OK, if I have a genre type, then a book about a Jamaican-British 25-year-old trying to find love and confidence in London is… not generally that type. But Queenie’s experience of being too exotic for London, and too modern for her first-generation Jamaican grandparents, had a very familiar immigrant culture clash feeling for me. The author was unsparing in showing how people throughout various levels of society worked to hypersexualize and objectify Queenie, and how hard it was for her to separate her expectations for herself from those extremely negative expectations and experiences. Two things kept the book from being completely disturbing and grim: Queenie’s internal narrative voice, which remained strong throughout; and Queenie’s friends, who were a constant delight; their group chat interludes were some of my favorite parts of the book. There is some super strong social commentary in the background of this book too; the news from America includes George Floyd and BLM, and the various reactions of the characters say so much.