My Sister, the Serial Killer: A Novel

This novel wasn’t what I expected it to be. “My Sister, the Serial Killer” reads like a novel in verse, with short chapters focused on central themes and loosely on a forward trajectory. And while I can’t say I found this novel to be blackly comic, this story did have me feeling a lot of things. On the surface, this is the story of an older “ugly duckling” sister who was always expected to take care of and protect her gorgeous baby sister. At first, from an abusive father, then it became protecting her sister from the consequences of her actions as she cleans up the crimes her sister commits. Korede is always more haunted by what her sister does than Ayoola seems to be, though Ayoola is far better at spotting terrible men and using them for all their financial worth. And all the while, there is a delicious undercurrent of tension and rage building throughout the novel that had me, despite it not being the story I thought it would be, loving it come the end. Not only is the writing and organization of this story lovely—you can definitely tell a poet wrote this book—but I love the way the author builds a slow, simmering rage for Korede and aimed at the people around her, and even herself at times, that boils over come the end of the book. The story makes you question blind loyalty, the things we see on social media, perception, love, and even (or, especially) beauty. Korede is a jealous enabler, and Ayoola is completely self-absorbed; they are both severely flawed and yet Korede always shows up for her sister, at the detriment of her own individuality and happiness. The author does a great job at balancing sympathy and frustration for these sisters to where, even though it’s supposed to be satirical (I guess?) both characters feel very real. While this book didn’t deliver on the things I expected—I was thinking Ayoola would be a traditional serial killer and Korede would fear her and there’d be some mystery/thriller aspects—it left me thinking about this book for days after finishing. “My Sister, the Serial Killer” will leave you wondering about what really happened to these sisters to where this is how they ended up, why Korede would suffer to be her sister’s keeper for the rest of her days, and who’s version of what happened to all these men is real. And while the story itself is fine, what really stole the show for me was Korede’s stoic inner thoughts and the verse like writing, which is why I’m giving this 5 stars. A stunning debut!

For my fourth writing activity I have chosen to read and review "My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It is a dark comedy crime novel that takes place in Lagos, Nigeria. It is about a young Nigerian nurse named Korede who is close with her younger sister, Ayoola. Ayoola is the favorite child and described as remarkably beautiful by others compared to her more plain sister. Ayoola is also a bit of a sociopath, because when the novel begins she has just stabbed another one of her boyfriends to death. This is the third time Ayoola has killed one of her boyfriends. Korede helps her sister to dispose of these killings and eventually her crush, the handsome doctor Kade starts to date Ayoola. So now she must choose between her family and the man she loves. I chose this book to review because I really like comedies, specifically dark comedies, so when this book was brought up at the beginning of the semester and I found out that we had to do a book review I instantly knew what I was going to review this novel. There are a couple of things that I found very interesting while reading it. The writing style of Braithwaite and the relationship between the sisters. First, I want to talk about the writing style of the author, Oyinkan Braithwaite. This book is a very quick read and the chapters are only a few pages long. While reading this book I found that there was very little to no dead space or filler in the chapters. Everything seemed very fast paced and concise. Take the second chapter of the novel for example. It is titled "The Notebook" and it is only two pages long (I read the book on my Kindle, so it may differ version to version). Heck it took me only an hour and forty two minutes for me to read. I was very confused by this because if I had one kind of gripe with this book it was that I wanted more. More insight into the internal monologue of other characters, specifically Ayoola. At first I thought this was done in contrast to other African stories I read where the writing is very detailed. For example on page fifteen there is the passage "I can smell him from ten feet away, and it is a rank, stale odor". There is no further description of the odor and the passage is just straight to the point. So, I did a bit of research and found out that the author did a lot of poetry before this book. This revolution helped explain her writing style of getting to the main story with little fluff. Poetry is typically short and gets to the main point fairly quickly. Finally, I would like to take a look at the relationship between Korede and Ayoola. Arguably the most important relationship in the whole book. Both siblings do love each other, but from what is presented on the page Korede is much more invested in the relationship. Korede tried to stop their abusive father from punishing Ayoola in the past and has quite literally helped Ayoola get away with murder on four occasions. Ayoola love is more shown with her trying to share her philosophy with Korede which she views as truth. But from what I read the relationship is pretty one sided. Korede is literally helping her sister get away with murder and she is repaying her by dating the guy she likes and getting ready to kill him. Their relationship makes me think back to "Nervous Conditions" and how the family in that didn't uplift each other and kind of brought each other down over competition. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to others especially those who like crime novels and have a bit of a dark sense of humor. It is a very quick read that is funny, psychologically thrilling and intense. If I had to score it I would give it a nine out of ten.

