I had been meaning to pick up My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite for a long time now, having seen the countless reviews and posts on bookstagram. But after hearing Ms Braithwaite speak (virtually) at the Emirates Litfest this year, I grabbed it immediately. Read my book review of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite to know more.
Set in the modern day Lagos, Nigeria, My Sister, the Serial Killer opens with Korede helping her younger sister Ayoola get rid of her latest victim’s body. Ayoola tells her it was a self defense, but Korede is not convinced entirely.
Korede, a sincere nurse with a crush on her coworker, the handsome doctor Tade. Her only “friend” is a patient in comatose, to whom she confides about her suspicions about her self absorbed sister, who might be a serial killer.
What happens when Ayoola and Tade fall for each other, and her friend who knows all her deep and dark secrets, is no longer in a comatose? You have to read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite to know more.
Book review of My Sister, the Serial Killer
I loved the plot and while not being original, I wanted to know more about the sisters and what happens to them. There are some flashbacks that talk about their childhood and their late father.
The chapters are quite short and you can race through the book in a sitting, like I did. But the short chapters made it seem like it was rushed and underdeveloped at places.
The small snippets about their abusive tyrannical father, which offer some glimpse into why Ayoola might be doing whatever she does. And the fact that we may never know the full story made it more interesting for me.
I wanted to like Korede, but unfortunately she seemed too passive about her situation and life in general. On the other hand, I loved reading the social commentary about the modern day Lagos and their inept and corrupt police force.
[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”cl9hemzmnn” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”0″]My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is my first book set in Nigeria, is there any other Nigerian books that I should be reading?[/wpdiscuz-feedback]
What worked for me
I loved the premise and it had me hooked from the first sentence.
The short chapters with cliffhangers got me reading the entire book in a single sitting. My Sister, the Serial Killer is a perfect popcorn fun read!
I loved reading about Lagos and Nigerian lifestyle and I will definitely watch out for the author as well.
What may have been better
The short chapters made it seem like there was more to the story and it was rushed through.
I wanted to like characters but sadly none of them had any character development to start with.
Content warning
Parental abuse
Bottom line
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is a short fun read that may have not lived up to the hype for me. Nevertheless, it is still a good thrilling read that you can breeze through in an afternoon.
Have you read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite? How did you like it? Do share me your book review if you have written one. Also recommend other African literature that I should be reading.
Yesterday was my last day with my volunteering at Emirates Literature Festival 2021, here in Dubai. As expected we had a many virtual sessions with authors like Malala Yousafzai, Elif Shafak, Thomas Eriksson and Oyinkan Braithwaite and some in person sessions with authors who were able to come down.
Despite all these, it was just not the same because of the less crowd and all the other necessary protocols. The volunteers and the team underwent the PCR test before the event and we all maintained strict social distance.
I am kinda missing it already, even though I am really tired and my voice is coarse because I talked to so many people.
Quick January’21 updates
I am very disappointed to say January 2021 didn’t miraculously make all the problems of 2020 disappear. COVID is pretty much widely spread, the travel bans and social distancing are still there. There are bad presidents and worse politicians even after the new year’s eve.
Anyway what else happened to me personally during the month? Let me give you some of the highlights.
After some really good months, the Covid cases in the UAE has been increasing. But with the excellent mass vaccination programmes around, I am desperately hoping there will be a fall soon.
We had some foggy, winter mornings for exactly 5 days and then I guess we were done with the winter. But the weather is kinda good and pretty.
A pretty good reading and viewing month. More about that follows in a bit.
What I read this month
I read 5 books last month and I am happy that I liked all of them. Yay me!
I am on my 3rd (almost) rewatch of my favorite series House MD on Prime. But this is the first time that I am watching it in order, as a complete series. Needless to say I am loving it. Have you watched it?
I also watched the Idris Elba starring UK crime drama series Luther, which I really enjoyed. It had a Sherlock vibe, without witty dialogues.
I love April and I am not sure if it had something to do with being my birthday month or the summer holidays we used to have when we were younger. Either way, I look forward to April right from January.
And this year I had huge plans for my birthday (this Friday April 12th) and the month as well but they feel through, thanks to the weird place am at with most of my relationships and friendships. Still, I am okay now and you guys (yes, you my online friends) have played a large part in that. Otherwise I would be too depressed to get out off bed.
But now I have posts to be written, books to be reviewed and DMs to be replied to. I guess keeping busy gets me through. For now. So let us get on with a quick recap on what happened in my life last month on the March’19 wrap up, shall we?
Quick March’19 updates
March 2019 started with a bang with Emirates Literature Festival where I got to volunteer for two weekends. I met so many cool authors like Sandhya Menon, Pierce Brown, Cassandra Clare, Holly Black et al, and got books signed up from them.
I met so many like minded readers in the form of other volunteers and attendees. And just seeing younger bookworms with their books just makes me feel all warm and gooey.
I found and joined a local book club called Bookworms of UAE, which is surprisingly active!
Speaking of the weather, Dubai, the desert city, had two full days of rain out of nowhere just as we returned from the beach. And to put all your questions to rest, we are back to the warm spring weather this week.
What I read this month:
I read five books last month, bringing a total of 15 books for the year as of now. And I suppose I should be thanking all the book club choices because let us face it, otherwise I would not be reading as fast at all.
So here are the ones I read this month on the March’19 wrap up , and remind me to update the A-Z 2019 page soon!
My monthly top picks from the movie world Why not make a list based on the entertainment value now that I have spent hours watching these series and movie right? So here they are on the March’19 wrap up!
The Umbrella Academy
Green book
Queer eye Season 3
Us
The Punisher Season 3 (now why would they cancel it!)
