There is nothing more integral to identity than family and culture, as one informs the other and vice versa. This becomes even more complicated as you get older, as cultural norms usually embeds itself into what your family and society expect of you by a certain age for example who you spend your life with. These very cultural and familial norms are very apparent and integral to the book and movie, Crazy Rich Asians.

The movie and the book introduced the world to a place where being Asian is the majority and default. This is why a recent conversation with a friend lead to representation in the media, and with the amount of Filipinos in California. We wondered why so many movies, tv shows, and books take place in the Golden State, and how so very little of them even feature a Filipinx or any Asian for that matter? The world is as diverse as it is beautiful, so why does the media not reflect this? This is why when I heard of Maria Qamar’s Trust No Aunty, I was more than eager to leap into the many eccentricities of being a South Asian.

We find out in the introduction, that when a South Asian woman calls another woman “auntie,” it actually refers to her age and the demeanor she carries, as the book is divided into five sections, each giving tongue in cheek advice of how to deal with these overbearing women who pervade every corner of Indian culture. In the first section, “In School,” we find out just how an Indian woman becomes an “aunty,” and the many things that run through her mind., as one of the funnier vignettes, breaks down five different typical American high school experiences that would traumatize the typical Desi teen, one of them being picking a Halloween outfit. In “Professional Life,” gets into the professional Indian woman that you typically find in the workplace, one either belittles you or gives you much unsolicited advice about making in the working world. In “Love Shove,” Qamar dives into the pressures a Desi woman face in finding a man and getting married, one of the more interesting sections being the types of men that most Indian women encounter. In “Beauty, Body and Color,” the reader gets a rare insight into how Indian culture is obsessed with beauty as the gossip laden section that covers coconut oil, feels like it should in just about any health magazine. In “Domestic Skills That Pay The Bills,” Qamar dips into India’s love affair with food. In the last section, “Life, Style & Life-Style,” we get a quick and dirty guide into fashion within Desi culture.

Overall, an excellent book that is both funny and subversive and give outsiders a rare look into Desi culture. The stories by Maria Qamar are funny, realistic, and irreverent. The art by Qamar is beautiful. Altogether, an excellent graphic novel which will give readers a true appreciation of Indian culture.

Story: Maria Qamar Art: Maria Qamar
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy