Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer is a fun book about a young woman, the dependable Korede and her younger sister, Ayoola, who murders people. This novel has both good and bad in it.
The novel starts off when Korede is cleaning up another murder her sister has done. The young man who was murdered, Ayoola, claims to have killed in self-defense. Throughout this novel this goes back and forth, with Korede continually cleaning up after her sister, and everyone else stating how beautiful and perfect Ayoola is, even Korede.
I liked this book, but I wanted to like it more than I did. There were moments when the story was stagnant and the pacing was slow. For a book about a homicidal maniac, there was not enough murder. Korede is a young woman who has taken on the life of her sister. She keeps the guilt for herself, feeling guilty and continually seeing and stalking the young man killed at the beginning of the book. She is the one worried about getting caught, while Ayoola continues to do as she does, going out with whoever she chooses, doing as she pleases, thinking that nothing is wrong. Their mother even thinks that all of the issues are with Korede, not Ayoola. In fact everyone seems to think that all of the problems are Korede's not her murderous sister.
This is where I didn't like the book. I think that Ayoola was given too much credit, and I didn't enjoy reading Korede be so down on herself and her looks all of the time. She, in her own right, was beautiful, even as described by the author. I eventually got a little bored by her covering and discussions of Ayoola's beauty and flaws. I wanted more. I wanted more death, and really a reason to care for the characters, which is something that was missing. Even that main love interest, Tade, became a dud.
I was not happy with the ending, but I will say it was fitting for the tone and plot of the book, it also was not a surprise. The most interesting aspects of this novel was the setting, as it was not set in a familiar place. Not only that it was not set in a country that a lot of novels have been set in, being in Nigeria. I enjoyed the setting, the things I had to look up because I had no idea what they were, and the culture that came about. So for that reason I gave this book three stars.
I can't say either way if you should or should not read this novel, but I can say it will likely be like nothing you have read before. It might also be something that someone else might get more out of than me.
The novel starts off when Korede is cleaning up another murder her sister has done. The young man who was murdered, Ayoola, claims to have killed in self-defense. Throughout this novel this goes back and forth, with Korede continually cleaning up after her sister, and everyone else stating how beautiful and perfect Ayoola is, even Korede.
I liked this book, but I wanted to like it more than I did. There were moments when the story was stagnant and the pacing was slow. For a book about a homicidal maniac, there was not enough murder. Korede is a young woman who has taken on the life of her sister. She keeps the guilt for herself, feeling guilty and continually seeing and stalking the young man killed at the beginning of the book. She is the one worried about getting caught, while Ayoola continues to do as she does, going out with whoever she chooses, doing as she pleases, thinking that nothing is wrong. Their mother even thinks that all of the issues are with Korede, not Ayoola. In fact everyone seems to think that all of the problems are Korede's not her murderous sister.
This is where I didn't like the book. I think that Ayoola was given too much credit, and I didn't enjoy reading Korede be so down on herself and her looks all of the time. She, in her own right, was beautiful, even as described by the author. I eventually got a little bored by her covering and discussions of Ayoola's beauty and flaws. I wanted more. I wanted more death, and really a reason to care for the characters, which is something that was missing. Even that main love interest, Tade, became a dud.
I was not happy with the ending, but I will say it was fitting for the tone and plot of the book, it also was not a surprise. The most interesting aspects of this novel was the setting, as it was not set in a familiar place. Not only that it was not set in a country that a lot of novels have been set in, being in Nigeria. I enjoyed the setting, the things I had to look up because I had no idea what they were, and the culture that came about. So for that reason I gave this book three stars.
I can't say either way if you should or should not read this novel, but I can say it will likely be like nothing you have read before. It might also be something that someone else might get more out of than me.
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