This was a quick read. And it isn't hard to keep your attention. How it was written did take a little adjusting to but it didn't make it difficult to read or anything like that. If anything the style it is written with tiny chapters gives almost a Journaling like feel from the MC. Especially since the entire book is from her POV. The tiny chapters will be found convenient if you are multi taking while you read or if you get called away from reading it gives easy, quick stopping points The story I found it interesting enough that it kept my attention and I soaked up the book fast. I did find that throughout it, it was predictable. The ending wasn't really how I expected it, but kt was generally a HEA. This story does deal with murder. Plenty of murder. However, take away, the bigger picture it is about friendship, and loyalty. My rating and why: Price point. I obviously paid for the book so I only hated it so much. However, it is the most I have ever paid for a digital copy of a book and is one of the smaller books I have read. So page per dollar cost I consider it high for what you are getting. Hindsight I likely would have gone paperback as it is cheaper. I purchased this to get the black history month book mark, and decided that I wanted to be something that intrigued me, so my read could be enjoyable. While yes it was short and predictable, I did enjoy it. Which if there was half stars I would give it a 3.5

Korede’s younger sister Ayoola really is a serial killer. She has a thing for murdering her boyfriends. Some of the scenes are downright comical. But this is not your typical murder mystery. No. There’s a lot more going on after scratching the surface of the patriarchal society where the two sisters live in Nigeria. Korede is a nurse. She is skilled at cleaning up the bloody crime scenes left by her beautiful sister Ayoola. Ayoola’s murder weapon is a knife that she stole from her father, a relevant fact when it’s revealed their father cheats on his wife, beats his daughters, and tries to pimp Ayoola out to a neighboring official. Since Korede is the narrator, Braithwaite makes us believe it is sister loyalty that keeps Korede from reporting her sister to the authorities. But an incident in grade school gives us the first hint that it’s more than sister loyalty that keeps Korede complicit in Ayoola’s murders. In grade school, the boys wrote lists of the girls who had a figure eight, like a Coca-Cola bottle--and those who had a figure one--like a stick, and post them. Korede told herself it didn't matter that they didn't want her. Presumably, she’s a figure one. She’s ready to protect Ayoola from the boys’ vicious taunts when she enters grade school, but Ayoola has a totally different experience. The boys go crazy for her. This is when Korede first learns men want women for their beauty and nothing else. Ayoola knows this, too, and it seems to be why she kills her boyfriends. Korede falls in love with a doctor at the hospital where she works, Tade, and carefully fosters the relationship. But Tade happens to get a look at Ayoola one day and forgets all about Korede. It seems this would be enough for Korede to turn on her sister. Regarding the relationship Korede carefully nurtured with Tade, “Ayoola had warned Korede. ‘He isn't deep. All he wants is a pretty face.’” (p. 166) The warning came early in the book when Ayoola mentions this quote and adds "That's all they ever want." (p. 33) This seems to be justification enough for killing her boyfriends. Braithwaite makes you wonder awhile whether Korede is angry at Ayoola for stealing the man she loves, or Tade for being so shallow that all he cares about is a pretty face. The answer is in this line of questioning. After Tade falls for Ayoola, Korede asks Tade: "Tade...what do you like about my sister?" "Everything." "But if you had to be specific." "Well...she is...she is really special." " "Okay...but what makes her special?" "She is just so...I mean, she is beautiful and perfect." Tade doesn't know anything about her. Only that she is beautiful. (p164). Braithwaite adds a wonderful twist to the story by having Korede confess to Muhtar, a man in a coma, that her sister is a serial killer. Korede tells Muhtar while he's still in a coma "It's because she's beautiful you know. That's all it is. They don't really care about the rest of it." The problem is Muhtar wakes up and remembers the confession and all of Korede’s stories. It looks like Ayoola will finally be caught. By the end, we see Korede is more than covering up for her sister. The two are a team. They’re out to take down a patriarchal society, one bad man at a time. My Sister the Serial Killer was a fast-paced, delicious read that uses a common trope to explore more nuanced issues like misogyny and life for women in patriarchal Nigeria.

