A family becomes fractured, but only two girls know this. How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is a story about a family settled in a Wyoming town, that is dependent on oil production and good prices. Two little girls, their Indian mother and their white father share a small house. The sisters’ first names are taken from their mother’s favorite mystery writers, Georgie Ayyar, age 12 and Agatha Krishna, age 13.. Agatha is already beginning to be more interested in skin care than the toys the girls used to play with. Georgie still is drawn to their more childish ways. But when her mother’s brother, his wife and son emigrate to the US and come to live with them, problems abound. Household dynamics change with three Indian adults competing for authority. The sisters’ father is away for long periods of time at the oil fields. As relationships and behaviors at home evolve, the girls decide they must do away with Uncle Vinnie.
The voice we hear throughout is Georgie’s.. She makes clear she is in charge of her story and she does not plan to tell it “our” way, which I suppose would be linearly. Almost immediately, Georgie takes the time to give us a list of stereotypes Americans have about Indians and debunks them, setting the stage how she will tell this and setting expectations for the reader to respect her. Context is everything. The story comes out like a fishing line, back and forth but always easy to follow. Georgie intersperses multiple choice magazine quizzes that are meant to help a 12 year old process serious topics in an obvious and simplistic way. If it were only linear, the story would not be nearly as impactful. For these girls have something serious they need to process, then make a decision about and it seems obvious and simple to them what they must do. If you mostly chose “d’s” as your answer, you kill your uncle, right? By the end of this novel, we have considered the influence of British colonialism on the culture of India, what it is like to live an a home imbued with Indian social norms and Indian food as well as conflicting American norms. How it feels to be racially stereotyped and to make your way in a very white town, but through the eyes and the frankness of a 12 year old narrator. In fact, we spend time in what may be the most authentic twelve year old girls mind and it is entertaining, scary, funny stressful, fascinating and endearing. And she knows we want to know, “where is this going? And will murder fix the fracture?” I will say you some time and tell you there is resolution and there is obvious purpose in the way Georgie shares the story. It is both a profound piece and just a story about what might be any fractured family. It is beautifully written with well-wrought characters and an original structure ate is pleasing to follow.
I absolutely loved this novel.
They Called me Bookworm 