January 8, 2024
Sutanto’s zany third and final adventure for newlywed Meddy Chan and her bighearted yet bullheaded aunts (after Four Aunties and a Wedding) serves up all the mafia mix-ups and madcap chases that series fans have come to expect. Meddy and her well-mannered husband, Nathan, are honeymooning in France when they get a call from Meddy’s mother inviting them to Jakarta to celebrate Chinese New Year with her large extended family. During the festivities, a cavalcade of sleek black cars arrive. From one of them emerges gangster Abraham “Abi” Lincoln, who, as a teen, was in love with Meddy’s aunt Enjelin. He’s come bearing gifts to the entire family in a bid to renew his courtship, but in a rush of excitement, an important document gets mixed in with the presents and then goes missing. Meddy, Nathan, and the aunties set out to retrieve it, only to fall into the middle of a vicious business rivalry that could endanger their lives. Some readers may be worn out by the unrelentingly frantic pace, but Sutanto packs in loads of local color, and gives the aunties ample opportunity to let their freak flags fly. This caper mostly pays off. Agent: Katelyn Detweiler, Jill Grinberg Literary.
February 1, 2024
Meddelin ("Madeleine" wastes vowels) finally caught "the One That Got Away" after being reunited in Dial A for Aunties (2021) and married in Four Aunties and a Wedding (2022). After luxuriously honeymooning across Europe, Meddy's got to present Nathan to her extended Indonesian clan, just in time for Chinese New Year. The aunties--Big Aunt, Second Aunt, Fourth Aunt--and Ma are, of course, eagerly waiting to claim Nathan at the Jakarta airport. The newlyweds (and everyone else in the family's megamanse) are awakened the following morning by "the Scourge of Jakarta"--Abraham Lincoln Irawan--and his rifle-toting entourage bearing lavish gifts. Distracted by adoration for Second Aunt, Abi gives away something he shouldn't have, inciting domino-tumbling (mafia) mayhem that Meddy and the Aunties must set right. Delightfully preposterous monikers (Julia Child Handoko, Kristofer Kolumbes Hermansah) populate the extensive cast as precarious chaos reigns, but true love will indeed conquer all. Sutanto delivers another addictive romp, managing to negotiate a thrilling (multi) happily-ever-after finale because, alas, this concludes the Aunties series. But Sutanto's acknowledgements promise "other meddlesome, auntie characters . . . to come."
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