Book Review: Dial “A” review

Casey Creutz, Co-Editorial Director, Junior

Dial “A” for Aunties is a wild rom-com/murder mystery perfect for lovers of the crazy, the comical, and the happily ever after. Author Jesse Q. Sutano draws upon her Indonesian heritage, and her upbringing as a first-generation Chinese-American, to write a completely unrealistic, but no less lovable depiction of the influence of traditional filial piety, and the “aunties” she grew up around. Young Meddelin “Meddy” lives and works under the overpowering smothering of her mother and her mother’s three sisters, who own a Chinese wedding planning business. Upon their urging, Meddy goes on a blind date orchestrated by her mother. A disastrous incident following a bad date creates loads of trouble (an accidental murder), and Meddy has no choice but to call upon her aunties for help, on the eve of the biggest wedding their business has ever planned. This book is a quick read, with only one major plot problem, but the wacky, and endearing nature of her aunties, so clearly reminiscent of any overbearing family spices things up. Throw in a romantic interest, and you have the perfect combination of flirty wedding fun, and dark, nail-biting humor. I recommended Dial “A” for Aunties in my last review of the far more popular People we Meet on Vacation as an anecdote to the latters abundance of boredom, and as a book I picked up in the airport to kill time, it certainly accomplished as much. A cast of characters, all with well-developed personalities, and dynamics carry the book, until our plot erupts into a sequence of hilarious twists you just couldn’t have seen coming. All the fun and chaos do not take away from the book’s central theme of family first. Sutano’s heartfelt intention to do justice to the love and respect she has for the women in her community and the pillar of strength and support they uphold shines through.