Queenie is an eye-opener for white folk who don't know how young Black female lives are lived in London (Jamaicans in Brixton; Africans in Peckham) and particularly how Black women are often treated as sex objects by white men and their horribly casual racism and their absolutely overt racism. 

I thought there was just a little too much telling instead of showing (in the writing) especially in the early parts of the book, but Queenie's situation and her emotional courage and wavering determination are so compelling that I stopped noticing and gave myself to her story. The book is also very funny, especially in its depiction of Queenie's Jamaican grandparents and her loud aunt Maggie, and in the exchanges between her group of friends, especially between Queenie and Kyazike (Cheskay in case you wondering) and heart-warming in their support of their friend. In the end, I didn't want it to end.