I have to confess, when I first saw this book come out a few years ago, I was on the fence if I wanted to read it. I must have read the synopsis of another Sister book, there were a few that year, and added it to this cover on accident because not reading this book 2 years ago was a mistake. I'm giving this book 4 stars and here's why.... but before I go into what I liked about this book, let me quickly tell you what it's about. 2 sisters live in Nigeria. Korede is the older sister and Ayoola the youngest. The two girls come from a well to do family where the father has died years past and the girls and mother are trying to carry on. Korede is a soon to be Head Nurse at the local hospital and Ayoola is a fashion designer and Youtube influencer. It doesn't say their ages but I would guess that they are close in age maybe 2-3 years different and that in the present they are around 24 and 26/27. It says in the book that the father died 10 years ago and that right before he died he was trying to sell his daughter at 14 to a Chief of another village. It was a great business opportunity. In the present and where the story begins, Ayoola needs Korede to come quickly because she has killed another man. Korede has been cleaning up her sisters "messes" since she was 17. She fears this will be her new norm and Korede will forever be the one to clean up all the blood while her sister continues to be a serial killer. As the story unfolds you continue to flip flop on who the reliable source is. Is Ayoola a serial killer who has a thirst for murder or is she reliving her terrible childhood and has to kill to purge the pain. Is she a sociopath? Is Korede innocent in all of this? Why does she continue to help her sister? Is blood thicker than water? This story felt like a very modern re-telling of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. When family members know exactly what has happened during the "accident", but never spills the beans, but also is constantly wanting to. This story felt very real. There are the rare sisters that lose love for their siblings. But in most cases I think, sisters would do ANYTHING for one another. When Ayoola was first born Korede claimed her. "She is MINE!" Korede said. As they grew, Korede was her protector. Going so far as holding Ayoola's hand while she was being punished and hit. Korede or trying to shelter her from a pre-arranged "wedding" or possessing from a man Chief? So of course when Ayoola calls frantic about another murder...Korede is quick to help, begrudgingly even. It's like, "why do you always have to ruin my evening with your murders?" This story is so great because it gets it right. Korede love hates her sister and when push comes to shove....well she's family. Oyinkan did such a good job with making me HATE Ayoola. She's so arrogant and manipulative. She has no real empathy. She does what she wants without acknowledging the consequences. I was frustrated for Korede. I wanted to throttle Ayoola for the way she acted like a spoiled entitled brat. And the playing things off "what???" was so annoying. I could relate. I could feel my blood boiling. Like what if my sister acted the same way? I have two and they both can be very annoying. But I'm the older sister and so must protect them. I loved the short bursty chapters. Those are always great because it makes me feel tense like I'm watching an action film. What's going to happen next? It also gives me the feeling of reading the book quickly and everyone wants to read books quickly...unless you are a weirdo or a great fan of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King and want the story to go on as long as possible that you put the book down 200 pages before you reach the end of the 7th book and it's been two years since you last picked the book up. That kind of weirdo or great fan. Lastly, it was great to read a book outside of the United States. I got a feel or small peek of another culture. I loved reading Yoruba and Hausa I believe is what the languages were called. I have no idea how any of the words are pronounced, but I loved looking at new languages and trying to figure it out. If you like quick reads about a pretty apparent plot twist that has to do with serial killers and sisters definitely pick up this book. It was enjoyable.

