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_hauntingtales_'s review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Korede, a nurse, gets a sudden distressed call from her younger sister Ayoola. She tells her she has killed a man and she needs help.
It is unforunately not the first time this happens and Korede helps her murderous sister clean the scene and get rid of the body. This is the third lover she has stabbed to death with no remorse.
Both women quickly go back to their routines, confident they will not get caught. Korede is the older sister and she has always promised to protect Ayoola in all cirumstances. That is until the younger sibling catches the eye of Tade, the doctor Korede works with and has a liking for.
I loved this book, it gets you hooked from the very first sentence. Unhinged women are a trop I live for. The short chapters and the way this story is written make it very fast to read. I really enjoyed the different characters' personnalities, even adding some humor to this dark story.
I definitely need more books like this one.
It is unforunately not the first time this happens and Korede helps her murderous sister clean the scene and get rid of the body. This is the third lover she has stabbed to death with no remorse.
Both women quickly go back to their routines, confident they will not get caught. Korede is the older sister and she has always promised to protect Ayoola in all cirumstances. That is until the younger sibling catches the eye of Tade, the doctor Korede works with and has a liking for.
I loved this book, it gets you hooked from the very first sentence. Unhinged women are a trop I live for. The short chapters and the way this story is written make it very fast to read. I really enjoyed the different characters' personnalities, even adding some humor to this dark story.
I definitely need more books like this one.
sazreadz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lails_x's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
grumpykat907's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
hdixon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
afterplague's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
My Sister, the Serial Killer isn't a thriller or a mystery, so if you go in with that expectation I think you're going to end up disappointed. This is definitely more of a literary novel about the sometimes toxic relationships we can have with family.
Korede is an older sister through and through. She's neat, successful, and she cares immensely for her younger sister Ayoola. That includes cleaning up Ayoola's messes, and her messes include dead bodies.
Describing the novel like this misses out on the complexities of the story. Ayoola kills her current boyfriend in the first chapter of the novel, and no one after that. Instead, the story is about Korede's relationship to her sister and womanhood in general. Ayoola has extreme pretty privilege and Korede is often forgotten or dismissed because of it. Their mother favors Ayoola, and it seems that Ayoola never really managed to develop "real" feelings.
Korede often mentions that she had to teach Ayoola how to react properly or how to show the correct emotions, but it's very likely that Ayoola is some kind of psychopath or sociopath. She gets away with it because she's pretty and charming. I think that the reader could view Ayoola in two different lights.
1. She could be telling the truth. Ayoola claims that the men she kills are controlling, possessive, and dangerous. She even claims that every kill has been in self-defense. Ayoola does have an almost siren like draw upon men, and at times it was tempting to believe that she really was a woman in a corrupt system trying everything to protect herself.
2. Ayoola is lying. She kills men when she becomes bored of them or she want the thrill. I think that this is also entirely possible. The murders don't seem to affect her emotionally whatsoever, though they dramatically affect Korede. Their childhood was not a happy one, and the trauma that they faced could have caused Ayoola to develop a desire to murder men.
I think the book sways you towards the second option, but the conflict is interesting because Korede wants to delude herself into thinking it's the first. The men around her don't see Ayoola as a real person, so it becomes easy to believe that she's killing them for a reason.
I think this is a book that you can only really experience by reading it. I could go into a spoiler section, but I don't think there would be a point. This is an extremely character-driven book, so telling you the plot won't help you understand it.
Many people have already mentioned it, but the writing itself was extremely well done. From what I've read, the author is a poet as well as a novelist, and you can really tell through the prose. It's not long winded, but it is extremely evocative and memorable. It's some of the best writing I've read all year.
The reason I didn't rate it higher than 3 stars was mostly the brevity. The book is only around 250 pages, and I think it could've been 50 more. Just as the story was really starting to escalate, it ended rather abruptly. I enjoyed the ending, and I think it meshed well with the theme and tone of the rest of the book, but it was just too quick.
Korede is an older sister through and through. She's neat, successful, and she cares immensely for her younger sister Ayoola. That includes cleaning up Ayoola's messes, and her messes include dead bodies.
Describing the novel like this misses out on the complexities of the story. Ayoola kills her current boyfriend in the first chapter of the novel, and no one after that. Instead, the story is about Korede's relationship to her sister and womanhood in general. Ayoola has extreme pretty privilege and Korede is often forgotten or dismissed because of it. Their mother favors Ayoola, and it seems that Ayoola never really managed to develop "real" feelings.
Korede often mentions that she had to teach Ayoola how to react properly or how to show the correct emotions, but it's very likely that Ayoola is some kind of psychopath or sociopath. She gets away with it because she's pretty and charming. I think that the reader could view Ayoola in two different lights.
1. She could be telling the truth. Ayoola claims that the men she kills are controlling, possessive, and dangerous. She even claims that every kill has been in self-defense. Ayoola does have an almost siren like draw upon men, and at times it was tempting to believe that she really was a woman in a corrupt system trying everything to protect herself.
2. Ayoola is lying. She kills men when she becomes bored of them or she want the thrill. I think that this is also entirely possible. The murders don't seem to affect her emotionally whatsoever, though they dramatically affect Korede. Their childhood was not a happy one, and the trauma that they faced could have caused Ayoola to develop a desire to murder men.
I think the book sways you towards the second option, but the conflict is interesting because Korede wants to delude herself into thinking it's the first. The men around her don't see Ayoola as a real person, so it becomes easy to believe that she's killing them for a reason.
I think this is a book that you can only really experience by reading it. I could go into a spoiler section, but I don't think there would be a point. This is an extremely character-driven book, so telling you the plot won't help you understand it.
Many people have already mentioned it, but the writing itself was extremely well done. From what I've read, the author is a poet as well as a novelist, and you can really tell through the prose. It's not long winded, but it is extremely evocative and memorable. It's some of the best writing I've read all year.
The reason I didn't rate it higher than 3 stars was mostly the brevity. The book is only around 250 pages, and I think it could've been 50 more. Just as the story was really starting to escalate, it ended rather abruptly. I enjoyed the ending, and I think it meshed well with the theme and tone of the rest of the book, but it was just too quick.
laceybatty's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
taitet327's review against another edition
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25