Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto
Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto
On the surface, this is a fast paced, quirky novel about a young woman whose family gets her into a very serious problem and then stumbles through hilarious situation after hilarious situation to get her out again. But dig just a little bit deeper and you have a delightful story about cultural confusion and language barriers within a loving (but still incredibly quirky) extended family. Both tales are great and combined they made for an intensely funny book that really ought to be made into a movie.
The problems start when Meddy’s mother decides to resolve the unfortunately single status of her daughter by impersonating her on social media and setting her up on a blind date. Meddy is bullied by her mother and aunts into keeping the date where, after a lackluster dinner, the date attempts to force Meddy to have sex with him. She uses her taser to defend herself without considering what might happen if you shock the driver of a fast-moving vehicle into unconsciousness.
When Meddy wakes up she’s in a crashed car beside a dead date and she makes the questionable decision not to report what has happened to the police, but to put the body into her trunk and drive home to get the family’s advice on how to resolve her problem. What ensues is nonstop hilarity, such as the discovery that her mother was not actually holding a respectful social media conversation with the young man she was setting up with her daughter, but one charged with barely veiled sexual innuendoes that she didn’t understand because English is her second or third language.
Now the coincidences start and don’t ever end. The aunts need to stash the body somewhere while they figure out how to permanently dispose of it. They choose a large cooler at one of the aunt’s businesses, but the cooler gets brought to the site of a major upscale wedding that the aunts and Meddy and her mother are all working at. (Meddy is a photographer). The wedding is also for a relative and just about every bizarre coincidence you can imagine (including Meddy’s ex managing the hotel and her now dead date having a connection to the wedding) begin to happen.
The body is misplaced and keeps showing up everywhere as many unrelated problems occur and complicate life for Meddy and her family. It’s quite simply hilarious and anyone who enjoys laughing should read the book to see how Meddy is going to get out of her many problems.
