bloodycheesecake 's review for:

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

3.0

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I liked this book a lot more than I did My Sister, The Serial Killer, which came across (to me) as touting it's whole 'your job is to be a rubbish bin for your pretty sociopath sister' schtick as some kind of virtue. Here the characters are much more realistic, much more grounded, and the novel as a whole feels like a much more accurate depiction of the three main characters lives over three different time periods. And I genuinely did feel invested in the characters and their trials and tribulations from start to finish. The problems I had was that I felt it's cursed/haunted family thread really didn't have much bite to it, so it never really managed to satisfyingly convey the hold the supposed family curse had over these women's lives. I read about it, and it makes it clear that it's there, and it's there in the novel, but it never really made me feel it. The writing is quite minimalist, which can work well, especially for tense and gritty plots, but here it seemed to take away a sense of vibrancy and flavour that I feel the setting and scenery really deserved, and doesn't really do much beyond merely telling you what's happening. It just felt a little flat, and tries to do a lot of things that I've read other writers so a lot better - Abi Dare for instance. All I can really say is that I think this is definitely a big improvement, and if you did enjoy My Sister the Serial Killer, you will definitely enjoy this.