I posted four reviews yesterday but I also finished two books so I figure at this rate I’ll be wrapping up my backlog around 2021…
Queenie! Another good one. This is the book that everyone has been comparing to Bridget Jones Diary, until they actually read it. The main characters are single women in Britain, but that’s about where the similarities end. The big difference is that Queenie is so much more complex and developed than Bridget Jones (no offense, Bridget — I do love you). Unlike your typical rom-com heroine whose worst feature is that she spills her coffee a lot or talks too much, Queenie makes actual mistakes with real consequences in this book.
After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend, Queenie decides to explore herself … and some questionable men. This entire book is about answering the questions we all have, like “what on Earth are you doing with your life?” Sometimes the journey to answer that question can be rocky, or downright dangerous. This book examines a lot of issues involving sexuality, and doesn’t hold back in doing so. Queenie tries to fill a void she fills inside by hooking up with men who treat her badly. We see the consequences of her actions, but we don’t judge her because we know how she got there. And how can you not connect with thoughts like, “Turns out the sadness that silence from the person you love brings can be temporarily erased by the dull thrill of attention from strangers.” I mean — that explains a good six months of MY life.
This book loud and graphic and unapologetic, which I’m sure turned a lot of people off. Some of the reviews on Goodreads complained about the graphic sexuality (which kind of makes sense, you don’t expect lines about maintaining eye contact during a blow job in a book that’s “just like Bridget Jones!”). But life is messy. People are messy. And books that really examine what it’s like to be a human ought to be a little discomforting.