#Oyinkan Braithwaite

[100-great-books]

[words-and-coffee]

The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.

Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer

[virgilean]

Books Read in 2023: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

“We are nothing if not thorough in our deception of others.”

[libraryspectre]

I never feel more like a weirdo than when im trying to explain to someone why Oyinkan Braithwaite's masterpiece My Sister the Serial Killer is actually a really funny dark comedy

Me, giggling: so the sister who ISNT a serial killer is a nurse and theres a guy in a coma she vents all her problems with her serial killer sister to, right? And then HE WAKES UP! And she's rushing there like "oh crap, how much of our therapy sessions was he able to hear?!" It's such a funny situation!

Them:......................................sure......................................................

[caribeandthebooks]

Caribe's New Works by Black Authors TBR - Part 2

Category: Mystery & Horror

[libraryleopard]

Thriller novel about Korede, Nigerian woman whose sister, Ayoola, keeps killing her boyfriends (apparently in self-defense) and asking for help with the cover-up

Korede has obliged so far out of loyalty to her sister, but when Ayoola begins dating a doctor at Korede's hospital, she must weigh where her loyalties lie

Nigerian setting + characters

[sheilajsn]

My Sister, the Serial Killer de Oyinkan Braithwaite

Empiezo por confesar que la única razón por la que decidí leer este libro es por Nuestro Reto de Lectura. Este año, Lizette y yo hemos decidido darle la vuelta al mundo en 365 días, leyendo libros de todos los continentes. My Sister, the Serial Killer de Oyinkan Braithwaite se desarrolla en Nigeria, así que cuenta como uno de mis dos libros en Africa. Debo decir que este año ya he leído varios…

[straydog733]

Reading Resolution: “My Sister, The Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite

6. A book written in Africa: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

List Progress: 9/30

How far can familial love go? Is there such a thing as unconditional love, love that has absolutely nothing that could stop or lessen it? Most people, if pressed, have some conditions they put on the love they feel for others, even their nearest and dearest. But Korede, the protagonist of 2018 Nigerian novel My Sister, The Serial Killer, has no conditions on her love for her younger sister Ayoola, the titular serial killer. She doesn’t particularly like Ayoola, she resents her and carries a lot of anger towards the ways she has hurt Korede and others, but at the end of the day she has a cold, fierce love for her baby sister that is free of any and all conditions. And that is truly a terrible thing, but makes for a tense novel.

Author Oyinkan Braithwaite tells the story of Korede, a meticulous nurse working in a small hospital in Lagos, and her gorgeous, charming, magnetic sister Ayoola, who holds the spotlight in every room she walks into. Bonded by a traumatic childhood, Korede sees it as her job to protect Ayoola, even when she calls her in the middle of the night to help her deal with a boyfriend that Ayoola killed in self-defense. But the novel opens with the third dead boyfriend, and the claim of self-defense is ringing more than a little hollow. Korede can’t turn Ayoola in without revealing her own role in cleaning up the crime scenes, but far more important than that, she can’t turn her back on her sister. Korede gets by by unloading her soul to comatose patients at the hospital, but things reach a boiling point when Ayoola sets her sights on the object of Korede’s affections, as her next conquest and potential next victim.

Braithwaite keeps the book moving at a fast clip and the tension high, with very, very short chapters that move as quickly as Korede’s harried thoughts. The plot itself is not complicated, so this tension carries the novel. For a reader who doesn’t click with Korede, this could be a frustrating book, especially as Ayoola is an intentionally-frustrating character, but both of them get under your skin in a very engaging way. You sometimes want to yell at the page, but in the same exhilarating way that you yell at the screen for someone not to go into the haunted house. The haunted houses in My Sister, The Serial Killer are people, but they are just as filled with ghosts.

Would I Recommend It: Very much yes.

[totallyokay]

Currently reading: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

“It takes a whole lot longer to dispose of a body than to dispose of a soul...”

[riverssongs13]

"Love. What a novel concept." ~Muhtar

from My Sister, The Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite

[lilliankillthisman]

I didn't post about it because I read the whole thing on kindle over two slow train journeys with limited internet, but I read My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite at the weekend. I'd bought it... last spring, or maybe summer 2022, but didn't get very far in; very glad I eventually went back to it.

