"You Can't Kill Me Twice"

"You Can't Kill Me Twice"
Written by Charlyne Yi
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

"You Can't Kill Me" is the first work that I have encountered by Charlyne Yi, a poet, comedian, writer, actress, and musician. Yi's collection of poetry and illustrations was so incredibly unique, in such a ridiculous and fun way.

Yi's poetry is comedic, serious, feministic, and fun, all in one incredible package. At first, I had to come to grips that some of her poems and illustrations are just plain ridiculous, in a fun and interesting way. Yi's poems are highly likable, once you come to the understanding that some of them are strange and weird on purpose. Her words almost feel like satire sometimes.

A wonderful aspect of her poetry is the serious themes that are underneath the dark comedy elements. Her poetry asks of the reader to take care of themselves, to love carefully, and be a great person. Sometimes, her metaphors and silly verses do really take ahold of you.

Although I am not typically a fan of comedic writing and funny poetry, I still enjoyed the collection. Accompanied by the odd illustrations, the book was quite fun.

Yi has interesting segments in the book, "The Study of Types of Love, Friendship, Family, and Romance" and "The Optometrist". Her peculiar insight creates interesting reading material.

I personally liked her work very much. I plan to look into her other works. I truly think a great career for her would be to write and draw cartoons. Her comedy definitely needs to be brought further into the world. I cannot wait to look more into her art and writing.

I rated this collection of poetry and illustrations at a four star rating out of five stars.

I received a complimentary edition of this book from the publisher in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing.

"Kill the Boy Band"

“Kill the Boy Band”

Written by Goldy Moldavsky

Review written by Diana Iozzia

What a wild, wild ride. This teen thriller / comedy was an absolute romp. “Kill the Boy Band” allows its readers to live vicariously through Beatle Mania, One Direction pandemonium, and murder in a delicious fashion. In the vein of “Heathers”, “The Craft”, and “Jennifer’s Body”, we are absolutely treated to an exciting and superbly comedic tale.

The satirical voice is strong with this one. “Kill the Boy Band” follows four teen girls who are purely obsessed with a boy band, The Ruperts. The singers of the band are all appropriately named Rupert. Our story begins in the middle of the story in one of my favorite styles: in media res. In media res is a fun film and book technique that drops you right into the action, with flashbacks and exposition that allows readers to fill in the details. The girls have kidnapped a Rupert. We beg the answer of “Why?”

This book has a lot of fun twists and turns, with a very comedic cast of characters. Goldy Moldavsky creates likeable and certainly murderable characters that feel very real but also surreal. They throw strange pop culture references in, use terrible dialogue. I believe that this is the new “Heathers”. I personally really enjoyed this realization, while also listening to the audiobook reading of this story, narrated by the original Veronica in “Heathers: The Musical”: Barrett Wilbert Weed. She’s also playing Janice Ian in “Mean Girls: The Musical”, another teen comedy. Her narration was comedic and extremely entertaining, with the bad English accents and exaggerated dialogue.

I think that one should go into reading this book, realizing that this is not going to be the best book ever written. The pacing is a bit strange and a bit slow at times. The dialogue, at times, is funny but mostly just irritating. Although this book is satirical, it still includes all of the annoying teen tropes. I think adding murder into the mix made this book much more entertaining, than if it was just teen girls stalking hot boys. I would have really enjoyed this as a teen. I think if you go into this book too critically, the magic is lost. Enjoy it for what it is.

"My Sister, The Serial Killer"

“My Sister, The Serial Killer”
Written by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

“My Sister, The Serial Killer” sheds a comedic but dark light on the side of serial killing we do not often see depicted: the effect on the family. This fun but unsettling thriller is an enjoyable read. I read this during the holiday season, days after moving into my first home in a different country. So, perhaps I read this at the optimal time.

This is not a detailed story, with descriptions that are enthralling. This is short book, with a small plot. Our main character, Korede, has to repeatedly clean up after her sister’s killing. Her sister, Ayoola, is an immature serial dater, whose boyfriends mysteriously die. To others. To Korede, she knows everything her sister is doing and is the best woman for the job to clean up the blood.

This book encompasses all of the amusing and not-so-serious parts of “American Psycho”, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, and reminds me a lot of “Jennifer’s Body”. We have a childlike curiosity to see how the story will progress. I enjoyed this, because I did not have to look for plot holes, poor dialogue, red herrings, dramatic choices, and more. This book took all of the grave and solemn parts out of a mystery and thriller, by making it entertaining in other ways. I really enjoyed this, and I hope that it will be made into a film.

Also, I have to mention that I enjoyed the location of Lagos, Nigeria. I do not personally know all that much about Nigeria, so it was interesting to learn about the food, the dialect, the police investigations, and the culture. I hope to read more of this author in the future.