By Meghan Mazzaferro
Weekend at Bernie’s meets meddlesome Asian aunties in Jesse Q. Sutanto’s genre-bending Dial A for Aunties. As the only girl in a family of male cousins, Meddy knows that it is up to her, and her alone, to make her mother and aunties proud, even at the cost of her own happiness. That’s how she ends up on a disastrous blind date set up by her mother… though she can’t exactly blame Ma when she accidentally kills the guy. In a moment of panic, she turns to her family for help, and before she knows it, Meddy’s aunties have sent the body to the over-the-top wedding they’re working, hosted at the hotel of none other than Meddy’s former love. Now it’s up to Meddy to wrangle her meddlesome family, dispose of a body, and just maybe win back the man of her dreams. All while avoiding prison.
This book is an absolute delight from beginning to end. Full of nonstop laughs, relatable family drama, absurd hijinks, and a touch of romance, this book has everything. As someone who comes from a big family, and who has some meddlesome aunties of my own (if any of you are reading this, I love you!), it was incredibly relatable and so funny to read about Big Aunt, Second Aunt, Ma, and Fourth Aunt. Each of Meddy’s relatives is fleshed out and understandable, even when they behave in ways that are over the top and hilarious. That’s actually one of my favourite parts about this book; while the things that happen are outrageous—and I will by no means promise you realism or realistic scenarios in this book—the characters all feel grounded in reality, which makes the story more than just a slapstick comedy. Instead of any characters being reduced to being simply sources of humour, they all have enough depth and personal motivations to allow them to exist outside of the hilarious scenarios they find themselves in. And trust me, there are lots of hilarious scenarios.
The most obvious example of this is our main character. Meddy is an excellent character to help ground the story in a bit of realism. Her struggle to find her personal identity within a family that she loves, but that also holds her back, is a struggle that I think lots of people can relate to, and the relationships between Meddy and each of her relatives are emotional and well-developed while never slowing down the humour of the story. The romantic relationship, while advertised as a major part of the story, is in fact only one of many subplots that are explored in this twisty, hilarious ride of a book, with the familial relationships being the real driving force. That being said, the romance is sweet and adds an extra layer to Meddy’s story, but it is by no means her entire story.
The main element of this book is of course the comedy. Blending situational humour, slapstick moments, quips and more, this book has a thousand different ways to make you laugh. While, again, maybe not the most logical or realistic of plots, each comedic scene feels possible within the world Sutanto has created. She develops her characters in such a way that it just makes sense for each of them to bungle something so that Meddy now has more hilarious drama to deal with! This book had me giggling and frantically flipping the pages, while still giving me those heartwarming moments between Meddy, her aunties, and her Ma, which made the story all the more worth it.
I will admit that things get a little bit preposterous as the story progresses, but if you suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride, this book will delight you from beginning to end. And luckily, if you like it, there’s more! The sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, is out now, ready to give us more shenanigans!