwriter. And their book professes to be a history of communist and leftist revolutionary abuses over the decades—but with a twist. They claim, “For as long as there have been beauty and truth, love and life, there have also been the ugly liars who hate and kill.” And these “people of anti-civilization” have always gone by different names: communists, socialists, leftists, and progressives. The pair contend these folks—be they the Bolsheviks of Russia or the BLM activists of this decade—are better called “unhumans.”

The book is a far-right declaration of war that accuses conservatives of not understanding that the left cares only about one thing: revolution.

“With power, unhumans undo civilization itself,” Posobiec and Lisec write. “They undo order. They undo the basic bonds of society that make communities and nations possible. They destroy the human rights of life, liberty, and property—and undo their own humanity in the process by fully embracing nihilism, cynicism, and envy.”

It’s a hard-edged message. The foes of conservatism are not merely misguided souls pushing the wrong policies but people who seek to annihilate civilization. They “rob” and “kill,” Posobiec and Lisec maintain: “They don’t believe what they say. They don’t care about winning debates. They don’t even want equality. They just want an excuse to destroy everything. They want an excuse to destroy you.”

Vance apparently found this Manichean view worthy of his endorsement, and he provided a blurb that Posobiec and Lisec have used to peddle their volume:

In the past, communists marched in the streets waving red flags. Today, they march through HR [Human Resources], college campuses, and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people. In  Unhumans , Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec reveal their plans and show us what to do to fight back.

The book (with a foreword written by Steve Bannon) is a far-right declaration of war that accuses conservatives of not understanding that the left cares only about one thing: revolution to achieve total control. The unhumans aim to “kill the people who have more” than they do. As they put it, “On a base level, unhumans seek the death of the successful and the desecration of the beautiful.” They decry the far left atrocities of the past (the French Revolution and the communist revolutions in Russia, China, and elsewhere) and claim the same malignant force is shaping the present, noting that the “chief institutions of consensus-making” in today’s society “are controlled by radicals and infiltrated by unhumans.” The book comes across as modern-day McCarthyism: This dark menace has infiltrated nooks and crannies across America, from the boardroom to the classroom to even churches. No surprise, Posobiec and Lisec have plenty of praise for Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

In their view, the dangerous unhumans are everywhere . The Civil Rights movement? Mounted by unhumans. Critics of hate speech? Unhumans. The Black Lives Matter protests? Organized by unhumans. In fact, they compare the BLM protests of 2020 to the terror of the French Revolution, noting, “There is no way to reason with those who manipulate the have-nots en masse to loot and to shoot. They simply hate those who are good-looking and successful.” (Yes, they wrote that.)

Vance’s thumbs-up to Unhumans is an indicator of how deep his roots are within the conspiratorial alt-right.

Vance’s thumbs-up to Unhumans is an indicator of how deep his roots are within the conspiratorial alt-right. The book features the conservative movement’s paranoid allegations about Big Tech being in league with leftists to help pave the way for a fundamental reshaping of society. “The terrible truth is that there is a distinct revolutionary movement we are witnessing in the modern-day West,” the pair assert. And they have a fancy name for it: “The Irregular Communist Revolution.” Wokeness, of course, is a major element of this.

And this bring us to the noble counterrevolution: January 6, 2021. Posobiec, who was part of the fraudulent Stop the Steal movement, and Lisec insist that the riot at the US Capitol was a “lawfare trap” sprung to “destroy” Trump’s followers and “make them an example to any other Republicans who want to get uppity in the future.” They contend all was calm on Capitol Hill until guards “fired on the peaceful crowd with nonlethal munitions and flash-bangs.” They write, “It was all a trap,” and the “insurrection hoax was used to begin a purge of Trump supporters from the military and from public life.” The rioters were “well-meaning patriots.”

Posobiec and Lisec repeat many of the falsehoods of the tin-foil right, including the claim that Trump had pre-authorized 10,000 National Guard troops and that assistance had been rejected. “There was indeed an insurrection on January 6, 2021—against President Trump and his supporters,” they proclaim.

Finally, the pair argue that the right must adopt extreme and underhanded measures to defeat the unhumans: “Our study of history has brought us to this conclusion: Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans. It is time to stop playing by rules they won’t.” This means state governors, county sheriffs, and district attorneys must wage crusades against the unhumans. Elon Musk’s war on political correctness must be supported. Unhumans in education and media must be publicly named and shamed. Law enforcement in red areas should target antifa, BLM, and NGOs affiliated with billionaire George Soros.

