Zen Cho

Black Water Sister

'A sharp and bittersweet story of past and future, ghosts and gods and family, that kept me turning pages into the dark hours of the night' - Naomi Novik This mischievous Malaysian-set novel is an adventure featuring family, ghosts and local gods - from Hugo Award winning novelist Zen Cho. HER GRANDMOTHER MAY BE DEAD BUT SHE'S NOT DONE WITH LIFE . . . YET As Jessamyn packs for Malaysia, it's not a good time to start hearing a bossy voice in her head. Broke, jobless and just graduated, she's abandoning America to return 'home'. But she last saw Malaysia as a toddler - and is completely unprepared for its ghosts, gods and her eccentric family's shenanigans. Jess soon learns her 'voice' belongs to Ah Ma, her late grandmother. She worshipped the Black Water Sister, a local deity. And when a business magnate dared to offend her goddess, Ah Ma swore revenge. Now she's decided Jess will help, whether she wants to or not. As Ah Ma blackmails Jess into compliance, Jess fights to retain control. But her irrepressible relative isn't going to let a little thing like death stop her, when she can simply borrow Jess's body to make mischief. As Jess is drawn ever deeper into a world of peril and family secrets, getting a job becomes the least of her worries. 'This may be Zen Cho's best work yet' - Karen Lord 'A compelling and deftly written ghost story' - Kate Elliott

Eva Ströberg

I picked up this book because of the Malaysian element in it. Hailing from Indonesia myself, I thought it would be enjoyable to read something that I probably could relate, culture-wise. 

But oh how wrong I was.

This book is probably more apt for Young Adults, with its ghostly content (I do love a good horror story though), childish characters, peppered with Malay languages (no explanation - good thing I understand them!) and a heavy dose of Chinese-Southeast Asian culture where filial piety fills up about every chapters in this book.

Jessamyn, who was born and grew up in the US, moved back to Malaysia with her (Malaysian) parents after the parents business fold. But it’s not easy when she’s also gay (insert the gasp) and had to deal with people and also ghosts haunting her back in Penang

It turned out, I couldn’t relate at all with this book, and it would be even harder read to those who don’t have similar background as mine.

A twisty, feminist, and enthralling page-turner.--BuzzFeed A sharp and bittersweet story of past and future, ghosts and gods and family.--Naomi Novik, New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education "Ghosts, gods, and supernatural vengeance collide in vividly-depicted modern day Malaysia to create a contemporary fantasy story that's full of voice and heart."--Fonda Lee, author of The Green Bone Saga A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy. When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she's moving back to Malaysia with her parents - a country she last saw when she was a toddler. She soon learns the new voice isn't even hers, it's the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the god--and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not. Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated. Especially when Ah Ma tries to spy on her personal life, threatens to spill her secrets to her family and uses her body to commit felonies. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she'll also need to regain control of her body and destiny - or the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.

Bria

This book was okay. I feel like some things should've been fleshed out more.
I didn't relate to Jess much, so it made it hard to get into the book. I love Ah Ma though.

"It figured that she’d avoided getting nagged to go to law school, only to get nagged to become a vessel of the dead." 

Cho moves from sketchings of Malaysia in historicity and short fiction vignettes in her previous works to a full-length, contemporary, ghostly romp across Penang. The specificity of place and language indulged my heart from across the causeway: Cho never makes excuses or offers to translate; the dialogue throughout has an unabashedly, wonderfully familiar Manglish cadence I rarely read in books, peppered with loan words in Hokkien and Malay. Though it's marketed a fantasy, for anyone even remotely familiar with Chinese religion it feels less like a fantasy than an unearthing: of cantankerous ghosts and vengeful gods already lurking somewhere amidst the city. As such, there's a lot of seeing and unseeing in this novel, bridging between worlds as American-raised Jess struggles to adjust to her lack of prospects after college, struggles to deal with the ghost of her angry spirit medium Ah Ma attempting to possess her for revenge, and struggles to navigate all this amongst a family that would more readily accept a ghost haunting her than the fact that she's gay. Cho explores family, identity, and the friction between the old faiths and the new with her trademark injections of humour. But equally, she deftly weaves Jess, Ah Ma and the eponymous god Black Water Sister into a multi generational exploration of yearning, frustration--and female rage. 

