Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

134 reviews

gellyreads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.25

This book feels so tough to review. I feel like I should have loved it and I just didn't. It felt so slow and it felt like a struggle to get through. I was telling my friend what was going on in the book about halfway and how it felt like nothing was happening, and she said it sounded like a lot was happening, and I was like yeah, okay, I guess it is. I just couldn't bring myself to care.

(In case you are wondering where I was, I was telling her how her grandmother had possesed her and she had just been drugged by her uncle. Which, upon reflection, having someone drug you is a pretty big plot point, so I did concede. Stuff is happening in this book.)

I wasn't invested in these characters at all. I will say that I didn't see everything coming, but I appreciated the thematic resolution, although I hated how the book ended - literally the last page of it.

Like, I can't believe I didn't realize that the Uncle was Ng Chee's son, even though I probably should have? I did like that Black Water Sister was subdued by like justice and peace/love. That felt nice. BUT LITERALLY IT TOOK THE ENTIRE BOOK FOR HER TO COME OUT?! ONLY FOR US TO NOT SEE HOW HER PARENTS REACT?! That felt like a GIANT "fuck you" to the reader!

I think I will try Cho's other books, but after a decent break from them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

leannanecdote's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Gore, Violence, Racism, Grief, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, and Religious bigotry

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

Jess is already dealing with the stress of meeting her family’s expectations, hiding her secret girlfriend, and job hunting, when she realizes she’s also being haunted by her dead grandmother. Solid story with grounded characters and relationships, a tense supernatural plot, and a good balance of humorous and heartfelt moments. Some dialog felt slow, some themes felt thinly incorporated, and a couple plot points seemed to trail off, but these seem to fit with the realism of the setting and resolution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Kidnapping, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Minor: Car accident, Classism, and Racism

ximajs's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Homophobia

invaderday's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

hmmm the first half was incredibly boring. the second half was exciting but i still didn't feel all that invested in the resolution. the narration was excellent tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Homophobia

miaaa_lenaaa's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The premise of the was good and it was well written there was just something about it that just dragged a little slow for me

‘Maybe that was what true love meant: a bitterness that stayed on the tongue when everything else faded.’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Cancer, and Death

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

greymalkin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the premise and sparring between the main character and her grandmother.  And it was an all too rare delight to immerse in a culturally different linguistic rhythm of speech.  But Jess was not fun to spend time with.  The secret-keeping drove me crazy.  It didn't seem like there was much point other than to stretch out plot points. 

I wish that there had been more about the rest of the life in Malaysia, something to contrast all the stuff that Jess is going through.  And she's such a terrible girlfriend, I didn't see the chemistry, nor why the other girl stuck around as long as she did.  I would have loved more about Ah Ma, or the guy, or Ah Ku, or the girlfriend, or her parents, or basically almost any one else, they were all so much more interesting to me.  The ending was pretty good on the ghosts stuff, but I wish that we'd actually been able to see more of a pay off for Jess' coming out.  Not because we are owed that, but because I wanted to see Jess's parents surprise Jess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Classism, Racism, and Homophobia

anna220310's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Cancer, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, and Car accident

kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence and Violence

Minor: Homophobia