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Jul 2023
9:55pm, 27 Jul 2023
13,702 posts
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Little Nemo
Queenie the lost circus dog sounds like a brilliant read! I might go rogue and read that instead 
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Jul 2023
11:59am, 30 Jul 2023
28,929 posts
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Serendippily
As i said on main thread: this doesnt pull its punches. Some of plotlines are sketchy - so i thought it had rough edges. But i did not feel any of the writing was to shoehorn in a point and Queenie came to life to me. I raced through it, surprised. Annoyed to see it passed off as chicklit and hope others also enjoy it.
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Jul 2023
6:25pm, 30 Jul 2023
28,931 posts
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Serendippily
(I had no problem with how it got messy and distressing, but Guy and Cassandra seemed contrived)
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Aug 2023
10:27pm, 2 Aug 2023
43,229 posts
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Night-owl
I've finished
Now to review which scares me I seem to be the first after Dipps
Thanks Dipps first of all I've been in a reading slump for a good 18 months or so
Read it in a few days not exactly whizzed through it like running 100metres.
I did like it. Wouldn't of picked it myself not my usual genre.
I did warm to Queenie and her corgis. But wanting to give her a good talking to about her life choices
But wanting to hug her too even though she wouldn't like it.
She definitely deserved better and not the number of jerks she encountered.
Glad Cassandra saw the light and saw what her fella was really like
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Aug 2023
4:10pm, 7 Aug 2023
7,587 posts
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westmoors
Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks Dipps for choosing.
Queenie's self destruction due to not 'fitting in' was so real. I could so easily have been that person but for very different reasons and because of that I'm finding this really difficult to review.
Gave it a 9.
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Aug 2023
9:37am, 10 Aug 2023
53,062 posts
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McGoohan
I had a bit of a rollercoaster with this book. It started off hilariously funny with that gynaecological visit and I thought it would be more in the same vein. It didn’t take long though before a darker side started to come in.
I was very disturbed when Guy was introduced. Queenie’s encounters with him are close to sexual assault. Candice C-W does make it clear that the sex is consensual but… it still felt like a kind of grey-area, half-hearted consent. The sections with him were very creepy indeed.
I almost didn’t continue when I realised that Guy was going to turn out to be Cassandra’s mystery boyfriend that we conveniently never meet. I’d clicked quite early on that ‘Guy’ was a very useful name when you want to pull this trick. 'I must get back to my guy'. It was sooooooooooo contrived. I found Tweed Glasses Ted also a bit much in combination with the whole Guy-Cassandra thing too.
But… we do at least get the Guy-reveal halfway through and not at the end. And then I coasted to the end. In retrospect, I think it’s a very clever book. The main, front and centre plot is Queenie’s breakdown and subsequent recovery and seeing her grow as a person. I was very glad at the end she doesn’t need a man to prove her worth but that she is learning to like herself. In retrospect the whole ‘I’m standing by him you slut’ thing from Cassandra is sadly quite believable. There will be those who would stand by their man and blame completely the wrong person in this way.
However, the second (and yes, not all that subtle) thing going on is the ongoing reportage of what it is like to be a young black woman in Britain today. The everyday racism, the everyday sexism. Microaggressions, assumptions made about her. The men she hooks up with mostly see her as something to tick off on a kink checklist. But just going to work or getting on the bus involves people assuming things about her because she’s black.
Gina’s quite an intriguing illustration of this. She’s her hard-nosed boss and Queenie clearly needs pushing a bit but Gina’s often saying something like ‘you’re urban’ and making those same assumptions. Those microaggressions, that everyday racism can come from anyone, even allies.
You might think the book’s target audience might be young, black women who would read it and nod along, going ‘yeah, exactly that’. But I think by showing us all these tiny acts of racism, and of sexism, it is equally aimed at white women, at white men, at all men… at everyone really. I am the target audience.
I’ve scored it an 8/10. I’ll definitely read CCW’s next book. Thanks Dippers.
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Aug 2023
1:03pm, 10 Aug 2023
63,334 posts
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LindsD
So. I read this maybe two years ago. Not sure. Before I was recording books read here. I remember not that much about it but don't want to re-read. I do remember I liked it, but not unreservedly. So maybe a 4. Reading back now after this underwhelming review. Sorrynotsorry
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Aug 2023
1:08pm, 10 Aug 2023
63,335 posts
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LindsD
And... I agree with all of you
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Aug 2023
1:38pm, 10 Aug 2023
28,957 posts
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Serendippily
I agree McG, Queenie is a character on a journey, in the style of Emma and Bridget Jones. And like Emma, she also provides a social commentary along the way. But it still feels like a story first and foremost, and Queenie is a lively protagonist and no tragic Tess. And no more only for black women, than Rohinton Mistry was only for Indian men
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Aug 2023
1:46pm, 10 Aug 2023
80,711 posts
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Diogenes
Interesting reviews. Despite McG giving this a good score, his comments don’t make me inclined to read it.
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