The novel strikes a particular,  underrepresented chord of queerness, identity, belief and cosmopolitanism in I think both Malaysia and Singapore alike. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, resonant read, and it almost makes you wish your Hokkien grandmother started speaking in your head.

Christine Bruce

A young woman moves with her family back to Malaysia, at which point Jess starts hearing voices, specifically one voice- her dead grandmother, she’s speaking Malay in the middle of the night with her aunt, and shes hiding her relationship with another woman from her family. Long story short, she’s exhausted. Now, she has been forced to take the responsibilities of settling a score against a gang boss who is trying to destroy the land of a mysterious and dangerous deity that her grandmother served- the Black Water Sister. 

The thing I loved most about this book was all the smaller gods and goddesses throughout the country. The god at the construction site, the tradition of leaving offerings, so many little details. The way the god and goddesses are the ones in control in this land, whether you believe in them or not.

That helplessness helps Jess determine what’s important to her and what aspects of her life she wants to protect, and the depths to her bravery when she stands up for all of it. I also loved the believable advancement of her character in these scenes. She’s been in such a state of depression and inaction, that to see her finally take action was a real bad ass moment. 

There’s not very many downsides to this book, though Jess’s girlfriend did irritate me at moments. That relationship was never fully solidified, we were only ever TOLD they loved each other, but only ever SAW Jess avoiding talking to her and lying. It overall read like a very new relationship and every emotion related to it felt over dramatic. 

The subtle building of the fantasy based on real world practice made me feel like there could really be a bunch of spirits that I just can’t talk to. A really great realistic fantasy. 

💭 
8/10
Realistic fantasy
Close knit family
Going back to your roots
Unbelievable romance
Danger of trauma 
What a twist!

Megan Lowe

An okay book, but not really my type of book.
I loved the Asian theme of this book, even if at times the language was a little hard to get my head around.
Ah Ma was a great character, very interesting.
The twists and turns kept things moving, and on your toes.
But it’s not really my type. An okay book.

Fraser Simons

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, in terms of plot beats. That made it more interesting to me. I liked that the story felt really organic. There’s quite a lot of worldbuilding scaffolding, the character relationships feel spot on, and I really, really liked the various conflict resolution in this. Every situation feels dynamic and appropriate.

Craft-wise, there is quite a bit of exposition but I would wager that’s because it’s a challenging setting to convey to people. Everything about it is not something the average reader would be familiar with it, then the fantasy elements are added to it. So, I think it makes sense. The prose isn’t particularly evocative or flowery, which makes it feel pretty commercial—but is perfectly serviceable. The flow especially stands out as being great.

Jess is not steeped in the culture so experiencing everything through her eyes worked well. I think this will be big for representation for some people. She’s both trying to pass in a new culture that has some heavy prejudices, passing for straight with her family, and feels like she doesn’t belong to either culture. The fantasy elements are interesting but the standout aspect to me was the character drama. I actually wish there were more character development/interactions between Jess and her girlfriend. But did like the ending. Feels pretty solid to me.

Sahi K

It's more of a 3.5 but I am rounding up.

CW: Attempted kidnapping/rape.

I have thought about reading Zen Cho's fantasy books many times before, but my TBR is enormous and I hardly ever find time to read backlist titles. But when I first saw the cover of Black Water Sister, I was immediately impressed and adding it to my list, despite not usually going for paranormal or urban fantasy stories. Having been very glad for getting the ARC, I started reading it and completely felt immersed in this spooky world.

I think I've read only a couple of novels set in Malaysia, so it was quite fascinating to be in this setting. The author also does a great job bringing Penang to life, especially the multi-religious diversity of the place as well the deep beliefs in gods and mediums. As someone who has grown up religious but whose relationship with faith has changed over the years, the idea of ghosts and gods and possession, as well as other superstitions that form a major part of this story, didn't feel impossible to me at all and I could feel myself transported into this world. The plot is also very interesting - involving past family secrets, a high capital real estate project, a god with an incomplete revenge who is unhappy with the project affecting her temple, and a young woman already stressed with her move from America and a secret of her own, now trying to figure out a way out of her supernatural entanglements. The pacing did feel a little slow at times but it picked up immediately, and the dialogue with a generous use of Hokkien and Malay words as well as a very informal style of speaking definitely helped with my enjoyment. However, I have a feeling that this might feel even better as an audiobook if narrated by someone who knows the language.

