Dial A For Aunties
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Comedy Women In Print Prize 2021
‘Whip-smart, original and so funny. I found it impossible to put down and lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud’ Beth O’Leary, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Road Trip
Your family would kill to see you happy
‘ARE YOU…DEAD?’
OH MY GOD. I THINK HE IS.
When Meddy Chan accidentally kills her blind date, she turns to her aunties for help. Their meddling set her up on the date so they kind of owe her.
WELL, THAT DIDN’T QUITE GO TO PLAN.
Although hiding this goddamn dead body is going to be harder than they thought especially when her family’s wedding business has THE biggest wedding of the year happening right now.
IT’S PRETTY BAD TIMING REALLY.
It turns out the wedding venue just happens to be managed by Meddy’s ex, aka the one who got away. It’s the worst time to see him again, or…is it? Can Meddy finally find love and make her overbearing family happy?
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Readers LOVE Dial A For Aunties!
‘Its dark humour and hilarious family dynamics had me in stitches from start to finish’
‘I loved every second of reading it and couldn’t predict what was going to happen next’
‘I couldn’t stop laughing throughout’
‘The characters felt so relatable’
‘What a great book this is – a really fun read’
‘A hilariously funny rom-com’
‘Escapist fun that’ll keep you turning the pages and giggling throughout’
About the author
Jesse Sutanto is an author of books for children and adults. She received her Masters from the University of Oxford and a BA in English Literature from Berkeley. She grew up in Indonesia and Singapore and currently lives in Jakarta with her husband and two daughters. The film rights to her women’s fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war.
You can find out more about Jesse on her website www.jesseqsutantoauthor.com and follow her on Twitter @thewritinghippo and on Facebook and Instagram @JesseQSutanto
Customer Reviews
So much potential, but ultimately a letdown
Where the story and characters could’ve done wonders in providing insight to the truly unique point of view of SE Asian immigrants in the US, it instead relies on empty tropes and tired cliches to tell what is truly a flat, boring, uncreative story.
I understand that it’s a dark comedy and not a socio-political commentary, but the vapid dialogue and painfully immature prose left me wondering how it even got published (or whether an editor had even cast an eye on what appears to be something written by a teenager for a high school class).
Specific themes and even entire phrases are repeated constantly, with zero creativity or exploration of - at the very least - some variation in prose. A male character (which the pathetic protagonist simps over in the most embarrassingly cringe-worthy way) is described the exact same way at least 3 times. I found myself hate-listening to this book from the first quarter onward, secretly hoping it would get better.
It didn’t.
The one saving grace is the little glimpses into the protagonist’s culture, which might’ve enriched the story even more if described with more nuance.
I should also mention the narration left much to be desired - it brought down what was already a badly written story.
I can, however, 100% imagine this being turned into a fun movie on a streaming network starring C-list actors, so there’s that. Should’ve come out as a screenplay, and not a book.