Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

11 reviews

imaginingly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Outing, Kidnapping, Death, and Cursing

traa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Cursing, Outing, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Cursing, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Stalking, Gun violence, and Racism

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Cursing, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

The death/gore/violence is more graphic than the sexual assault. The assault starts but is cut off immediately (cue violence). So if you are very sensitive, I would say this book is too graphic.

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Medical content, Rape, Physical abuse, Death, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Lesbophobia, Gore, Grief, and Sexual violence

Minor: Classism, Outing, Self harm, Torture, Racism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Cursing

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Outing, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cursing, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Body horror, Confinement, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Stalking

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Drug use, Gun violence, Abortion, and Self harm

booksthatburn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Jess has returned to Malaysia, adjusting to life with her extended family rather than only having her parents around. She frequently doesn't know what the social expectations are, and feels overwhelmed by the weight of all the unsaid things she "should" have just grown up knowing if she and her parents had never left for America when she was a child. When she starts dealing with spirits and gods after Ah Ma possesses her, she's even more out of her depth. The worldbuilding and characterization blend together, as most of what Jess is learning deals with a person or being and how to act around them. The first half was fine, but the second half is where this really shines. In the first part Jess gets a basic idea of what's going on, but then things start to go very badly and she has to adapt quickly with incomplete information. One of my favorite things is how Ah Ma's motivations seem simple but strange early one, then turn into this complex tangle, only to be completely understandable by the end as Jess uncovers long-buried or never acknowledged secrets in her quest to get her life back to normal and the god out of her life.

Jess is gay, with a (newly) long-distance girlfriend. Their relationship gets strained by the distance, suddenly reduced contact, and Jess's decision to not tell her any of the very weird things that have started happening to her. When she first heard Ah Ma she thought she was going crazy. Once it became clear that the voice was an actual ghost trying to get her to do something to help a god, Jess felt like she was too far in to start saying something now. An additional issue is that her girlfriend is out as gay but Jess isn't out to anyone who might get the information to her family. Now that she's surrounded by her family and her head is filled with Ah Ma, the slices of the day where Jess feels safe to be herself are getting smaller and smaller. It's a very relatable portrayal of a fracturing relationship, frequently on Jess's mind but not taking over the narrative. 

The audiobook performer is excellent. I love the ending, it gets things to a new status quo without attempting to fix absolutely everything that's wrong, keeping some of the messiness of life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Vomit, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Cancer, Ableism, Medical content, and Death of parent

lilly_anne's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Cancer, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Death, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Racism

_forestofpages's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I immediately found myself relating to Jessamyn; she uses humor as a defense, hides her true emotions and compartmentalizes. She seems to be depressed and anxious as well, not to mention in the closet and surrounded by judgmental and religious people who would not approve of who she is because she's gay. I loved her character development, which I won't spoil, but it's gradual and realistic and I truly appreciated how much time the author took with developing her.

I absolutely loved her family. Some of them weren't so great (though I related to that too), but her parents are amazing. It's refreshing seeing a teenager in a book with decent parents for once. Her Ah Ma reminded me so much of my own grandmother, and she was truly a complex character. 

There is a crime and mystery element to this along with the supernatural/mythology aspects all through the lens of interesting and vivid Malaysian culture. The blend of the modern and ancient was something I haven't read in some time and this book reminded me how much I missed it. This was also a great representation of a closeted character with a traditional family dating long-distance an "out" person. The relationship, though not a main focus, was still handled very well and realistically. I appreciated that it wasn't all the character thought about, but was still a big part of her life.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys magical realism, mythology and well done LGBT rep, with a side of dysfunctional but well intentioned family drama. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Racism, Classism, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Religious bigotry, Racism, and Vomit

mitone_winona's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Before going into how fantastic the author, Zen Cho, did an amazing job doing magical realism during modern times, I praise the author for perfectly capturing family dynamics and how family REALLY is. The story is through the eyes of Jess as she deals with leaving America to go back home to Malaysia as well as the heaviness of wanting to help her parents as well as keeping her girlfriend secret from her family. Not only is Jess dealing with problems stewing in herself, she is also being possessed by the ghost of her grandmother, Ah Ma. Ah Ma has unfinished business of her own and has chosen Jess to carry out her plans so she can finally pass on and be at rest.

Throughout the story, Ah Ma and Jess bicker continuously and Ah Ma doesn't always give a straight answer to Jess instead giving the infamous "Because I told you so" to Jess in response to questions about why in the world does Jess of all people have to deal with gods and gangs and family matters for her grandmother.

While the mentioning of being possessed by a ghost grandmother, dealing with gods and gangs and the consequences of gentrification will throw a viewer in a loop, I promise the author tells the story beautifully and all of it makes sense and this book never has a slow moment.

Jess is a character trying not to be suffocated under the weight of the world, she is a fighter to the bone and that will make you cheer on for her. She is straight forward, smart, and heart breakingly real that you'll feel as if you want to back up Jess' throughout her journey in investigating what is going on, how to make her grandmother leave immediately, and who is Black Water Sister.

For those that like stories dealing with magical realism as well as action and family matters, I encourage you to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Violence

Moderate: Cursing and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Concerning the Sexual Harassment warning; There is a scene near the last 5 or 4 chapters of the book where an attempt is made towards Jess but nothing further happens concerning sexual assault.