Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

12 reviews

lilifane's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

I was in the mood to read a light-hearted YA Fantasy between two very intense books and thought this would actually be perfect. LOL! Nope. 
First of all, this is definitely not YA. I don't even know why I thought it was? And then after a lighthearted and funny beginning, the story gets pretty dark and intense and violent. But also in a good way. I really liked the characters, the protagonist was very relatable, the dynamics between her and the ghost hilarious. The writing style, especially the dialogues, might need some time to get used when you're not the child of immigrants. But since I am, it felt familiar (even if the languages are totally different in my case). 
Loved the atmosphere and how ghosts, spirits and gods played such a big part in the plot and every day life of the characters. Also, loved the themes that were explored in a raw and brutal way. Like having an identity crisis, being torn between your family and your own life, coming out to a traditional Chinese family, violence against women, sexism, generational trauma, unresolved hate and revenge. But there are some hard scenes towards the end, so I recommend checking trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Cancer, Medical content, and Outing

Minor: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Murder, Outing, Car accident, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

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

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

aprilincognito's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really liked the premise, the writing style, and a bit of the side eye comments related to white people or sexism, but I think the plot kind of lost its flow in the middle and it just ended up being a meh ending 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

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.

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

liliakwolf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

3.25

I think that Black Water Sister was very well written and I found the plot interesting. I loved the way that Malaysian culture was told in this book and felt that I learned a lot as someone who has very little experience with Malaysian culture, and all of the other cultures inside of it. I thought that this book also addressed generational curses and trauma very well and it felt very realistic, though it is a light-fantasy book. I would have given this book a higher rating, as I felt it hit all things well logically, it's just that for the majority of the book I wasn't super invested in the plot. That isn't to say that I didn't connect with the characters, I just wasn't super intrigued to find out what happened next, so it fell a bit flat there for me. I think that someone else could definitely find it more interesting in that regard though! There is a bit of heavy stuff in this book, so I recommend looking at the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Violence, Cancer, Xenophobia, Death, and Death of parent

bookreadingelf's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia and Violence

Moderate: Cancer and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent

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.