Read this book because it is a bombshell of a love story between siblings and because it is a testament to the power of the absurd showing truth is sometimes hard to define. Through biting humor and irony, this book is laser focused and brought me back again and again to three questions: Who values a woman? Why? And is infatuation because of beauty in any way affection a woman wants? It is an exploration of sisters and a harsh commentary on the male gaze that strains their bond from the moment the first man calls one more beautiful than the other. Even when these sisters seem most at odds, their unity is unbreakable and the reader is left wondering if any of the men Ayoola killed deserved what they got as much as they’re left cheering for her.īraithwaite’s brilliant book is not a murder mystery. In truth, one sister tries to show they are being suffocated by men while the other fights to prove her wrong. The simplicity of this description belies the complexity of the deeper narrative. What drew me to these women was that even though they were presented as dichotomies the reality was they were two sides of the same coin, bound together and dependent on one another in a way I’ve never seen: one sister kills and the other erases her crimes. Korede is a hard-working nurse with a steady salary and Ayoola is a sometimes fashion designer with no means of supporting herself.
The narrator, Korede, describes their differences in relation to their appearance saying Ayoola is “made wholly of curves while I (Korede) am composed only of hard edges.” Braithwaite makes it clear this juxtaposition goes well beyond the physical. They survived a brutal childhood and emerged as adults depicted as apparent opposites. Clocking in at a slim 240 pages I flew through this book – could not put it down or stop thinking about it.īraithwaite’s story focuses on Ayoola and Korede, sisters who live in Lagos, Nigeria.
The New York Times called it ‘pulpy, peppery and sinister… a scorpion tailed little thriller.’ Publisher’s Weekly called it a ‘blazing debut as sharp as a knife,’ and once I started reading I understood all that praise. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s breathtaking novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer was published last November (Doubleday, 2018) and while the title caught my attention I picked it up because again and again I heard someone call it their favorite book of the year.
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