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A review by gabsalott13
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
4.0
As my first meme of the day states, Y’ALL DO NOT HATE AYOOLA ENOUGH FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This book was good for my exploration of new genres, but bad for my blood pressure. I think I’ve determined I can’t handle satire, dark comedy, or whatever the hell you call this story.
Since I was super late to reading this, I’m going to skip over a general summary and just share my thoughts. In the spirit of a recent IG Live series with my fave Deesha Philyaw and astrologer Mecca Woods, I played a game of “guess this fictional character’s sign” with our two loving sisters. I came to the conclusion that this is a Capricorn-Scorpio situation, which explains Korede’s self-sabotaging sense of loyalty, and also Ayoola’s sociopathy (more on that soon.)
This book turns the longsuffering eldest daughter soundtrack all the way up. According to my friend, my big three (Virgo sun, Virgo moon, Cap rising) jumped out in my read. I was incensed not by Ayoola’s serial killing, but by her terrible treatment of her sister, and encouragement of other characters to do the same! I chuckled when Korede was bailing her sister out of several murderous situations, but when Oyinkan Braithwaite had this woman folding Ayoola’s dirty clothes, I LOST IT!!! I felt personally attacked by Braithwaite’s hot takes on the libidinal economy (as Michaela noted, all the big ideas here are subtly placed below the surface.) In certain sections, I had to ask myself, “do we really do all this for IG baddies?!” The sad answer is yes--even outside of satire, many times we do move heaven and hell for a (conventionally) pretty face. In my opinion, Ayoola is the worst sister in creation PRIMARILY because of how she weaponizes this attractiveness against Korede. I hated Tade for loving a woman he doesn't know and hurting one that he does, but as they mention in the book, he’s really just a simple man stunned by a pretty woman. The most infuriating component of their love triangle was actually how Ayoola recognized his weakness, and exploited his interest in her to turn him against her sister. Ayoola definitely knew from the beginning that Korede was interested in Tade, and simply didn’t care. I am really close to my younger sister, so I thought I would relate to more of the story, but I cannot FATHOM an instance where I would be in Korede’s romantic straits. My sister is incredibly compassionate and also incredibly straight, so not only would we never be interested in the same person, but also she has a soul, unlike this demon!!!!
I agree with some reviews that felt the end was a bit rushed. In my opinion, it was true to form but nevertheless infuriating! Korede hates but cannot free herself from the role she's been forced to play in her family. I only wish she were able to form an alliance with #ComaBae and the house girl (who is never given a name?!? really?!?!?), the TRUE victims in this story.
Final reflection: would certainly recommend that others read, though it looks like damn near everyone but me already has. If you are an Earth sign, take deep breaths between chapters.
Meme Corner continued: a brief portrayal of the many instances when Korede has come to Ayoola’s rescue. I too need an Iyanla hug after reading this saga.
Since I was super late to reading this, I’m going to skip over a general summary and just share my thoughts. In the spirit of a recent IG Live series with my fave Deesha Philyaw and astrologer Mecca Woods, I played a game of “guess this fictional character’s sign” with our two loving sisters. I came to the conclusion that this is a Capricorn-Scorpio situation, which explains Korede’s self-sabotaging sense of loyalty, and also Ayoola’s sociopathy (more on that soon.)
This book turns the longsuffering eldest daughter soundtrack all the way up. According to my friend, my big three (Virgo sun, Virgo moon, Cap rising) jumped out in my read. I was incensed not by Ayoola’s serial killing, but by her terrible treatment of her sister, and encouragement of other characters to do the same! I chuckled when Korede was bailing her sister out of several murderous situations, but when Oyinkan Braithwaite had this woman folding Ayoola’s dirty clothes, I LOST IT!!! I felt personally attacked by Braithwaite’s hot takes on the libidinal economy (as Michaela noted, all the big ideas here are subtly placed below the surface.) In certain sections, I had to ask myself, “do we really do all this for IG baddies?!” The sad answer is yes--even outside of satire, many times we do move heaven and hell for a (conventionally) pretty face. In my opinion, Ayoola is the worst sister in creation PRIMARILY because of how she weaponizes this attractiveness against Korede. I hated Tade for loving a woman he doesn't know and hurting one that he does, but as they mention in the book, he’s really just a simple man stunned by a pretty woman. The most infuriating component of their love triangle was actually how Ayoola recognized his weakness, and exploited his interest in her to turn him against her sister. Ayoola definitely knew from the beginning that Korede was interested in Tade, and simply didn’t care. I am really close to my younger sister, so I thought I would relate to more of the story, but I cannot FATHOM an instance where I would be in Korede’s romantic straits. My sister is incredibly compassionate and also incredibly straight, so not only would we never be interested in the same person, but also she has a soul, unlike this demon!!!!
I agree with some reviews that felt the end was a bit rushed. In my opinion, it was true to form but nevertheless infuriating! Korede hates but cannot free herself from the role she's been forced to play in her family. I only wish she were able to form an alliance with #ComaBae and the house girl (who is never given a name?!? really?!?!?), the TRUE victims in this story.
Final reflection: would certainly recommend that others read, though it looks like damn near everyone but me already has. If you are an Earth sign, take deep breaths between chapters.
Meme Corner continued: a brief portrayal of the many instances when Korede has come to Ayoola’s rescue. I too need an Iyanla hug after reading this saga.