“My Sister, The Serial Killer, is a chair gripping noire drama/comedy novel by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite. The story follows the lives of two sisters Ayoola and Korede, and takes place in Lagos, Nigeria. Ayoola a fashion designer, and Korede, a head nurse at a local hospital. Both sisters struggle with their love lives, however, Ayoola seems to have more luck in romantic affairs, while Korede has yet to experience one, but desires the experience. Ayoola’s romantic success is contributed to the fact that Ayoola is considered more beautiful within Nigerian society, while Korede is not as lucky in this area. Living with their mother, after “mourning” the death of their father, the women wrestle with the scars of toxic masculinity, as their father was rather abusive and left his family with many indignities. Throughout her life, Korede has learned that people are always rooting for Ayoola, but not many go out of their way for Korede, as she’s just not as pretty as her younger sister. Ayoola suffers from a deep issue, as every man she dates or is involved with ends up dead, and Korede is always dragged into her sister’s mess. Korede has always had to look out for Ayoola or clean up for Ayoola. Their relationship is profoundly challenged when the man Korede falls in love with develops a deep affection for Ayoola and begins to fall for her. This not only challenges Korede mentally, but it also challenges her emotionally, and becomes a source of deep-rooted jealousy. Korede is also forced to carry the mental guilt and burdens of all the murders her sister has committed, as she’s had to help clean up. It eats up at her, as she doesn’t understand how killing seems to almost come natural for her sister. In the end, Korede is challenged with whether she should continue to support her sister and help her get out of her murderous dilemmas or if she will allow justice to be served. One thing I loved about Braithwaithe’s novel is the use of authentic Nigerian mannerisms, and the use of the Yoruba language. As a current student of the Yoruba language, I was able to challenge myself with my ability to translate the Yoruba phrases included in the novel. I do wish there was more Yoruba included in the novel, but I guess the few occasions in which Nigerian pidgin English was used makes up for it. Although, I still would have loved to have seen more of both. I understand Braithwaithe probably refrained from overuse for the purpose of readability. Being a fan of Nollywood, I felt that this novel mirrored a Nollywood drama. To my personal excitement, according to IMDb a movie for the novel is in progress, so fingers crossed it will come to fruition. I also noticed that in certain parts of the novel the French language was also used, but my issue with it is that I did not really see the purpose it served. Is it that upper-class Nigerians try to show that their linguistic abilities are diverse since Korede and Ayoola come from money, or was it just added in there? It seemed too random for me, but maybe I missed something. I did notice that Ayoola’s killings seemed to stem from the mental effects of her abusive relationship with her late father. It also seems that these killings serves as a challenge to the patriarchal system and to societal norms, as men are usually depicted as the abusers. Braithwaithe did a good job at replicating the pain that came along with the upbringing of both Ayoola and Korede, though in terms of pain, there was more vocalization from Korede’s experience. Her struggle with acceptance and with her self esteem is replicated throughout many points of the novel, though at times Braithwaithe tries to humorize Korede’s pain at some points to reflect how normalized this pain has become for Korede. Throughout the novel, I hoped Korede would find love, and I wish that Braithwaithe saved someone for Korede, or included that she found someone at some point. The fact that I was able to care enough to wish this was included in Braithwaithe’s novel reflects the intimate connection she managed to establish between character and reader. I would love to see a sequel to this book in which love happens for Korede and both sisters attend counseling because given their trauma, it is much needed.

