She is based on one of my aunties, I won’t say which one, but it’s not based on the oldest one. I want to be Big Aunt when I grow up, she is so awesome. Was there an auntie that was your favorite to write? It’s just so difficult for me, I don’t know why! I tend to focus on non-facial descriptions which is funny that you noticed that. I actually had been consciously trying to improve on that like whenever I’m reading a book on physical description, I take notes. Jesse: I have a hard time writing physical descriptions of people or places. Was this something you didn’t focus on or figured that your readers would assume physical appearance? When you wrote about your aunties, there were very few descriptors. We actually call our aunties and uncles by their positions in the family. Jesse: In Chinese culture, it’s set up that way.

What was your reasoning for not giving your aunties their own names? The first big topic that readers were curious about had to do with the aunties (naturally)… In the name of equality, I’m going to treat my male characters the same way like in Dial A for Aunties. Something horrible always happens to them. One of the things I like to do is read – I love reading thrillers but in every thriller I’ve read, it’s always the women who are the victims. It strikes me as weird how many people have an issue with that. Jesse: The number one thing is equality for women, men and everyone. Renee started off our Q&A session with an important question for our group: What is your approach to feminism? What does it mean to be a feminist to you? Our FBC members got to sit down with Jesse and ask her some of their questions. Sutanto was a hilarious, thrilling and addicting story that made readers laugh out loud while sitting on the edge of their seats.

Renee put it simply when she said, “this was a riot to read.

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto