My Sister, The Serial Killer

What would you do if your sister was murdering her boyfriends? That’s the premise of Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel. Centered on two sisters, Korede and Ayoola, it’s a darkly comic tale that you won’t be able to put down. Korede, the older sister, is a nurse (and our narrator); her younger, beautiful sister Ayoola murders her third boyfriend at the start of the novel.

But this isn’t a crime novel, in the traditional sense. Braithwaite explains “It wasn’t important to me to explore the murders, or to explore the victims, so much as it was to explore this dynamic between the two sisters.” And this book is, truly, a story of sisterhood. What would you do for your sister?

“I’m not sure if I think there’s something inherently feminist about a female serial killer,” Braithwaite tells Vulture, “but I do believe strongly in a woman’s ability to do whatever it is she sets her mind to, and the characters in the book are strong women, maybe stronger even than the men.” I definitely didn’t think as I read, “how cool she’s murdering men!!” but there is something feminist about the story. Why can’t women have the same dark motives that men have had in in literature for centuries?

The story itself is super well-told, narrated by Korede, who feels haunted about helping her sister clean up bodies but will always be there for her. As The NYT Book Review writes, “There’s a seditious pleasure in its momentum. At a time when there are such wholesome and dull claims on fiction — on its duty to ennoble or train us in empathy — there’s a relief in encountering a novel faithful to art’s first imperative: to catch and keep our attention.”

It’s worth your time & attention.

Rating: ★★★★★

Get it here: https://amzn.to/2DGqnXm