A review by everie
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A tense thriller centering a pair of sisters--one (Ayoola) who kills her boyfriends and one (Korede) who cleans up the other's messes, literally and figuratively.
The story does a great job letting the reader grow as frustrated as Korede is with Ayoola, showing her as flighty, thoughtless, the angel of everyone's world even as she's taking a knife to Korede's--and, uh, all those guys, too.
The story is short, but it balances insights on gender and class in Nigerian society with the stop-start panic of Korede's life, which is ruled first by her sister, then by societal expectations (or perhaps the reverse?). A great bitter narrator, a wonderfully realized cast of characters, even those that only show up for a few pages--but by the end,
Still fantastic writing. Author to look out for in the future.
Spoiler
for reasons that remain unexplained :)The story does a great job letting the reader grow as frustrated as Korede is with Ayoola, showing her as flighty, thoughtless, the angel of everyone's world even as she's taking a knife to Korede's--and, uh, all those guys, too.
The story is short, but it balances insights on gender and class in Nigerian society with the stop-start panic of Korede's life, which is ruled first by her sister, then by societal expectations (or perhaps the reverse?). A great bitter narrator, a wonderfully realized cast of characters, even those that only show up for a few pages--but by the end,
Spoiler
the devolution of the main character, who seemed to be at the cusp of freeing herself, was a little disappointing. Not because she regressed to the way she was at the start, but because it feels like this situation can only last so much longer before it boils over again. I mean, Ayoola will kill again. She's terrible at hiding her tracks. We still don't know why she does what she does. Maybe she doesn't need a reason, but it feels incompleteStill fantastic writing. Author to look out for in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Child abuse