TL;DR = It starts out well enough - a gripping opening, an impactful dilemma, a protagonist who draws our sympathy, a complicated sisterly relationship. Ultimately, however, it fails to deliver on any of big promises made on the cover, and all time/investment in the story is betrayed by a truly appalling ending. _________________________________ ************SUMMARY = The story centers on the dilemma faced by the main character, a nurse whose sister is the titular serial killer. The nurse not only keeps her sister's secret, but actively covers her tracks and helps her escape justice on multiple occasions. Throughout the book, she muses on their shared childhood (in flashbacks), the sister's utter disregard for the men who fall over themselves for her, & how much she has sacrificed to protect her sister from the consequences of her actions, only for that same sister to repay her by targeting the man of her dreams. ************CRITIQUE = For a while, this book successfully held my attention. I was eagerly awaiting the moment the shoe would drop, and I felt confident that the author would deliver in fine style. The writing style is fairly plain, but very assured; I felt like I was in the hands of a skilled storyteller. The early momentum of the book and the sense of authorial assurance are the SOLE reasons for the 3-star rating. Unfortunately, however, the book's surface level polish and style ultimately bely the disappointing lack of real wit or genuine insight at its core. The writing just isn't that witty or funny, and neither are the characters or situations. As far as character psychology and motivations go, there's nothing terribly clever or insightful here. Apparently, this writer believes that she has stumbled onto something original by suggesting that a serial killer's actions might be motivated by childhood abuse, but she doesn't really delve any deeper than that to trace the development of the character's psychology. Victims of trauma, the vast majority of whom notably manage not to become murderers, ought to be grossly offended by this kind of lazy substitute for character development. Worst of all, the amoral ending left a truly foul taste, one that destroys whatever sympathy one might once have had for the main character: (1) As mentioned previously, the protagonist's murderous sister sets her eyes on her love interest, making him her latest patsy. Predictably, he falls head over heels, oblivious to the protagonist's pining. When the murderess tries to kill him, the poor guy manages to become the first of her victims to turn the tables and save himself. (2) Unfortunately, the protagonist comes to her sister's rescue by coercing the man into silence by threatening to give to the police false testimony in her sister's favor. She then allows herself to be inexplicably guilt-tripped by her sister during a bedside conversation into taking the latter's side anyway during the police questioning, thus sending the man she loved to prison and causing him to lose his medical license, his good name, & presumably any glimmer of the bright future he might have had. (3) In a somewhat abrupt and deliberately ambiguous final scene, we see what is apparently a sign that the sister, having gotten away with it again, is about to take yet another lover/husband-prospect/patsy before the book suddenly ends without any further explanation or resolution. Subtextually, the novel seems to be trying to present these facts simultaneously as: (A) proof that this toxic relationship is too strong to be escaped, and that the cycle of manipulation and murder will never end. (B) grounds for a kind of moral exculpation, one in which the 2 sisters' actions might be taken as a form of "reclaiming power" in a patriarchal culture. The trouble with statement (A) is that it basically asks us to believe that the protagonist is a fool who falls for her sister's final lie despite the ENTIRE RUN OF THE BOOK showing how keenly aware she is of her sister's true nature. We as readers are left bewildered by the way she suddenly and abruptly chooses THIS moment to suddenly forget everything she knows about her sister's sociopathic tendences, all the penchants for lying, manipulating, & murdering without remorse - everything, in short, which she JUST SPENT THE ENTIRE BOOK documenting for us in excruciating detail. The trouble with statement (B) is that there's nothing in these chapters that makes such a reading feel reasonable within the novel's context or organic to its plot. Yes, it's set in a country that has a patriarchal culture, but we are NEVER given a convincing link between the patriarchy and the situation in which these 2 characters find themselves. Instead, the novel seems to rely on the hope that the reader is an easily manipulated dullard with a moral IQ of zero, one who can be counted on to believe that: ----sisters should stick together no matter what. (Right, because what's aiding and abetting multiple murders in the name of sisterhood?) ----he survived her sister's attack, after all, and her sister wound up with her own knife in her belly, so by some strange logic he can't claim to be the victim. (Great, so men can't be victims of violence?....) ----he chose her sister over her, so......screw him, I guess? (Never mind that she never once made her interest clear, and we have abundant documentation to show that she knows her sister had this effect over every man she met....) ----he was dumb enough to believe her sister's lies over anything she said; so once again, screw him, right? (Never mind that the sister was a master manipulator and sociopath who had a lifetime's experience of wrapping everyone around her finger......) ----a long string of repetitive flashbacks (in which their father is presented as a world-class jerk) somehow constitutes a tie between their situation and patriarchy. (The trouble is that even these scenes do no more than to present a plausible origin story for the serial killer's sociopathy, but as I mentioned before, few trauma victims become serial killers who take out those who did them no harm. As far as the protagonist is concerned, these scenes go some way to helping us understand why she initially became so fiercely protective of her sister. However, they do nothing to explain her continued loyalty to the woman that sister grew up to be - one who is not only a demonstrably horribly sibling who exploits the relationship shamelessly without giving anything back, but one who compromises the protagonist legally and morally every time she takes a life and asks the latter to help her cover it up). ************CONCLUSION = I had really high hopes for this novel. I read it in good faith, and I was truly rooting for the debut author to become a new favorite of mine. Yet the book just proved in the end to be massively overhyped, no doubt due to its choice of location (exotic to a Western audience); its themes of women against the patriarchy, the effects of abuse and trauma, etc (all trendy at the time of writing); and the writer's identity as a black Nigerian woman writing in a largely white book market. To be fair, the premise is reasonably entertaining; it's just a shame that the novel uses it as a kind of bait-&-switch, never really delivering on what the reader came for, but merely using that hook to get the reader to read what was ultimately a misguided thesis on victimhood, thus becoming just another instance of a troubling trend in contemporary fiction, whereby the faults & actions of a female character, no matter how horrendous, are always somehow construed as the fault of a man or else attributed to patriarchy in general.

We first meet Korede as she’s helping her younger sister, Ayoola, dispose of a man’s body. The man, Femi, is the third boyfriend that has ended up on the wrong end of Ayoola’s knife. In the first two instances, she believed her sister’s protestations of self-defense, but Femi’s murder hits her differently. Korede, a relatively plain woman, works as a nurse, and when impossibly beautiful Ayoola invites herself to the hospital and walks out having caught the eye of Tade, the doctor on whom Korede has long harbored a crush, she finds herself seriously torn for the first time about what to do about her sister. She confides in the only person she can, a nonresponsive patient in a coma, as she weighs the decision of whether she should continue to enable her little sister or if Ayoola setting her sights on Tade will finally drive her to do something different. This is a strange, quick little read that seems intended to be understood symbolically more than literally. The monstrousness that we as human beings will ignore to bask in the glow of beauty…Ayoola’s ill-fated paramours are not the only ones who fail to take heed of her deadliness, even if warned. She’s a very real threat to Korede, and their relationship is complicated by their sisterhood and Korede’s envy, but even she finds the idea of exiting her sister’s orbit a very difficult one to seriously contemplate. It’s sharp and often stinging, though I struggle to understand how someone might find it truly funny. But although I did appreciate its propulsive pace and social critique, as someone who reads books primarily for character, this was not a particularly great fit for me. What actually motivates Ayoola’s murders? Hard to say! I found Korede’s motivations no less opaque, even by the end of the book. It’s engaging, I bet this one would be a good fit for plot-oriented readers, and I’ll personally be curious to read Oyinkan Braithwaite’s other work because I enjoyed her prose.

