About the Book
'Even better than I could have imagined . . . [it] takes all the expected stories about growing up Indian American, slices them open with razor-sharp wit, and turns them inside out' CELESTE NG, author of OUR MISSING HEARTS
'Nina McConigley is a true original . . . Heart-mending and heart-breaking - as only the truth can be' TAYARI JONES, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE
'A fierce and marvelous book with an utterly unique, brightly burning lifeforce' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, author of GREAT CIRCLE
Georgie and Agatha Krishna killed their uncle, and they blame the British.
Summer, 1986. The tween Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin - newly arrived from India - into their house in rural Wyoming where they'll all live together. Because this is what families do. That is, until the sisters decide that it's time for their uncle to die.
According to Georgie, the British are to blame. And to understand why, you need to hear her story. It's one of violence hiding in their house and history, of her once-unshakeable bond with her sister, of being an Indian-American girl in the heart of the West. Her account is cheeky, unflinching and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom: pen pal letters, how-to guides, games of MASH and teen-magazine-style quizzes that promise to make sense of their lives. And the tale she weaves is either:
a) a vivid portrait of an extended family
b) a moving story of sisterhood
c) a playful ode to the 80s
d) a murder mystery (of sorts)
e) a ruthless meditation on history and language, trauma and healing, and the meaning of independence
Or maybe it's really:
f) all of the above.
'I fell in love with McConigley's fierce, wry narrator Georgie Ayyar from the first page and couldn't stop reading. A powerful, groundbreaking book' JESSAMINE CHAN, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS
'Inventive and captivating . . . Full of heart and soul, this is a knockout work that deftly tackles the complex bonds of friendship and family' AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL, author of WORLD OF WONDERS
'Spirited and witty, stylish and audacious' MEGHA MAJUMDAR, author of A BURNING
About the Author :
Nina McConigley is the author of the acclaimed story collection Cowboys and East Indians, which won the PEN Open Book and High Plains Book Awards, and was longlisted for the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Orion, O, the Oprah Magazine, VQR and elsewhere. McConigley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, an MA in English from the University of Wyoming, and a BA in Literature from Saint Olaf College. She teaches at Colorado State University and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. She and her family live in Wyoming.
Review :
Tender, defiant, and formally daring, Nina McConigley's stunning debut novel How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is 'not the expected brown person story' but rather a tale of sisterhood and survival, a child's yearning for safety and protection, and the search for wholeness in a world that wants to split you in half. I fell in love with McConigley's fierce, wry narrator Georgie Ayyar from the first page and couldn't stop reading. A powerful, groundbreaking book
A fierce and marvelous book with an utterly unique, brightly burning lifeforce
Nina McConigley is a true original. With a wit so sharp that it makes you bleed as soon as it would make you laugh, she slices through the postcolonial dilemma with all of its complexities and absurdities. Heart-mending and heart-breaking - as only the truth can be
I have been waiting for Nina McConigley's debut novel for years and it's even better than I could have imagined. How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder takes all the expected stories about growing up Indian American, slices them open with razor-sharp wit, and turns them inside out. A moving portrayal of sisterhood and a much-needed examination of how power is abused - over girls, over countries, over cultures - and the possibilities, and costs, of reclaiming that power
Part thriller, part coming-of-age, part magazine quiz, Nina McConigley's inventive and captivating How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder boldly examines the often hidden and scary parts of childhood. Full of heart and soul, this is a knockout work that deftly tackles the complex bonds of friendship and family - offering up compelling questions for our notions of what it means to truly love
Spirited and witty, stylish and audacious, How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is gorgeously in possession of itself. Its avid curiosity about the world, its alertness to history, and its enormously fun storytelling - with a twist at the end - held me in their spell
This thrilling bildungsroman is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng
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
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
