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Queenie

Written by: Candice Carty-Williams
Narrated by: Shvorne Marks
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Publisher's Summary

One of Time’s 100 Best Books of the Year 

One of NPR’s Best Books of 2019 

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by Woman’s Day, Newsday, Publishers Weekly, Bustle, and Book Riot! 

“[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking.” (Jojo Moyes, number one New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You

For fans of Luster and I May Destroy You, a disarmingly honest, unapologetically Black, and undeniably witty debut novel that will speak to those who have 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 breakup from her White long-term 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.

©2019 Candice Carty-Williams (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about Queenie

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Magnificent novel.

Best book I’ve read and listened to in ages—which is saying something as I’m a literature phd student. Both beautifully written and Incredibly performed—Carty-Williams’ characters come powerfully alive through Marks’ phenomenal voice and virtuoso reading. Each character and their accent more memorable than the last. The sound effects were also hugely welcome. The story lends itself naturally from struggle to joy to sadness and back again and moved me from laughter to tears with ease. Highly recommended to all. An especially relevant read for our current, troubled times. Queenie offers a profound and important examination of sexism and racism (among others) at the same time that it provides a unique experience, perspective, and journey of how to find a way to live and love (ourselves and others) again in the face of struggle and such ignorance and hate. I fell in love with each highly believable character, but most especially Queenie. I’ll be reading—and listening—to this book again and again.

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AMAZING

This is an amazing and hilarious story of resiliency and mental health. I laughed, I cried, and I truly connected with Queenie. a true depiction of trauma and healing in the Black community.

The narrator was fantastic!

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10/10 would recommend

This was so entertaining I think I’ll listen again (which I’ve never done with audiobooks). The voice/performance was AMAZING and combined with the writing had me in stitches. Telling all my friends to go listen!

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hard to be sympathetic, couldn't finish

Neurotic (and obtuse?) young woman fails at relationships, casual sex, friendship, and work. Unbelievable (to me at least) how she is unable to fend off even the meanest unwanted advance. Found it difficult to be even slightly sympathetic to Queenie's self-generated problems even in a systemically racist environment. Good narrator

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Good!

Good coming into yourself story. Queenie's battle with life's issues, men, and mental health is an adventurous story. She touches on the black struggles and allows the reader to see through the eyes of a black woman. overall a good listen

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relatable stories are important

I really loved this book. Candice Carty-Williams wrote such a relatable story about being a first-born immigrant from the Caribbean and navigating your parents' customs with the new world you're growing up in. I saw so much of myself in the main character and hope that any young black person who has struggled with the same themes can also see themselves. Shvrone Marks's narration is perfect in relating to Queenie and the other characters. You feel like it's your family, your friend, your experience. I initially borrowed it from my library, but I ended up buying it because I had to own it.

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Amazing book

Great performance with the accents. As a North American I enjoyed them the most. Much respect for the Caribbean diaspora.

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Amazing performance! Great book

Really relatable. Especially for children who were raised by Jamaican parents/grandparents. Women of all ages should read this and pass it down to their daughters. it could really open up some important discussions.

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Brilliant!

I thoroughly enjoyed it! As much as I felt Queenie had a highly dysfunctional relationship with the men in her life and a disappointment dynamic with her friends. I did relate to the ‘drama’ of Queenie’s young life. Her bad decisions and anxieties and poor prioritisation skills were familiar to me as a young woman who’s friends with young women. The way mental health is addressed in a serious but totally unimportant way felt do normal. Queenie’s story felt like like and I loved it

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loved it

absolutely incredible!! everything about this book is flawless. 10 / 10 !! !

big love!!!!

