My Sister The Serial Killer – Book Review

Hello all! Recently, I became a member of Scribd where I can access an unlimited amount of books on my iPad!!! Does anyone use Scribd? Anyway, I came across My Sister The Serial Killer, the debut book of Oyinkan Braithwaithe and since I have this book in my want to read book list, I decided to read this. And now here I am, sharing my thoughts with you!

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…

• Print Length: 242 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Books (January 3, 2019)
• Publication Date: January 3, 2019
• Genre: Humor/Thriller/Women Fiction

OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo, a Nigerian publishing house, and has been freelancing as a writer and editor since. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

This book as I said earlier had been in my Want to Read Book List for some time, as I have read some praising comments about the book so I got this book.

This is the story about two sister, Korede and Ayoola, a middle class family living in Lagos, Nigeria. Korede is a serious nurse, dedicated to working in the hospital while Ayoola is an upcoming fashion designer and is the beautiful one of the sisters. Ayoola has strings of boyfriends, who falls under her charm and beauty. But the problem is, Ayoola cannot maintain a serious relationship–at the beginning of the story, we find that she has killed three boyfriends thus the name My Sister, The Serial Killer. Meanwhile, Korede is secretly in love with the doctor, Tade who works in the same hospital but when Ayoola comes to the hospital one day to have lunch with Korede, Tade falls in love with her…and so the story goes.

Now as usual, let’s start with the ones I like about the book.

• The book was only 220 pages long and the chapters were not too long–they were short. So it was actually quick to read. I finished this book in a day.
• I like learning a bit about the Nigerian culture as the author has outlined some details of culture of Nigeria in the book.
• I like how the author has outlined the relationship between Korede and Ayoola. Despite the fact that Korede cannot actually stand her sister Ayoola (who finds everything funny) and sometimes feeling envious and jealous towards her sister, Korede would do anything to help her sister to get out of the mess, even if her sister had committed a crime.
• The book had some sense of dark humor in it and is told from the perspective of Korede.
• I like how the author labeled Korede as someone who wants everything clean and tidy which is why she was perfect for when Ayoola commits a murder.

Now the things I didn’t like about the book.

• Except for the characters of Korede and Ayoola (though at times I couldn’t stand both of them), I never favored Tade, the apparently kind and nice doctor working in the same hospital as Korede. To me, he sounds naive and inconsiderate.
• I know that the girls’ father’s murder might probably might have triggered Ayoola into committing murder but I wish I know the actual reason and the background why Ayoola, who is charming, funny and perky kills her boyfriend by the end

Overall, this is a good book to read with a sense of humor in it. Worth four stars in my opinion!