It follows Korede, a competent, unattractive young woman with a strong sense of responsibility and a job as a senior nurse at a hospital, and her younger sister Ayoola, who has no morals and no life skills except being ridiculously attractive and charismatic, and has killed one of her boyfriends for the third time when the novel starts. Korede has always covered for her, keeps covering for her, and has to grapple with what it means to keep covering for her as the book goes on and it becomes obvious that Ayoola is going to keep killing.

Or that's what she's grappling with on paper. The moral element gets... noticeably less focus than how frustrating it is to be the responsible older sister when your awful but very cute little sister is never criticised, never faces consequences, and doesn't appreciate that you're the one protecting her from those consequences. There's jealousy, there's feelings of inadequacy, there's some very well-executed childhood backstory. There are just enough signs that Ayoola loves her sister in her own way that she doesn't come off as a caricature of a twisted cycle path*.

It's a great exploration of love and it doesn't pull any punches; I can think of half a dozen ways this book could have turned out less than it is and Braithwaite avoids all of them. She captures a unique and very interesting tone, enough that I'm surprised the British Book Awards named it Crime and Thriller Novel of the Year 2020 instead of handing the award to some unthreatening twee garbage from Richard Osman.

The book isn't primarily a comedy, but Braithwaite does lean into humour and she does so very well; there's nothing that reads as a joke but doesn't land. She also absolutely nails an ambiguous ending. Like, better than anything I've read in a long while.

*Ayoola is absolutely a caricature of a sociopathic killer but she manages to come off as remarkably deep and not particularly evil, which given what she's actually up to is an achievement.

[words-and-coffee]

"She does not cry for me,” he says, his voice hardening. “She cries for her lost youth, her missed opportunities and her limited options. She does not cry for me, she cries for herself."

Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer

[travelingviabooks]

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: fiction, contemporary, crime, thriller

Country: Nigeria, England

Review:

I found this to be a very easy read and I loved the way it was broken up, it reminded me of poetry. I found the story to be interesting and well-developed. The characters weren’t necessarily likeable, which is to be expected given the context, but they were interesting. The ending left me feeling disappointed though and I can think of so many other endings that I would’ve preferred over this one.

Would I recommend this book?: yes, it’s an easy quick and entertaining read overall.

[hopelessromanticlittleshit]

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[invaive]

my sister, the serial killer – oyinkan braithwaite

[readbooksovermygrave]

Korede's sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola's knife. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

When I first found out about this book back in 2021, I had just started dipping my toes into the vast world of diverse novels. It was right up my alley: Black protags, murder, and the serial killer was a Black woman??? (Sign me up!) However, I was never able to read it until recently. I'd like to think my patience was well rewarded because I thoroughly enjoyed myself the whole time I was reading. It's a fast-paced novel that you can read in a day or two and it has a story that will stick with you, especially if you can relate to Korede in some way or another.

Pros:

The characters aren't black and white. They're morally gray and complex and because of that, it makes them feel more human. Seeing how Korede and Ayoola's familial trauma shaped them into the people they are present day, and how said trauma can make one overlook negative and potentially dangerous qualities of loved ones because of shared blood fleshed out the characters in a way that wouldn't normally be possible in such a fast-moving plot.

Braithwaite's masterful portrayal of the lived experience of a dark-skinned Black woman. Korede's constant experiences with colorism in her life leave her somewhat bitter and cynical, and at times resentful of her sister who is significantly lighter than she is—not because she envies Ayoola, but because of how she is viewed and treated in comparison to her.

Cons:

There is a lot of Yoruba in this book, and not much of it is translated. I found myself constantly having to stop in the middle of reading to look up translations of words or phrases (which was surprisingly difficult because I could barely find anything). This is probably just a nitpick on my part, but I would've personally appreciated a glossary somewhere in the book so I could understand what I was reading without having to constantly jump from book to Google/Wikipedia for the possibility of a translation.

All in all, this was a charming novel. It's not a "feel-good story" by any means, but it was certainly a dark and funny romp. If you are interested in reading it, as always, please check for trigger warnings here! Also, if you're interested in buying it for your bookshelf (and I ask that you support a Black author during BHM), you can use my new affiliate code to pick up a copy for yourself! I earn a tiny commission fee if you do use my code so I appreciate you in advance if you do. I'll be picking up a copy for my library as well because this is a book I'm gonna want to read over and over.

Rating: 💀💀💀💀