Meddy Chan is ready to put her past troubles behind her and focus on the good – her marriage to Nathan Chan, her college sweetheart.
But when her wedding planner turns out to be part of a mafia family and is planning an execution during her wedding, her aunts once again step in to save the day and keep Meddy from trouble.
Read if you like: light mystery novels, books with Asian families & culture, wedding-themed plot, chaotic comedies
The plot of this novel had such potential! It could’ve been a laughter riot through and through. But sadly, the execution fell flat for me.
To start with, I just couldn’t digest the idea that Meddy lacked the basic courtesy and common sense to not keep her to-be-life partner in the dark.
He is supposedly her “one true love”, and she does nothing but lies to him and confuses him on the day of their wedding. Imagine being Nathan Chan and not knowing what to tell your parents as to why your fiancé keeps running off suspiciously every few minutes.
This whole charade annoyed me to no end.
I also wasn’t convinced by the theories and schemes that Meddy kept cooking up. They were so much more ridiculous than the possibility of a mafia family using her wedding ceremony as a decoy for their nefarious plans.
In the beginning, I really liked the way Meddy and Staph’s friendship was turning out to be – they related to each other, came from similar family backgrounds, and had free-spirited personalities.
I thought that might become one of the highlights of the novel. But the mafia plot point obviously put a damper on it.
Something I liked about Four Aunties and a Wedding is how the Indonesian language is used naturally in the writing. A lot of the conversations between Meddy and her aunties include phrases in Indonesian.
The author doesn’t attempt to make the writing devoid of cultural motifs to suit a wider audience. It is full of nuance and authenticity. And that’s something I’ll always look forward to in Jesse Q. Sutanto’s works.
Her writing style actually makes her books light-hearted and fun to read, which is why I can’t wait for Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers!
Some of the humour in this novel did come through, and I’d find myself laughing along at times.
However, I wouldn’t really recommend Four Aunties and a Wedding even if you’ve read and enjoyed Dial A For Aunties.
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