Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams: Pulling back the red tape on race, womanhood and mental health.

With this heatwave melting the concrete, I have little energy to do anything other than lie on the sofa and wait for reprieve. In the meantime, I picked up a copy of the revered Queenie from the local library to pass the time.

I've heard a lot of good things about Queenie, Carty-William's first novel, but (with a heavy heart) I have to admit that the book didn't completely live up to my expectations. It was interesting, enjoyable and provoking...but, there was something missing that meant I couldn't fully commit to the novel. It may have something to do with Queenie's characterisation; sometimes I couldn't help but want to shake her...but maybe that was the point?

I am not in any way claiming that this book isn't well-written. In fact, Queenie tactfully negotiates comedy, race, womanhood and hybridity with ease and grace. This novel tackles huge themes from miscarriages to loss to relationships to racism. I am thankful that this novel exists and is bringing to the forefront coloured women's voices and experiences. However, there was this sense of distance; I wanted to be there for Queenie, but I couldn't because I was tearing my hair out at her carelessness and self-destructive behaviour. The entire point of the book is to destabilise the concept of strong black women, which I completely agree with, yet I couldn't help but be frustrated by her.

Another point is that Carthy-Williams uses stereotypes for her characterisation, considering this book is meant to be breaking down borders, the representation of Jews and Eastern Europeans is problematic, and British Asians wobbly, and Queenie's aversion to black men feeds a swooping generalisation of blackness being "bad". For these reasons, no this book is not doing enough for both coloured people and for representational literature. Not when you have books like

That being said, I really enjoyed the exploration of Queenie's female relationships, from platonic to familial, they all revealed the layers of experience that shape an individual's personality.

Queenie proves to be divisive. On one hand, it opens up a space to discuss black women's experiences that has been massively neglected, but this book is also conformist to racial stereotypes and therefore reinforces them.

Overall, for a fast-read, this book is excellent. It's hopeful and intresting, and I look forward to Carthy-Williams' next works.