60 pages • 2 hours read
Jesse Q. SutantoDial A for Aunties
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Meddy Chan and her aunts’ personalities are inspired by the real members of Jesse Q. Sutanto’s family. Sutanto has many reasons for drawing inspiration from her own family, from a disdain for research to a desire to share information about Indonesia with Westerners. Sutanto, who grew up living in Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford—and currently resides in Jakarta with her family—has “forty-two first cousins and thirty aunties and uncles, many of whom live just down the road” (Sutanto, Jesse Q. “Meet the Sutantos: How My Wacky Indonesian Family Inspired a Murder Mystery.” CrimeReads, 29 Apr. 2021). Like Nathan Chan, Sutanto’s husband, Mike, is British. Sutanto has said, “[A]side from the dead body, my large family can produce situations as wild as the ones in my book [Dial A for Aunties.] [...] They may go a little overboard, but they always remind me of how loved I am” (“Meet the Sutantos”).
Sutanto, who, like Meddy, has also worked as a wedding photographer, exemplifies her family’s dynamic with Mike through a story about an instance of food poisoning. Within minutes of discovering that Mike felt sick, several relatives recommended and delivered remedies they swore by, defending each with well-intentioned squabbling—much like the aunties’ bickering in the novel about how to dispose of Ah Guan’s body (and about everything else). Like Nathan, Mike was overwhelmed but took everything in stride, even after an “I told you so” from Sutanto’s mother after Mike’s second bout of food poisoning. In fact, Mike is one of Sutanto’s motivations to write about her heritage.
Sutanto’s use of Indonesian, Mandarin, and English in the novel is also intentional. Singlish—a mix of English, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay, which is prevalent in Singapore—is the language Sutanto is most comfortable speaking. However, outside Asia, Sutanto notes that “broken” English is stigmatized, an attitude reflected through Sheriff McConnell in the novel, who disrespects Nathan despite his cooperation in the murder investigation. This disrespect is also evident through McConnell’s blasé treatment of Ah Guan’s corpse. In contrast, white people who speak local languages in Asia are praised for their “broken” efforts, though non-white people are often ridiculed. Sutanto, who is a non-native English speaker and who has also struggled with heritage languages, demonstrates these issues through Meddy, who only knows English, and through the constant comparisons to Nathan and Maureen, who have stronger linguistic fluency in Chinese and/or Indonesian.
Sutanto also includes “broken” English and language mixes because her family naturally speaks that way. She “wanted to show that behind the halting sentences, there are highly intelligent people, people whose words flow out of them in their own language” (“My Broken English”). In the novel, Ma went to university, and the aunts are all very successful in their respective careers; Sutanto herself has a Master’s in Creative Writing from Oxford University.
Finally, Sutanto chose to make the murder victim a man to subvert the “overdone” “damsel in distress” trope in the mystery/thriller genres (Neu, Claudia. “Jesse Q. Sutanto on Flipping the Trope.” Feminist Book Club, 6 Oct. 2021). When she reads fairy tales to her daughters, Sutanto admits that she often “switch[es] up the characters so that the damsel in distress becomes a prince in distress and the one saving him is a princess” (Shoenberger, Elisa. “Talking Crime and Weddings with Jesse Q. Sutanto.” Murder & Mayhem, 27 Apr. 2022). This inversion is reflected in the novel as well through Meddy’s perception of the family “curse/blessing” of male abandonment, Meddy’s strong female relatives, and her own journey toward independence and self-assertion. As in Sutanto’s rendition of fairy tales, Meddy is the heroine who saves Nathan, the “prince in distress” baselessly accused of murder by the sheriff. It is also Meddy and her aunts whose plan to hide Ah Guan’s body after his attempted sexual assault results in his accidental murder. Therefore, while Dial A for Aunties is on the surface a rom-com/cozy mystery beach read, in reality, it is much more complex.
Cultural Context: Chinese Indonesian Wedding Customs
Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world (after the US) and has hundreds of ethnic minorities, including Chinese Indonesians, all within an island archipelago about three times the size of Texas. It is a predominantly Muslim country, followed by various denominations of Christianity and other religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Indonesian wedding traditions are also very diverse, with certain special ceremonies varying by ethnic group. This section focuses on traditions specific to Chinese Indonesian weddings, in connection with Sutanto’s novel.
