Queenie

Pitched as a cross between Americanah and Bridget Jones's Diary. It's been quite a long time since I read BJD, but I watched the movie over and over (and over) in college - when I couldn't sleep, it's what I'd put on because I knew it well enough that I didn't have to watch it, could just listen with my eyes closed and inevitably would wake up in the morning with the gentle DVD music playing in the background.

Which is to say, I get why publishing houses pitch books the way they do, but I don't think BJD is an apt comparison, and it took a bit for me to figure out why. Bridget seems to make poor decisions, which is also true of Queenie. But I don't get the sense that Bridget uses those poor choices as a means of trying to self-destruct.

I don't normally do summaries of books when I review, but I think this is an important addition to the blurb: it says a messy breakup (“we were on a break!!!”) causes a bit of a spiral for Queenie, but (not a spoiler, this is mentioned right at the beginning) a lot of this book hinges on a miscarriage, though Queenie didn't realize she was pregnant until after she'd lost both the baby and the relationship. I can't say I was thrilled about this being a plot point, especially since none of the reviews I'd seen beforehand mentioned it, but so much of Queenie's later behavior makes way more sense to me in the context of grieving.

So yes, Queenie makes awful decisions that are a detriment to her health, her body, her self-worth, her job. But does any of it surprise me when it comes down to it? No. In the first few weeks after we lost Nora, I remember telling Matt that I wished I had more self-destructive tendencies, because all I wanted was to feel that pain on the outside and not just the inside. This book is self-destruction actualized. I can't fault her that. She gets help, eventually, thankfully.

I personally think that all these aspects of grief are the primary factor in this book, tbh, and no one else seems to have made it a big priority in their reviews. But that's all I have to add to the conversation about this book.