Jess was such a relatable protagonist. While being a lesbian was an important part of her identity and she was very scared about telling her parents the truth, this is not a coming out story and I liked that, because we deserve all kinds of stories with LGBT+ protagonists. While she is natually skeptical initially about the whole possession by a ghost thing, it was very interesting to see her come to terms with it, and then struggle everyday to fulfil her grandmother's wishes while also trying not to lose herself. At the same time, she is also dealing with her family situation, especially her mother's fragile mental state and her father's hardships. There were times I really got mad at her mom because I thought she was emotionally blackmailing Jess and I don't know if that was what the author wanted to project, but it was too close to my heart not to react that way. Over the years, I have really come to resent most Asian parents' expectation of their child to be filial forever at the expense of their own desires, and I guess I have become prone to react emotionally to such situations even in a fictional story. However, I appreciated how Jess kept her cool even in dire circumstances and took decisive actions when necessary. It felt like she gained confidence and clarity about herself by the end of the story and I loved that for her. I don't have much to say about other side characters, coz they didn't leave much of an impression on me except Ah Ma, who was a grumpy ghost grandma and her interactions with Jess were mostly quite funny.

In the end, while there were some things that didn't feel upto the mark for me, this was still a well written enjoyable story and I would love to read more about the author. There were also times where I felt the resolutions felt too convenient, but I guess that's not too unexpected in a book full of ghosts and gods. With a very brave protagonist at the centre, the author has woven an intricate story of family, faith and identity that will transport you into the setting and make you believe in Jess's convictions.

Jennifer

Full review: (June 9th 2021)

Where do I even start? This is the first South East Asian-inspired book that I ended up really enjoying. I laughed and cried all the same as I ploughed through most of Black Water Sister within a single day. This is a compelling and entertaining adult fantasy set in modern day Malaysia. Following Jessamyn's intriguing narrative, this haunting ghost story probes deep into family secrets and coming in terms of one's personal identity.

Having read Zen Cho's several books in the past, I've grown to admire her impeccable ability of incorporating the cultural elements without sacrificing the storytelling. Black Water Sister is no exception. Through Jessamyn's perspective, I could firsthand feel the cultural clash that she's going through (we know that Jess spent her childhood in Malaysia but is educated in the US): with her career aspirations, familial expectations, as well as the superstitious beliefs. Her interactions with family members highlights this fault line so it's interesting to see how Jess slowly comes in terms of her home culture as the novel progresses.

I also thought the fantasy elements are seamlessly woven into the contemporary storyline, so this aspect of reading Black Water Sister felt effortless in a way that I didn't have to carve out extra energy to learn the magic system / deities. I think the supernatural elements in Black Water Sister really enhanced the storytelling here: family, traditions, and change of societal expectations through the generations. While a few scenes are a tad graphical, I didn't feel like these horror elements overshadows the messaging that this book intends to convey.

Let me zoom into Jessamyn now because getting to jump into her headspace while reading this book really made me laugh aloud. I can say that I love her sassy, sarcastic, and witty voice. Given the time I've read this, I found her narrative really relatable: I'm in a similar position as she's in career-wise and emotionally. So while the novel is a haunting ghost story set in Malaysia, this is also a superb story about self-discovery: coming in terms of one's sexual orientation, gender role, and taking command of one's narratives. 

To sum this up, Black Water Sister is a very enjoyable urban fantasy read: really likeable main character, excellent discussion about cultural differences, and cleverly incorporated ghost story. To anyone who's looking for something spooky and entertaining all the same, this book is definitely worth checking out!

N.B. This book contains following content warnings: blood mention, mentions of nausea / vomiting, loss of loved ones, hospital visits, abuse, violence, accidents, and illnesses

dawn

[4.5 stars]

i usually don't read books about supernatural stuff because i get scared easily (lol), but that was not the case for this book, and in fact i found Black Water Sister comforting and heartwarming. my favourite thing about this book was its plot (though i won't say much about it to prevent any spoilers)! Jess and Ah Ma's relationship was very genuine and relatable, and i found myself thinking of my grandmother as i read this. as a Singaporean-Chinese, i loved the authenticity of the lingo used as well as the Asian rep! however, i felt that towards the middle of the book there was a lot of "tell-not-show" which made the writing feel a little too literal? but after a while it got back on track and the ending was truly an excellent closure to the storyline.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

This is a story that wears a lot of faces. Coming of age, immigrant story, ghost story, thriller. It's full of Cho's funny, pacy, pugnacious style and Ah Ma is a real hoot. But it also goes to some dark places on homophobia, misogyny and violence against women. I loved it.