Captain Marvel
A star is born ( left me a sobbing mess)
Sorry couldn’t stop with five!
On my blog
Here is a quick recap in case you missed my blog post last week.
Let us talk about posts I loved from the blogging community last week now.
Being a multilingual myself, I resonated so much with Cat from Pages and Plots on her post on why she doesn’t read much in her own native language. Who else is with me on this one?
Dani’s post on Instagramming without being discouraged is a lifesaver, especially if you do not have a huge following yet, like me. Take a looksie!
Speaking about social media pressures, Sam from WLABB posted an awesome discussion post how she battles the social media game, which I seemingly have lost already.
If you know Shruti then you have been warned enough. Read this hilarious post on the things that JK Rowling said about the Potterverse on her blog.
The Orangutan Librarian posted this how to (not) read review guide and I wish every author read it, just to save the world from all the drama and personal attacks.
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Let us chat
How many books did you read last month? Did you watch any of these series and movies mentioned? What are your favorite posts of the week? Let us talk.
The last leg of the #DubaiLitFest got done yesterday and I have not still out of the stupor. I have a lot of pictures to be uploaded but I am gonna keep it for the Instagram. So if you are not following there, you might as well.
But that doesn’t mean I am not gonna tell you what did happen, because let’s face it, who else would enjoy reading about me getting excited over authors who might never remember me? My family sure doesn’t. They are still getting over the idea that would rather volunteer at the literature festival from 9 AM to 9 PM than sleep in during my weekend.
Literature Festival Updates
Anyway, I got the sneak peak of the session with the Chinese best seller and literary award winner Cixin Liu, whom I had never heard of before. The LONG queue of people who stood for an hour or more to just greet him and get their book signed and the fact that 3 different people whom I met during the session insisted that I should read him make me wanna read him.
I even asked the Twitter world to help me!
Twitter, tell me why I should read #CixinLiu ? I had 3 different Asians tell me I have to but they might read it in Mandarin. If you have read the translation, tell me how did you like it!
I also met Sandhya Menon of the “When Dimple Met Rishi” fame, who was so sweet and kind to everyone around. Unsurprisingly she is funny as well. Did you know she also hates the “love conquers all” trope just like many of us?
We also got to meet Pierce Brown of the Red Rising fame. And we kinda crashed his dinner and clicked weird pictures with him, and he didn’t tell us off, which was so nice of him.
Oh I am in love the passion, energy and words this man brought on and off the stage! Lionheart is my new obsession everybody!! You should all go search him right away and stalk through all his social accounts.
Let me reel it up a little bit! So Lionheart is a spoken word artist and the author of the Mute’s rebellion and I will have to dig for his videos and will post on Instagram soon.
And we had so much fun in the after party. We even did a long conga line during the author dinner party. Well, I guess it was worth all the tiredness I am feeling now.
On my blog
Here is a quick recap of what happened on my blog last week:
So how has your week been? Do your family and friends understand your bookworm problems and eccentricities? Who is the last author that you met and made you all giddy with excitement? Let us talk!
I am back with some exciting news from my week y’all. Are you ready for some February updates?
Remember me yapping about the Emirates Literature Festival for a while now? So it finally started this Friday! And I volunteered both on Friday and Saturday (the weekend here) and I may go again the next weekend as well.
I met Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, and they are definitely one of the nicest authors ever.
And just seeing the younger readers piling onto the long queue to talk to her or get their book signed was a treat by itself.
We also had Jeff Kinney, the author of The Diary of a wimpy kid series, making the little ones jump, and scream during his session. He was an entertainer all round.
I met some awesome bookish friends during the festival and we had some quirky breaks during the 12 hour shift. And I can’t wait to met them all next week again.
Quick February updates
I read 4 books in the last month, And that is one less than last month but I am okay with this.
I got done with my TV and Netflix ban and I binged watched so many movies and series during the month. So many that I let that creep into my reading and blogging times even. Guys I am not proud of myself about that at all.
On the other hand I got back to running and I think I might start to enjoy it again.
I tried my hand at crochet and I should maybe accept my defeat. It takes so much time and patience, y’all!! BUT, I ended up with this not so perfect heart at the end of the day. So what do you think?
I have been reading the 5th and 6th books for about 10 days now and I have not yet completed about 50 pages on them put together.
What I watched:
I watched the Unbreakable and Split again last week so that I will not miss anything for when I watch Mr Glass. But I guess it went futile. I liked the movie but I didn’t love it.
And I am so late to the Bohemian Rhapsody and I confess a sobbing mess during the end of the movie. Why I did that? We’ll never ask!
My monthly top picks
Now that I have spent a lot of time watching movies and series, why not put it to use for my blog? So here are my top five picks
Ralph breaks the internet
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Chilling adventure of Sabrina
Bodyguard
Incredibles 2
On my blog
Here is a quick recap of what happened on my blog last week:
I have not been able to hit all the blogs this week, but I have a quick round up of the ones I loved here.
I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points that Lena from Lena’s Notebook mentioned on her post on book snobbery.
Do you feel bad and ashamed for the things that you do or don’t as a blogger? I do, constantly. Sam fro WLBB wrote an entire post on blogger shame just to say that we aren’t alone on that.
Do you love audiobooks? Then you need to head on to Nicole’s post on why audiobooks are important and join the discussion on Feed your fiction addiction.
I loved Dani’s post on how and why Urban Fantasy is her favorite subgenre on Perspective of a writer.
If you are a writer, you have to join the discussion with Clo on Bookwyrming Thoughts on writing realistic characters right away.
I added a few books to my TBR from the post on list of books for Slytherins by Malanie from Malanie loves fiction.
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Let us chat
How was your February? Was it as fun as mine? Who are the authors that you want to meet some day? Let us talk.
