Vera Wong’s unsolicited advice for murderers ~ Jesse Q. Sutanto ☆ Review
Good morning!
I was supposed to finish this one before new year but alas.. so it ended up being my first book finished in 2024!
5 ⭐️ / 5 stars
Keep or unhaul? Keep!
I love Vera’s energy & humor; we need MORE older MCs like her. Despite her being sixty years old, the lady sure is sharp- and made me giggle in my head at multiple occasions. She’s both persistant and kind, strong headed woman that nobody (even a two years old!) can say not to, while at the same time having the good heart of a mother for the four of her “suspects” she ended up adopting (+ Emma).
What I find particularly well-written to her character is her way of speech. We know she’s a Chinese mother, therefore english isn’t her first language.. and reading her narrative is exactly like how my Indian friend speak at work! While I can see how her broken english might be bothersome to some, it reflect the reality of older generations that might’ve learnt english later in life (added to the fact that yknow, their main language have a different alphabet than us). I personally LOVE that authenticity to her character, and again gives me a kind of comfort relating to my friend.
The book is divided into 5 diff POVs, one for each « suspect » including Vera, and while I got a bit scared it would give me trouble at first, it turned out it didn’t at all! Everyone was pleasant to read and I couldn’t wait to discover their utterly motives in the scenario: what they were hiding and who truly hurted Marshall in the end. (IF someone really did, and wasn’t actually an accident like police said since Day 1)
Im glad we do end up finding out who did murder him in the end, and it wasn’t a plain accident; however it was tied together in a way I wasn’t quite expecting.
« Mind over matter, her mom whispers. It’s all in your mind. She knows it’s all in her mind, obviously everything is in her mind, but that doesn’t mean she lnows how to make it unstuck. »
« “You don’t describe your job like that,” Vera scolds. “Is a small job, hah! Can you see men saying that? No, men will talk it up with bullshit, that is why they get even bigger job next time. There is no such thing as ‘small job.’ And don’t say in that silly tone, oh so apologetic, I am just silly woman having a small job. No!” Her index finger shoots up and points at Julia’s face like a sword. “You go and do this job proudly.” »
« Destiny, Vera thinks, is something to be hunted down and grabbed tightly with both hands and shaken until it gives her exactly what she wants. »
« Julia’s instinctive reaction is to wave his apology away, and scuttle out of there, then it hits her: She’s always done because she never thought herself worthy of an apology. and thought of someone saying sorry to her makes her squirm. »
« Because she’s learned now that nothing is permanent. The waves will always be there to wash every mistake, every flaw, away. And like she’s taught Emma, ometimes mistakes can be turned into something beautiful. »