My sister, the serial killer

I’m not sure what message I’m supposed to take away from this book? Perhaps it’s meant to be a subversive take on misogyny and domestic violence but it’s not very well executed. The only likeable character here is someone who spent half the book in a coma.

The protagonist, Korede, is a nurse who has an exceptionally beautiful sister, Ayoola. Men objectify and lust after Ayoola, and she uses that to her advantage to murder her boyfriends. However, the book does nothing to challenge misogyny; in fact, it just reinforces it most of the time. Korede is constantly criticising and putting down the women around her. She belittles them, mocks their appearances, and even shuns a woman who smiles at her simply because “she knows nothing about me.”

Korede clearly holds a lot of resentment and hatred towards her sister but still goes above and beyond to defend and protect her, which doesn’t make sense to me when 90% of the time it seems like she’s actually wishing for Ayoola’s misfortune and unhappiness. Korede is supposed to be a sympathetic character because she’s the “good” sister but I just find her extremely unlikeable. Both of them seem very privileged and out of touch with reality. They’re both self-absorbed and believe the world revolves around them; it’s just expressed in different ways.

There’s a lot of classism and elitism that go unaddressed too. Their domestic helper isn’t given a name (she’s always just referred to as “the house girl”) despite having frequent appearances. Even characters who appear once and are never seen again are given names, but not her.

Overall this was a frustrating read. I wasn’t rooting for anybody, except maybe Muhtar. It’s a good thing the book is short because if it was any longer I probably wouldn’t have finished it.