The history of Indonesia’s Chinese population is complex. While Chinese people have resided in Indonesia for centuries, in recent history, they have been persecuted for political and economic reasons, as during the Dutch colonialization of Indonesia and the subsequent political changes in Asia during the 20th century. During Suharto’s presidency of Indonesia, many traditional aspects of Chinese culture were also suppressed and outlawed. As a result of this persecution and suppression, Chinese Indonesian wedding customs are distinct from traditional Chinese wedding customs and Indonesian ones. Elements of both remain, and newer elements, often adopted from Western traditions (many Chinese Indonesians converted to Christianity during the persecution period) have been added. In short, Chinese Indonesian wedding traditions are unique.
Like many other Indonesian weddings, Chinese Indonesian weddings are lavish affairs. They often include thousands of guests, as well as the guests’ plus-ones (or more); this high attendance is especially true at the wedding reception. Chinese Indonesian weddings often begin a week before the actual ceremony. During this time, the groom’s family will traditionally visit the bride’s family home with gifts in red containers. Red, which is a lucky color in Chinese tradition, symbolizes “happiness” and “prosperity” (“Indonesian Wedding Ceremonies and Customs”). These gifts traditionally include “fruit, clothes, gold jewelry and ‘uang susu’ (milk money)” (Ahmadli, Aysima. “Wedding Traditions of Asia: China, India, Indonesia.” UCL Asiatic Affairs, 20 May 2020). The wealthier the family, often the more generous the gifts. The bride’s family receives and sorts these gifts, sending the groom’s party home with half of them. Three days prior to the wedding, the bride’s family visits the groom with gifts of their own. Similarly, the groom’s family receives and sorts the gifts, again returning half. This practice is depicted in the novel through the acara penjemputan ceremony. Although the penjemputan in the novel is a condensed and modernized version, with the groomsmen simply visiting the bridal hotel suite, bearing gifts, and undergoing trials, the general traditions remain the same.
The tea ceremony in the novel is also part of the Chinese Indonesian tradition. This ceremony appears to be a direct carry-over from Chinese tradition: the couple serves their elders tea as a sign of respect and gratitude, and they receive red packets of gift money in return (Ahmadli). The ceremony is usually for family only. The lavish counterpart in the novel depicts this ceremony briefly: Meddy photographs the event, noting the relatives’ competition in their extravagant gifts, from houses to cars to brand-name watches. Since the Wijayas and Sutopos are incredibly wealthy, the tea ceremony gifts in the novel are worth a total of about US$2 million.
Professional wedding photos and a church service are also common elements of a Chinese Indonesian wedding, though these parts do not appear in the novel. These elements of the weddings are usually attended by family only. The wedding attire is also typically Westernized, depicted by Jacqueline’s wedding gown that required two people to lift so Meddy could photograph it.
The wedding reception is the main event for most guests and has the highest attendance. Guests, who often give monetary gifts upon arrival, are served a lavish meal, often nine to 10 courses, after shaking hands with the couple. An MC is also hired to direct proceedings and announce speeches. A wedding singer may be employed for entertainment. Unlike other traditional Muslim weddings in Indonesia, alcohol may be served. Elements of the reception were included in the novel, such as the MC and the thousands of guests, as well as Fourth Aunt’s position as wedding singer.
Finally, the cake is also an integral part of the wedding ceremony. Typically, it is a Lapis Surabaya (layer cake) of enormous size, symbolizing a ladder to success (Ahmadli). The wedded couple cuts the cake at the beginning of the reception, starting from the bottommost layer and moving upward. The couple feeds each other cake with entwined arms—traditional Chinese weddings do something similar with alcohol—before serving the elders in their family. While the reception was canceled in the novel, Big Aunt’s cake was described as a marvel with marbled buttercream frosting.
In summary, Chinese Indonesian weddings are lavish affairs. Sutanto’s depiction of one is even more so, combining the elaborate Chinese Indonesian traditions with the exuberance of a celebrity couple, then adding the drama of a rom-com/murder mystery to the mix.
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