Does Vance believe that Democrats and progressives are part of a centuries-long march of unhumans looking to destroy civilization? Does he believe an “Irregular Communist Revolution” is currently being waged in America?

Vance has echoed Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election was rigged and that the January 6 insurrectionists were unjustly prosecuted. He has also said that had he been vice president that day he would have recognized the phony Trump electors from states where Trump lost. But does he also believe that Democrats and progressives are part of a centuries-long march of unhumans looking to destroy civilization? Does he believe that an “Irregular Communist Revolution” is currently being waged in America and that conservatives ought to not follow the rules in combatting this supposed threat?

I asked the Trump-Vance campaign these questions and whether Vance read the book before giving it a thumb’s up. It did not respond.

Nevertheless, Vance opted to boost Unhumans . Considering Posobiec’s notoriety, Vance could have guessed that this book contained extreme notions.

The book has also been extolled by Donald Trump Jr. (“teaches us how…to save the West”), Michael Flynn (“exposes their battle plans and offers a fifth-generation warfare system to fight back and win”), and Tucker Carlson (“Jack Posobiec sees the big picture and isn’t afraid to describe it”). A publicist for Lisec has used Vance’s endorsement of the work to whip up media interest in the book and secure interviews for Lisec.

With Unhumans , Posobiec and Lisec are attempting to dress up the right’s long-running demonization of liberals and progressives with warped history and a heaping of fancy jargon, lumping all left-of-center action into a paranoid brew that depicts the right’s political foes as diabolical monsters seeking to obliterate all that is good within the civilized world. Vance’s approval of this dreck is yet another indicator of how this politician who once compared Trump to Hitler has come to embrace the extremism of the Trumpian far right.

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Paperback Row

6 Paperbacks to Read This Week

By Shreya Chattopadhyay July 26, 2024

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If you’re looking for a new book, look no further. Jeff VanderMeer’s “Annihilation” is out in a 10th anniversary edition, along with Michael Cunningham’s pandemic novel, Safiya Sinclair’s memoir and more.

Here are six paperbacks we recommend →

This science fiction novel, which won the Nebula Award when it was published in 2014, takes place in Area X, a part of Earth that humans have avoided for years, save 11 failed expeditions. Now in a 10th-anniversary edition, the first book in VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy follows four researchers, all women, as they embark on a 12th survey of the toxic ecosystem.

Sinclair puts forth what our reviewer called a “breathless, scorching memoir of a girlhood spent becoming the perfect Rasta daughter and an adolescence spent becoming one of Jamaica’s most promising young poets,” reckoning with her fundamentalist childhood’s impact on her life.

On April 5, 2019, Isabel and Dan, married and raising kids in a Brooklyn brownstone, tell Robbie, their kids’ beloved gay uncle, that he needs to move out of their attic. Over the course of three days three years apart and the onset of a never-named pandemic, this novel delves into the intricacies and fallout of their decision.

Conover decided to buy his own plot of land in Colorado’s rural San Luis Valley, where five acres go for $5,000 or less, after interviewing many of its working-class, off-grid residents. His approach to describing them, our critic Jennifer Szalai wrote in her review, “isn’t so much about pinning people down as letting them reveal themselves.”

“Careful what you look for,” Tess, this thriller’s narrator, thinks as she digs around a grave at the novel’s start. It’s not just graves: Ever since she’s had to rent out her late sister’s room, she hasn’t been able to stop digging through its occupants’ things, a compulsive prying that goes unnoticed until Arran, her newest tenant, seems just as curious about her.

A longtime climate reporter takes stock of the heat waves, hurricanes, wildlife deaths, immigration patterns and more that stem from rising global temperatures. It’s “a propulsive book, one to be raced through; the planet is burning, and we are running out of time,” our reviewer wrote.

Read more books news:

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Comic-Con is pop culture’s beating heart. Comics creators made it so

As Comic-Con takes center stage, one writer reminds us that comic books are still the heart and soul of the pop culture celebration.

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Good morning and welcome back to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter!

I’m novelist and punk historian Jim Ruland, and some of my earliest obsessions with storytelling came from comic books. From humble paperback beginnings to box office behemoths, comics have surged to the forefront of pop culture. And this week, Comic-Con International returned to San Diego. While the annual gathering has expanded over the years to include toys, TV shows, movies and video games, it’s still the premier place for those of us who are crazy about comics.

