Reviews

I will say right away - I don't get why this book is so popular. It was an easy read for a weekend getaway and it was saved by a rather small twist but in my view the story was quite flat and not exciting at all. What I liked about it, was the memory passages which added some depth. I would have loved if the author took more from that and developed the sisters' relationships with each other, their parents and men.

zakcebulski's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Spoiler

Man, this book was fucking awesome.
I was immediately drawn to this book at the local used bookstore because of the cover art- I mean, holy hell what an amazing piece of art that perfectly fits this book.

The book follows two sisters- Korede- who is a nurse at a Lagos hospital and our narrator. Her younger sister is Ayoola who is described time and again as an almost ethereally beautiful woman, who has, for the third time in a row- killed her boyfriend in what she says is self defense.
Korede helps her sister to dispose of the bodies each time in an effort to protect her younger and much more sought after sister.

Things start to become more and more complex for Korede when a doctor- Tade- who she is greatly attracted to falls in to Ayoola's spider like web. It is now that Korede must deal with conflicts of her actions, or, inactions, directly affecting her.
I thought that this set up was immediately enticing, and was totally interesting because of the layers of complexity that exist therein.

This book is a very quick read but one that packs a lot of intrigue into its pages.
I have to commend Braithewaite here because it is clear that she has a background in the study of serial killers and/ or sociopathy. There are so many instances when the complete apathetic outlook of Ayoola is directly reminiscent of real life reactions- or lack thereof of serial killers in real like- where they can not comprehend the negative feeling that their actions have on others. Because, to them, there is no other- the world revolves around them, and why wouldn't it?
Constantly throughout this book Ayoola is put upon a pedestal of favor to the point where her actions and her life are the same- why would she worry when she has never had to in the past?

I thought that this was a really interesting exploration of the idea of favoritism within a nuclear familial unit.
It is also an interesting observation to see how the trauma inflicted upon a youth can manifest and metathesize into a truly dangerous entity later in life. Inserted into chapters throughout this book there are a few chapters of the treatment put on the sisters by their abusive father. It is interesting to read a big part of why Ayoola acts like she does in such a remorseless care-to-the-wind sort of way. It is evident that Ayoola is killing these men as a stand in for her father, since she cannot kill him, she will kill the next best thing- so to speak.

In these sections we also see that Korede was always the caregiver/ taker to a fault where she eventually becomes a nurse to help people, at the expense of her own agency.
I thought that it was interesting to read this book with the idea of Korede being just as bad as Ayoola because of the fact that she constantly wants to ignore the fact that her sister is a serial killer.

I do wish that characters like Tade and the mother were shaded in a little bit more. I felt like Tade was a little bit too much of a punch drunk love type of character who acted rather inconsistently throughout the book. The fact that he is Korede's love interest was pretty unbelievable to me because the dude was an asshole throughout.

I do wonder how much of the real societal value of physical appearance played a part in this book's writing? I do not know a great deal about society in Nigeria, but, it is interesting to see the value placed on physical appearance. Are the stereotypical "good looking" more apt to be given more as is the case in the US?
It is interesting.
I look forward to reading more by this author.
We are lucky to live in a time when Oyinkan Braithewaite writes books.

lawinbehold's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

maryannl's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

chaosofcold's review against another edition

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4.0

Interesting concept, the flow is well paced and the dialogue more realistic than most books of a similar bent.

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