Finished the book over the weekend. Loved it very much! Very interesting premise, enjoyed the difficult choices our main character is faced with. Love or family? Can she receive the love she is looking for or are all men just the same when confronted with her sister.

The pretty sister gets away with murdering her boyfriends time and time again. How much longer can this go on?

Semplicemente fantastico

This book was fast-paced, at times hilarious, at times, heartbreaking and overall such a joy to read.

This is a funny novel and a short novel, two things that might make it very appealing to someone looking for a light and quick read. However, it has a darker side, and I’m not talking about the murders of (at least) three men. There are darker things than murders in this novel. In fact, it’s refreshing to have a young, attractive woman murdering men rather than the other way around. Did I say attractive? The narrator Korede (the plain sister) makes it clear that her younger sister Ayoola isn’t just attractive, she is sublimely beautiful and men – and women – are putty in her hands. In Half of a Yellow Sun we had the more beautiful sister as narrator, who cheats with her plainer sister’s man. Here the plainer sister is the narrator, doomed to remain an onlooker to her beautiful sister’s exciting life. Ayoola gets lots of bracelets, rings, flowers and trips to Dubai with adoring men. Korede gets lots of lip from her colleagues at the hospital where she works as a nurse. One disquieting feature of Ayoola’s beauty is her light skin and this is one of the things that makes the novel so disquieting. When it comes to female beauty, light skin is good and dark skin is unforgivably bad. Far more disturbing than murder is the way beauty determines a woman’s life, how she is perceived by others and her sense of self-worth. In this novel, insidiously, women aren’t just judged by men but by women as well. Ayoola has always been the mother’s favourite just because she is beautiful. And because Ayoola is beautiful, men brush past Korede in their haste to gaze on and worship her sister. The mother has given up any hope of Korede finding a husband but she has high hopes that Ayoola will catch a real good ‘un. At one hilarious point she serves a suitor a slice of upside down cake and when he says how delicious it is, she hurriedly points out that Ayoola baked it (great wife material). Meanwhile, Korede tells us that Ayoola couldn’t fry an egg and only ever goes in the kitchen to forage for snacks. Another disturbing feature of the novel is the role of patriarchy in squeezing women into a limited set of life chances and behaviours. Looming over Ayoola’s murders and the relationship between the sisters and their mother is the ghost of their long-dead tyrant of a father. In fact, during the novel, at the insistence of their aunt, the two sisters and their mother put on a tenth anniversary memorial service for the old beast. Then we learn that the aunt was involved in a plot by the father to gift the 14 year old Ayoola to some crusty old tribal chieftain in return for a lucrative business deal. However, we are not asked to believe that some childhood trauma can explain or justify Ayoola’s habit of killing her boyfriends. We are given a rather conventional correlation between beauty and narcissism, but this novel takes it further. Ayoola believes that everything will turn out well for her, no matter what she does. She can shape her own history and destiny. Nothing bad can possibly happen to her. And one reason for her optimism is that she knows that big sister has her back. After she’s done the deed, Korede will turn up with rubber gloves and bleach and clean up the mess. Literally. Some readers might find the ending annoying or frustrating. I found it tremendously satisfying. Suffice to say, sisters stick together. I do have one minor gripe about this book: for some mystifying reason it’s written in American. The author has spent part of her life in the UK, including secondary school and university, and has been back in Nigeria since 2012, so I can’t understand why she used US spelling, grammar and vocabulary. My son-in-law is Nigerian. Several members of my family are married to Nigerians and I have many Nigerian friends and colleagues. None of them speaks American. Half of a Yellow Sun is written in American but I can just about forgive that because Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been living in the US for years, but Oyinkan Braithwaite has no such excuse. I can only surmise that her American editor persuaded her that sales in the US would benefit.