In the world of comics, Alex Segura has done it all. He’s reported on the industry, worked on the publishing side of the business and penned stories with iconic characters from Riverdale to the Spider-Verse.

The comics-loving kid from Miami won the 2023 L.A. Times Book Prize in the mystery/thriller category for his novel “Secret Identity.” Set in the comic book industry circa 1975, the plot revolves around the origin of a character named the Legendary Lynx. The novel’s sequel, “Alter Ego,” comes out later this year.

I asked Alex about his incredible journey through comics and what he loves most about Comic-Con.

How did you break into comics?

I started as a comics journalist, writing for places like Newsarama and working at Wizard magazine, then pivoted to doing PR and marketing, first at DC Comics, then Archie. But I always wanted to write. My first published comics work was a story in a DC Halloween Special, featuring Frankenstein and the Flash, which was wild, and a real learning experience. Shortly after that, I moved to Archie and started writing more regularly, doing stuff like Archie Meets KISS and things like that. Nowadays, I write a lot of stuff for Marvel, DC, Mad Cave and my own creator-owned stories.

What do most people on the outside get wrong about comics?

It’s a collaborative medium. It’s like jamming with a band. If everyone is doing their part, and bringing their best, the end result is greater than you could imagine. It’s a visual medium too, so the majority of what you write — the camera direction, the details, the notes — doesn’t make it on the page. You pass those on to the artist and then they translate it into something visual. It’s not like writing a novel, which is a solitary experience.

You’re not only a writer but you were an executive in the business.

I worked on the publishing side for many years. First as a publicist and marketing person at DC and Archie, then some editorial and new business work at Archie, and finally as the head of sales and marketing at Oni Press. But for the last few years I’ve been fully freelance and it’s been truly amazing. The experience gained from the other side has proven invaluable as I try to navigate freelancer life.

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In your novels, “Secret Identity” and the forthcoming “Alter Ego,” executives in the comic book business aren’t favorably portrayed. What are we to make of that?

I think the core idea of both novels is the push and pull of art vs. commerce. The publishers need to make money to continue to create the work. For a creator, you’re hyper-focused on the art — on telling a great story that resonates with you. I wanted to show that friction as realistically as I could, without falling into caricature. The best villains think they’re the hero.

What do you have in the pipeline?

“Alter Ego,” the follow-up to “Secret Identity,” hits in December from Flatiron Books. Additionally, we’re doing a “remastered and expanded” edition of “The Legendary Lynx,” the comic book featured in “Secret Identity,” in November. I have a sci-fi novel, “Dark Space,” coming in October co-written with Rob Hart; a Bruno/“Encanto” novel prequel from Disney Books; “Nightmares and Sueños” in December; a Spider-Verse prose anthology in October; and lots of comic book work, including Spider-Society from Marvel, Dick Tracy and a few things that are not announced yet. I like to stay busy!

What’s your favorite thing about Comic-Con?

The people! Meeting readers, people that love and engage with your work, is always a thrill. I love connecting with old friends and getting face time with people I don’t get to see often. It’s a rush.

(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)

The Week(s) in Books

J.D. Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” is a bestseller again, and, like it or not, we’re going to be hearing a lot about the book for the next few months. Gustavo Arellano has a fresh and fascinating take on Vance’s bootstrap bible .

For a more authentic (and better written) book about people eking out a living at the margins of society, I highly recommend Willy Vlautin’s new novel “The Horse.”

Leigh Haber reviews “Liars,” Sarah Manguso’s scorching portrait of a crumbling marriage. “With a surgeon’s precision, Manguso painstakingly autopsies a couple’s unfolding — and increasingly toxic — relationship,” Haber writes.

Was 1982 the greatest year for science fiction ? Chris Nashawaty, author of “The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982,” thinks so.

Bookstore Faves

Weren’t able to make it to Comic-Con this year? Pulp Fiction has you covered ! It’s been in business for 20 years and has been at its current location in Long Beach since January 2020. I spoke to owner Ryan Skinner about what comics Angelenos are reading.

What are some hot titles that are selling at your store?

• “Ultimate Spider-Man” : Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider ... except he’s 35, married to MJ and has two kids!
• “Wonder Woman” : Tom King and Daniel Sampere are putting out the best superhero book on the stands.
• “Grommets” : Skateboarding comedy coming straight out of 1984, ror fans of Linklater and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

What’s coming that you’re excited about?

