Source: Hulu / hulu
I added Queenie to my TBR list when the protagonist’s box braids began peeking at me from the fiery orange cover. That bun called out to me. I needed to know the story behind that image. I discovered a necessary read and nuanced heap of hot mess.
The award-winning novel from Candiace Carty-Williams took Black and mainstream literary spaces by storm with its tale of a British-Caribbean twenty-something who couldn’t get out of her own way.
As I flipped the pages, I pictured a heroine who might make a few missteps but ultimately would make me want to follow her journey off the page. I just knew I would love falling into her world.
Strong Reaction to Queenie
Source: Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye / Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye
The Queenie character can be so undisciplined, inconsiderate, and self-pitying, that she triggers the hell out of me and my mommy issues.
Queenie represented every flakey acquaintance I hadn’t realized couldn’t be a loyal friend. She had the energy of every “lemme hold something until I get paid next week” play cousin I had blocked in my twenties. It frustrated me that she openly resented her family while relying on them for things like free storage.
My anxious attachment style couldn’t take her. Sis had me ready to jump through the book’s spine and tell her to stand up!
The Black Bridget Jones(?)
I thought I was the only one who felt this way until HULU announced that they were making a series based on the book. People shared how Queenie annoyed them, and I slipped right into their amen chorus until they said the book was not well-written.
A small but vocal segment of my timeline was heated, claiming that the book was bad. They argued other stories were more worthy of being amplified. I couldn’t agree with that. Their chief critique was the fact that they disliked the character, but that doesn’t make a book bad. It makes it more interesting.
The book was presented to the world as a play on the Bridget Jones effect, and as someone who yelled at the screen during that movie and the sequel, I could see why immediately.
But Queenie was better than the awkward blonde with bad taste in men. Her world was sharper and more specific. The layers went deeper. They deserved to be explored as much as the work of other Black authors.
The Right To Act Bad
Source: Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye / Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye
Queenie’s behavior may have enraged me with her purposeless antics, but William’s writing was good. There was nothing stilted or vague about it. The scenes were crafted to highlight the sympathy in the cringeworthy. Carty-Williams took the readers inside her characters’ minds. She flashed a light on the near confessions and unexpected confrontations that punctuate the worst moments our lives.
It was a testament to the creator’s talent that Queenie had the ability to make me so mad in the first place. I felt protective over the author and her creation instinctively.
I had never set foot in the UK, but I knew this person’s heart because of how great the writing was. Her authenticity rang true in every word, even the painful ones.
I didn’t need to like Queenie to appreciate her story. I gained something from it either way. Everyone handles trauma differently, and it is important that we are exposed to a variety of Black experiences in the media.
Queenie was not aspirational, but she was real. Her world was finely drawn, and her quirks were tactile.
Flaws and All
Source: Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye / Lionsgate/Latoya Okuneye
The book was not bad because of Queenie’s flaws. It was better for them. Not every Black female character has to be likable and endearing. I’m happy that Queenie is coming to streaming. People need to hear her perspective, even if I’m not inclined to root for her.
As clips from Girl Interrupted take over my for you page on a daily basis, I’m reminded that we do not have enough images of Black women learning to care for themselves.
Queenie deserves as much space as Hannah Horvath, Bridget Jones, Issa Dee, and the other charming, clumsy women who have stumbled out of the small screen and into our minds and hearts with their deeply rooted insecurities and sexual improprieties.
Would I go to brunch with Queenie? Hell no.
But best believe I will be tuning in for her shenanigans. You should, too. She deserves to be seen.
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