Disposition
The August 2020, “Girly Book Club” choice is “My Sister the Serial Killer”. Again, a book I have not heard of. Granted, even though I have not been attending the sessions with the “Girly Book Club” members (too difficult during Covid); I am impressed with the books that are chosen. As I have said multiple times on this blog, I consider crime novels my “guilty pleasure” and could read this genre from now until forever, however I like to keep variety in my life; but whenever a crime books pops up on my reading list, I always get a little giddy.
Editorial
This is not your typical crime novel. It has very little to do with the actual murders, and more the circumstances around the murders, specifically the relationship between Ayoola (the beautiful yet maniacal serial killer) and Korede (her plain Jane bitter sister). The dynamic between the two sisters is a story that has been told many, many times. Yet, add in that one is a serial killer, it is based in Nigeria, and you get a very interesting story of culture, family ties, love, loss, and protection.
“It takes a whole lot longer to dispose of a body than to dispose of a soul, especially if you don’t want to leave any evidence of foul play.”
I didn’t find the murders entirely plausible, especially considering Ayoola was regularly linked directly with victims publicly, but that doesn’t really seem to come in to play. All that mattered was she was extremely beautiful, and used it to her full advantage (down to a tongue in cheek way that a beautiful woman could never kill a man). I think women everywhere can relate to her cause, and what drives her to murder (albeit irresponsible and unnecessary); being judged on beauty; fawned after for no reason other than to be an accessory to a man; never being seen as a real person, but rather an object to own. I can understand her plight, her frustration. It is extremely satirical because it takes the cultural inadequacies that revolve around beauty and answers it by turning it on its head and making the woman a sociopath. She’s beautiful enough to constantly attract men, yet kills them the moment she has proven to herself that they are all shallow. Throw that in with her endlessly accommodating sister Korede, a bit of humor and you are never really sure where the story is going.
“I was tempted to pray, to beg that no door be opened as we journeyed from door to lift [with the body], but I am fairly certain that those are exactly the types of prayers He doesn’t answer.”
To make everything more interesting Ayoola happens to meet the man that Korede has been secretly fawning after for years (think Sarah and Karl from “Love Actually”). Of course a love affair begins, and Korede now has to worry that her sister will kill her crush. Like I said, not all together plausible, but still interesting. One of my favorite things about this story, is the way it was written/laid out. Each chapter, is more like an extremely short story or glimpse into a certain event and/or experience. Some are only a few sentences, some a few pages. They flow, but are not entirely connected. It means the story is not tied down with a lot of unnecessary details, or paragraphs trying to tie everything together. It made it for a very quick read, I finished this in two days. With chapters titled “Bleach”; “Instagram”; “Mascara”; “Father”; you can see how the book always keeps you guessing as to where it will go.
I gave this five out of five stars on Goodreads. Granted writing this review a few months after I finished the book, I realize that I have forgotten a lot of the story, so it didn’t stick with me (which is normally what pushes me to award that fifth star). Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it.
Distant Bookends 