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  • LATOYA LEWIS
  • 2019-05-20

The Black Womans Burden

Whew Chile......this book was a breath of fresh air. As though being black wasn't enough but being a black jamaican coconut (black shell but white inside) living in London was the topping on the cake. Talking about the taboo of therapy in the black community and how being strong is holding in feelings and keep going. Queenie's life echoes so many black women. Her trauma growing up, her relationship with her mother and grandparents was spot on. Her support system, friends, and coworkers. Her not knowing her worth or not seeing her beauty and settling for ain't shit men, white men because she didn't think she was beautiful enough for a brother to love her. Queenie slept with different men after a miscarriage and a breakup with her boyfriend if 3 years. Racism was visited along with sexual harassment, and sexism.Through therapy she was able to free herself from generational black women issues. Chessca, Darcy, and Cassandra were her real friends, I love their love for her. Friends holding one another accountable and having each other's back. This book is highly recommended for all women of color. #mentalhealthawareness #book24of2019 #bookworm #whatsnext

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59 people found this helpful

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  • Susan
  • 2019-03-21

Growing up for Grownups

I chose the all star rating because narration, plot, the unfolding of the story, with character development, all flavored with amazing humor, pathos, and the blossoming of the characters, presented in a bird’s eye view of the story, blended together to create an outstanding novel. The theme of interracial relationships between black and white delved into fear, power, and differences between outward appearances of both racial groups. It dismissed stereotypes of racial sexuality. It displayed the folly of misconceptions that humans base relationships on, with a delightful description of the beauty inherent in all humans. PLEASE read it to discover life. Would be a great book for high school students with the psychologies presented regarding motives for sexual activities.

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  • Susan 🎧Audible-a-holic🎧 Crowe
  • 2019-04-05

Don't touch her hair !!!!

Where do i begin with this one?
Queenie, Queenie, Queenie. She sort of reminded me of myself when i was younger. Not the promiscuous parts but the "not having your shit together parts".
I LOLed several times. I enjoyed this audiobook. There were a few shock factor moments but all in all it was a good book. Don't listen with children around though. I was listening while in a fast food drive thru with my window down and had to turn it off until i was able to close my window back.
Reminded me of a Jamaican Bridgette Jones maybe?
The narrator was perfect.
I do recommend it for a little mindless chic-lit.

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  • S WARD
  • 2020-04-29

No

I hated this novel. Boring and painful. Queenie had some serious issues. I only finished it because I can't start something and not finish it.

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  • Chronicallymoni
  • 2019-03-22

Great Read

I thoroughly enjoyed listening. The story is very relatable. I have been Queenie. Totally recommend this book !

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  • ROXY
  • 2020-03-07

good performance

this book was more like reality TV then a novel, it was a realism to it I wasn't ready for. Queenie really emotionally drained me because she outlined a real person

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  • Lonnie Butler
  • 2019-12-12

awful

struggled to listen. storylines was confusing . hard to understand. could have been way better

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  • Camille
  • 2019-09-20

Best Book I Have Listened to/Read This Year!

This is a real, get your life together in your mid-twenties, kind of story. The main character is frustrating and makes some poor choices but you never stop rooting for her. This is an awesome book for women in college, those in their own quarter-life crisis, or women who have already lived through it.

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  • jeannetteW
  • 2019-04-30

Makes me sad for millennials

I'll start by saying that I'm not a millennial. I'm Gen X. I just don't think I can even finish this book. The narrator does a great job and her voice is the only reason I've listened to as much as I have. I've read elsewhere that this book was highly anticipated and that all millennials will have experienced the same issues that Queenie is going through. I'm sorry, but back in my day this girl would be described as a slut. I cannot relate to her and the choices she makes at all. She has sex with men who care nothing for her and are actually abusive. When her doctor tries to refer her to crisis counseling, because it looks like she's been brutally raped, Queenie can't understand what all the fuss is about because she let this guy do this to her. I don't know where the story is going, I assume she'll be diagnosed with AIDS, but I just can't get through it. If this is truly typical of the millennial experience then I am really sad for that generation.

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  • Blissfully Booked
  • 2019-03-25

I wanted to like it

I was underwhelmed with this story as it flitted about jumping from one issue to another. It had the potential but it never really grabbed me.

Queenie went through some hardships as a child, which made for a hot mess of a grown-up Queenie. She’s has low self worth and engages in some pretty risky encounters with white men after a breakup with Tom, her white boyfriend who thought nothing of his uncle using the N-word when referring to her.

Good for her for walking away.

What baffles me is - why would she take such a hard stance with Tom about racist comments and then go out to carry on with white men who objectify her and use her (horrifically) to satisfy their curiosity of being with a black woman.

And then there were the little detours into the realm of BLM. If you are going to take that on... commit to it. Give it the space that it deserves.

The story was just flat to me. It didn’t know what it wanted to be.

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