• “Nice House by the Sea” : The anticipated follow-up series to “Nice House on the Lake,” one of the best books I’ve read in the last 10 years.
• “Universal Monsters: Frankenstein” : Officially licensed comic written and drawn by one of my favorite artists, Michael Walsh. Also, check out his horror anthology “Silver Coin.”

What makes Pulp Fiction different from other comic book shops?

Community and customer service! Folks have so many options for comic reading these days, so we do our best to provide an inclusive place to meet other fans and a robust holding system to make sure they don’t miss the books they want.

Thanks again for reading. Stay cool and see you in two weeks!

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Review: Asus Chromebook Plus CX34

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Chromebooks are better than ever thanks to the Chromebook Plus initiative, which emphasizes a combination of more powerful hardware at affordable prices. As good as they’ve gotten, however, most Chromebook Plus laptops aren’t winning many style points. One entry that breaks that mold is the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 .

The first thing you’ll notice about this Asus laptop is that it’s contained in a beautiful white shell that stands out from the raft of gray slabs that cover most other Chromebooks on the market. Though it’s plastic (to keep costs down), the speckled back cover gives the laptop some added dimension that’s delightful to look at. That clean aesthetic extends to the area surrounding the keyboard deck and trackpad, though you’ll have to settle for plain-white bezels around the screen.

The model Asus sent me to test is the CX3402CVA-I5128, which is an update to the CX34 line the company launched in late 2023. Prior models are still available, but this particular one upgrades the processor from a 12th-gen Intel Core i3 to a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU. It also adds a touchscreen, which was sadly lacking from previous models.

As you’d expect, the Core i5 processor in this Chromebook handles the Chrome operating system with ease. I didn’t notice any hiccups handling dozens of tabs and apps; however, I did encounter occasional lag when trying out some Android games, which could have more to do with how the games work with ChromeOS than the hardware in the CX34.

This model also comes with 8 GB of RAM, which is fine for most everyday tasks. However, the 128-GB flash storage will be stifling if you’re used to loading your drive with lots of photos and videos. There are other models available with 256 GB of storage, but this model with the upgraded processor and touchscreen isn’t one of them.

One major omission from this model is a backlit keyboard, which is disappointing if you want to use it in the dark. Older CX34 models came with a backlit keyboard, so, curiously, Asus opted not to ship one on this updated version.

The good news is that, despite the lack of a backlight, the keyboard is comfortable to use for long periods. It has a solid amount of travel and never feels onerous to type on. If I had to name one quibble, it’s the small size of the home-key ridges on the “F” and “J” keys, which make it a little harder to touch-type.

The trackpad is large and spacious, though the material it’s made of creates more drag on your finger than I’d like. I also encountered one bug with the trackpad during testing where it was unresponsive after waking the CX34 from sleep. This seemed to be a one-off and was remedied by a restart (a quick process for Chromebooks), but it’s worth noting.

For everyday work and web browsing, the touch display on the CX34 is fantastic. It’s a 14-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panel that looks crisp and cuts down on a decent amount of glare with a matte finish. It isn’t the brightest display out there though, and it can struggle when working outdoors on a sunny day.

While the 16:9 screen ratio is pretty standard for laptops, I would have liked to see Asus go for a slightly taller 16:10 display here. The increased vertical space on a 16:10 screen is great for the productivity work the CX34 is targeting. You can see this in action on competitors like Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714 .

Port selection on the CX34 is pretty good, with two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, an HDMI slot, and a standard headphone jack. The USB-C ports can charge the laptop with the surprisingly compact 45-watt charger Asus includes in the box, but they can also be used for DisplayPort over USB-C connections to external monitors.

The webcam is another bright spot here, giving you a 1,080p shooter that looks crisp on video calls in good lighting. It can’t compete with the best laptops on low-light performance, but it’s perfectly usable. There’s also a handy switch for the webcam cover right next to it above the display, letting you block it in a snap.

Overall, the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is another example of a solid Chromebook Plus. At $499, it has a lot of competition from others in the space, but it’s the most attractive example by far thanks to its sharp white exterior. As long as you can deal with the lack of a keyboard backlight and battery life that’s just okay (I saw between seven and eight hours on a charge), then you have a great little productivity machine.