Amanda J 

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. 

I have a difficult time rating this book. Because it wasn't bad by any means it just didn't deliver what I wanted from it. I wanted more Malay mythology and ghosts. This book ended up only being a fraction of that and more just bumbling about with abrupt chapter/scene endings. Often times the chapter/scene would end in the middle of a conversation. Once is a different literary technique; multiple times has me flipping back and forth wondering if I missed something. This just proved that the conversation/event wasn't important enough, especially as often it was never discussed again, it should've been cut again. 

I was often confused when the characters had discussions with the gods/spirits through mediums. It wasn't clear who was talking to whom and if it was in their head or heard aloud by other characters. Maybe this was intentional, but it didn't work for me. 

Maybe if the book was longer it would have helped. There are great character outlines there, but despite spending the entire book with them I can't tell you much about them. Like the girlfriend. I wish there were more conversations between them or even thoughts about her. The conversations we did get showed a very loving, close relationship, but. by the middle of the book she seemed like an afterthought. 

So what did I like? I liked the integration of language; how the conversations seemed natural and didn't explain to the reader. I also loved Ah Ma! I didn't always agree with her decisions. But she had some of the best lines and her story was great. The book honestly felt more like Ah Ma's story than Jess'.

I'm glad I read it, but it's not going to be a reread.

Tianna Kelly

so there is a lot to unpack and I haven't read the other reviews in fear of spoilers but I have noticed the several things that made this book disappointing to me: causal racism, homophobia, and colorism.

I need to clarify that I am Black and I understand racism and colorism through the American lens and if you are reading this review you need to understand that colorism and racism develop to particular regions of their society. So when I was presented with the colorism in this book it was in regards to the color of your skin is attached to the type of job you had: indoor jobs fair tone and outdoor jobs darker tone; Our main character Jess grew up in the US and sees the colorism throughout the book and doesn't speak out against it which rubbed me the wrong way ON TOP OF her families' blase racist comments about people from India. When Jess is meant with racist comments, homophobia, and colorism she wasn't being anti-racist, she was not having those hard conversations with her parents.
Jess throughout the book prides herself on talking back to her parents and challenging them but when it comes to these hard discussions she backs down. The homophobia was likely the only Jess challenged when she is hinted at coming out to her parents so baby steps 



The Book 
The magic systems felt unclear and nothing progressed the understanding for the reader. The later scene with the medium really brought everything into perspective but the pay off wasn't there. The character has a meta moment where she realizes that she is living in a world where she is the outsider and doesn't know where to being in her search for ~reasons~ for a brief moment she does ask her parents on insight but it doesn't help up go anywhere. The information that we need never gets discovered by our MC but only told to her through her grandmother which got repetitive. 

I think the tag line for the book was what really drew me in and the execution is what drew me out

Suzie

Michele Papa

Estelle

A sharp and bittersweet story of past and future, ghosts and gods and family, that kept me turning pages into the dark hours of the night' – Naomi Novik This mischievous Malaysian-set novel is an adventure featuring family, ghosts and local gods - from Hugo Award winning novelist Zen Cho. HER GRANDMOTHER MAY BE DEAD BUT SHE’S NOT DONE WITH LIFE . . . YET As Jessamyn packs for Malaysia, it’s not a good time to start hearing a bossy voice in her head. Broke, jobless and just graduated, she’s abandoning America to return ‘home’. But she last saw Malaysia as a toddler – and is completely unprepared for its ghosts, gods and her eccentric family’s shenanigans. Jess soon learns her ‘voice’ belongs to Ah Ma, her late grandmother. She worshipped the Black Water Sister, a local deity. And when a business magnate dared to offend her goddess, Ah Ma swore revenge. Now she’s decided Jess will help, whether she wants to or not. As Ah Ma blackmails Jess into compliance, Jess fights to retain control. But her irrepressible relative isn’t going to let a little thing like death stop her, when she can simply borrow Jess’s body to make mischief. As Jess is drawn ever deeper into a world of peril and family secrets, getting a job becomes the least of her worries. ‘This may be Zen Cho's best work yet’ – Karen Lord ‘A compelling and deftly written ghost story' – Kate Elliott

Black Water Sister

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