Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

[superborb]

As my pile of library books looks accusingly at me, I "accidentally" bought Black Water Sister, got thoroughly distracted, and read it in a multi-hour frenzy. Oops? 

 

The premise: Jess, an unemployed new college grad, is headed back to Malaysia with her parents after growing up in the US. With no time to adjust, she begins to hear the voice of her late grandmother, who wants Jess to take revenge on a gangster... It's a paranormal mystery with a theme of otherness.

 

OK I have to get it out of the way, this book hit my pet peeve on page two. The Ivies don't offer merit-based full rides!! I'm sorry, my overeducated USian self cannot help it. In all other respects, the US backstory is fine and vague.

 

Anyway, moving on, what I most love about Zen's set-in-Malaysia works is the Manglish. I've complained in the past about the self-consciousness of other works when trying to convey other languages; Zen never falls into that trap. It makes the work so much more immersive and real when you don't break disbelief for language. The only translation is for older sister, which was oddly explained twice-- it did act to emphasize those moments, I suppose.

 

Overall, the book is highly plot driven. It's like being tied to a train going full speed ahead sometimes. This obviously has its pros and cons: I never felt like the book was lagging and there was serious momentum at all points, but there wasn't as much space to explore anything other than Jess and the central plot. To me (and YMMV), sometimes characters felt like they existed only in conjunction to Jess and the plot. Part of this is the close third person POV: Jess is very much in her own head and it's totally in character for her to not have much insight into other people's emotional lives. 

 

I had seen some snippets of the book on twitter, and none of them I felt sold the book very well? Like, food yay, but that definitely undersells the book IMO. The tension of not being out underlies a lot of Jess's thought processes (even when she doesn't realize it consciously) and queerness conflated with diasporaness with otherness is a major theme... but 'paranormal mystery' was the primary vibe I got. Trying to predict the twists and turns ended up occupying more of my reading efforts.

 

In conclusion! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it. 

Comments

[dolorosa_12]

Amusingly, I just finished this book myself today! I love all of Zen Cho’s writing, but this was just on another level: at once hilarious (I loved all the crowds of interfering middle-aged relatives and their friends, who just appeared constantly at inopportune moments) and emotionally wrenching. And it was so incredibly, unapologetically Malaysian.

[superborb]

Hah, what a coincidence! I do think you can see her developing as a writer in her control over the emotional beats here!

[lirazel]

With both of you loving this, it seems like it'll be a good one to check out!

[superborb]

Definitely! If you haven't read any of Zen Cho and want to dip your feet in first, she has a lot of short stories too

[lirazel]

I've read The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and enjoyed it.

[superborb]

I should get on that one!

[issenllo]

With you on the Manglish. It was so enjoyable to read; I didn't get thrown out of the book.

Except for the first few moments, it didn't seem that horrifying? (and I say that as someone who actively avoids horror). Could be as you mentioned, it was relatively fast-paced and we're so tightly inside Jess's POV.

[silveredeye]

I keep hearing about Zen Cho and, uh, forgetting to actually buy a book (I read some of her short stories way back when and liked them), so I should probably get this. It sounds very good. :D

[superborb]

I also didn't get much of a horror vibe, though I think the scenes from black water sister's POV were supposed to be the horror parts? Those were kind of scary.

[superborb]

Yes! I think if you liked her short stories (esp the Malaysia set ones), this would appeal. It was very like those but with more Plot.

[whimsyful]

I also loved this one, so I def recommend it for you as well!

[lirazel]

Nice!!!

[cortue]

Sweet! This was already on my list and I'm going to go ahead and put it on hold at the library.

[superborb]

Yay!