Review by Booklist Review
"Everything fell apart that year." It's 1986, and Agatha Krishna is 13; her younger sister, Georgie Ayyar, almost 12, narrates. Both were named for "proper white ladies" (Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer). In tiny Marley, Wyoming, the sisters are the "other kind of Indian" via their immigrant mother from Madras, who met their white Texan father in England. The family expands with the arrival of Amma's estranged family from India--Vinny Uncle, Auntie Devi, and their 12-year-old son. When murder, clearly revealed in the title and prologue, happens that year, the sisters' mantra becomes, "the British are to blame and Vinny Uncle will pay." McConigley's first novel wrenchingly, gloriously follows the lives of sororal "halfies" (their parents "shouldn't have married . . . shouldn't have mixed us up") as they come of age in a racist, myopic, misogynist, abusive, dismissive society and finding comfort and camaraderie (for a while) with each other, occasional friends, favorite movies, and teen magazines. Forced to be wise beyond her years, Georgie proves to be a sharp, perceptive, stalwart, heartbreaking guide for surviving.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McConigley follows her PEN/Open Book Award--winning collection, Cowboys and East Indians, with a witty and ultimately profound tale centered on two angsty preteens' plot to kill their abusive uncle. From the beginning, the reader knows the killing will take place, and the bulk of the novel explores the lead-up to the crime. The mixed-race 12-year-old narrator, Georgie Ayyar Creel, agrees with her 13-year-old sister, Agatha Krishna, that the legacy of British colonialism is the reason they feel so out of place in 1986 Wyoming. ("They were the reason we were quiet around most white people," Georgie reflects about the British.) They blame everything on the British, including the arrival of their Indian mother's odious brother, Vinny, from India. After Vinnie rapes them, they plot to murder him by putting antifreeze in his drinks. Initially, the scheme strengthens the sisters' bond, but after they go through with it, Georgie is filled with newfound heartache. McConigley blends the macabre material with clever stylistic devices, such as quizzes in the style of teen magazines ("How Do You Know If a Boy Likes You?"), which mirror the plot as Georgie works herself up to the murder ("Do You Have What It Takes to Kill"). This thrilling bildungsroman is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT In 1986, teenager Georgie Creel and her sister Agatha live in Marley, WY, with their mother, who is from India, and their white American father. Their uncle and his family have recently moved to Marley to live with the Creels. When the uncle turns up dead, Georgie and Agatha confess to the book's readers that they are responsible but also debate who is truly at fault. It must be the British, according to Agatha, tracing the act back to the original influence. In refreshing, albeit initially jarring style, McConigley directs alternating chapters directly to "you," the reader. This intrusion heightens the story that is to come, drawing readers into a tightly constructed tale of what happens to Georgie and her sister over the course of several months. In addition to describing growing up Indian American in 1980s Wyoming, McConigley's debut novel (following the story collection Cowboys and East Indians) artfully shares universalizing details of Georgie's and Agatha's everyday lives, like cheerleading and watching TV. VERDICT Although it ends quickly, McConigley's impactful work will linger. Interspersed with details of the U.S. in the late 20th century, this is a book for all collections.--Toni Cox
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A coming-of-age story about an Indian American girl struggling to figure out many things about herself, such as whether she and her sister should kill a relative. It's the summer of 1986, dead solid center in the middle of the Reagan decade, and sisters Georgette Ayyar and Agatha Krishna Creel are trying to make the best they can of awkward pre-adolescence in the oil town of Marley, Wyoming. They are daughters of Indian parents, Girl Scouts, Catholic school students, and named after their mother's favorite authors--Heyer and Christie, respectively. "We were named after proper white ladies, even if we ourselves were never proper anything," Georgie recalls. They are taken aback when their placid lives are disrupted by the arrival from India of their mother's brother, Vinny, his wife, Devi, and their son, Narayan, who are all moving into their Cottonwood Cross home to stay. "Vinny Uncle made us shadow people," Georgie says. And it is for the reason of feeling somehow split in two ("like freeze tag," Georgie argues) that she and Agatha decide that Vinny Uncle must die. Their method: sneaking small amounts of antifreeze into his drinks. "Bright Mountain Dew in big cups," Georgie recounts. "It was surprisingly easy to make him sick." As her uncle gets gradually sicker, Georgie attends summer camp, watches the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, takes part in the local county fair and Fashion Revue, and waits for something to happen. Along the way, the narrative takes sardonic divergences, mostly in the form of multiple-choice romance questionnaires like the kind found in magazines. Examples: "How Do You Know If You're Ready To Have a Sexual Relationship?"; "Is He Bad for You?" and, even, "Do You Have What It Takes To Kill?" Which is something Georgie finds herself asking, even as she and her sister are carrying out this inexplicable mission, for which they blame, among other things, British colonialism. Though framed like a funny, ferociously allusive grown-up version of a YA whodunit, McConigley's debut novel carries deeper, knottier mysteries than the curious crime at its center. Wittily observant and achingly tender. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
