Hello Kitty Must Die! - Book Review
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 8:11AM | in Book Reviews Beauty AND Brains Series: Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela S Choi
What a different, crazy, cool story to read. The protagonist (Fiona) is an asexual young Asian woman sociopath giving her cold views on the world. Her best friend (Sean) is a serial killer white man whom she's known since grade school and their dialogue/world views are immensely interesting to read.
"The sweet smell of death. Thick, toxic, intoxicating. It made me giddy. It gave me weak orgasms."
He was the product of an abusive home with an overly sexual mother and she has overbearing parents who want to marry her off to the first Asian guy who shows any sort of interest whatsoever. Her father refuses to take no for an answer and she can't seem to get him off her back, so he puts her on blind dates every weekend that always seem to come up missing afterwards only to be found dead later. O_o Accidentally...
The story is laced with Chinese ways/rites/superstitions that she follows or has thrust upon her by her father. For instance, he pressures her into a date with a guy, she says no but he wears her down, then tricks her into an overnight camping trip with the guy (she thought it would be a couple hours hanging out) and because she went overnight with him (she was trapped out in the wilderness, thanks dad!), it meant that she was engaged to the dude and they started setting up her wedding. WTF? So of course she and Sean have to get her out of that situation....some way.
The "Hello Kitty" referenced in the title is in regards to the soft, docile, clawless, cute, mouthless (voiceless), stereotype that many want Asian women to fall into.
Fiona, however, doesn't want marriage, hates children, nor any of the traditional things that her family wants for her. There still is the overachiever aspect that she fulfills as a lawyer, deciding to "rebel" and become a lawyer instead of going to medical school as her parents wanted. Not to mention, she does still go on these dates that her father sets up, even though she knows that they always fail, and she keeps her true thoughts and opinions to herself, so I'm not sure how far from the hello kitty aspect she falls if she only rebels in her head but her actions don't mesh up to it.
She does enjoy causing chaos in other people's lives for her amusement, such as when she works part time at her parent's laundromat she'll put lipstick on a shirt collar or add a telephone number to a pocket to make it appear that the husband was cheating "just to spice things up" because she knows that the couples won't get divorced because they are proud older Chinese families O_o At one point, she went to a funeral home and switched the names on the urns with ashes in them "so that they can have a final adventure" by ending up with the wrong families.
The book opens in such a way that you just know this will be a totally different kind of read. It made me instantly send it to my best friend and she couldn't put it down. This is very different than other things I've read, but reminds me of the show Dexter, which I absolutely love. From the opening scene I just mentioned to her serial killer screensavers at work, Fiona is quite the character.
I give the book 5 out of 5 stars. It's interesting, different, and I couldn't put it down so I finished it in one long sitting on a day off. Most definitely would read her other books.
You can purchase the book here: amazon
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