My Sister, the Serial Killer - Review

Synopsis

My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water...

When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...

Review

Before you go any further with reading this, and other reviews, I would definitely advise that you are better of reading this book blind. However, a quick trigger warning there swearing and does allude to sex and rape of underaged girls which some people may find disturbing. That being said, read the reviews afterwards, as I found that many portrayed the entire book in a very different light.

This is the first book I have read without the main characters being of a western origin and a western setting, or any western undertones for that matter (this is more found in fantasy books, where characters often carry western characteristics despite originating from a fantasy world). It proved to be a brilliant introduction to Nigerian culture.

This book beautiful demonstrates the corruption within the country, and is very insightful on the struggles the people living there have to face. I found this particularly interesting, as much of this is unknown to people living outside of Nigeria, such as the chieftains power and views over young girls.

The overall plot of the story was excellent, and really gets you thinking how far would you go to protect your family? As someone who has a younger sister, who is very hot headed and often leads with her emotions (she has never murdered or maimed anyone), I found the story very relatable. Looking after and protecting your little sister whilst also living in her shadow, is also something I found that I could greatly relate to.

I listened to the audiobook and it was fantastic. I would highly recommend reading it like this or reading along with the book so that you can get the full impact, especially if you are not overly familiar with the Nigerian accent. Some names may also be hard to pronounce and the narration also gives a real feel for African culture, as it is narrated by Weruche Opia a British-Nigerian woman.

I did have some issues with some of the characters. Tade particularly annoyed me as I found him very contradicting. He would often say to Korede that she should be looking after her sister and when she does insults her for it. He was also very narrow minded when it comes to Ayoola and belittling towards Korede. I believe this was Braithwaite's intention however, Tade supposed to be portrayed as the good guy but then you grow to learn his true nature. She did an excellent job at manipulating and changing my view of him.

I spent the duration of this book trying to decide what side I was on, and who i was routing for, as well as wondering what I would do in this situation, and how far I would go to protect my sister. I'm still not entirely sure the answer to this.

To summarise I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the dark nature of the story, however I did not find it as humorous as I thought I would.

My Ratings out of 10:

• Quality of writing - 8 - very engaging especially for a debut novel. Not overly complex

• Pace - 9 - definitely didn’t drag, very quick with smooth transitions from the past to present without going into too much descriptive detail, which some novels tend to do.

• Plot Development - 9 - I can’t really fault it. You gain a tremendous amount of understanding about why everything is happening. However, I would’ve liked to have known a bit more about the previous murders and Ayoola’s developing reactions to them, as well as Korede's.

• Characters - 9

• Enjoyability - 8 - I did really enjoy this book. However, as said before I would’ve liked to have been told a bit more about the murders rather than the aftermath. Also, I didn’t find it as humorous as it was portrayed to be but it was definitely entertaining.

• Insightfulness - 10 - from a western perspective, especially one that has very little knowledge of African society, this was very insightful. It definitely opened me up to reading about different cultures, something I have been reluctant to do because I have always been of the opinion that I want to “relate” to the characters on every possible level. You gain further insight on:

- Corruption

- Chieftains

- How women are viewed in society, for example for their looks rather than personality

- Stations within families for example the older sister should look after little sister

- Job roles, such as their ranking and views which surprisingly I found to be very similar to the western world

• Ease of reading - 10 - the writing style and terminology wasn’t very complex which made it a nice and quick read

• Total Average Rating - 9

• Star Rating based on this - 4.5

• Personal Star Rating - 4