Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Black Water Sister

Black Water Sister is such an energetic, colourful, intelligent, playful, funny, and insightful take on coming of age as a millennial twenty-something. As a reader, I felt all of Jessamyn's struggles deeply - especially her complicated and exhausting but deeply loving relationship with her family, and the sheer battle of finding the time and energy to carve out a way forwards in this world.

The story is infused with exquisite details of the layered, hybrid culture that Jess inhabits, from Malay food to Hokkien etymology. Zen Cho's writing is considered and nuanced, picking out the good, the bad, and the ugly in every situation and every relationship that Jess experiences. The racism she faces in America and the homophobia she skirts around in Malaysia are both depicted in profoundly simple and emotionally rich prose. This story is rich in intersectional feminism, thoroughly conscious of how different struggles work together to shape us in ways that we don't always like.

The humour in this book is absolutely excellent, punctuating the heavy themes with biting, acerbic wit that only adds nuance to the more difficult material. I particularly loved how Jess interacted with her mother and Ah Ma - I could map some of these conversations directly over chats I've had with my own mother and grandmother! All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read that I'd definitely recommend.

Content Warnings

inamerata's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense

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

Content Warnings

elwirax's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

3.5

*3.5/5

TW- drugging, violence, attempted rape, homophobia, domestic abuse, kidnapping

Rep- Chinese Malaysian American, Lesbian MC, Indian American, lesbian LI, Indian, Malaysian and Chinese side characters.

This is my second book from Zen Cho and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. I find her writing style to be very easy going yet engaging and will definitely be picking up more of her work in the future.

While most of the compelling nature of this book derived from the plot, it also came from Jessamyn (Jess) herself. From the very beginning she is a very likeable, smart, strong yet flawed character which you couldn't help but root for. This is even more evident when she begins to clash with her Ah Ma yet, remains true to herself. Her relationships with family members such as her Mum and Ah Ma were well developed (the aforementioned characters themselves were well established as well (they really stole the show in some parts of the book)). One thing I really like about Zen Cho's writing is her ability to craft such stunning settings, they're so immersive it feels like you're standing right next to the characters. As I have never read a book specifically set in Malaysia it was much more interesting to read about.The Gods, practices and superstitions from the Malay culture were entirely new to me which compelled me to continue reading if only to see how these aspects would interact with the "normal" world. As someone who enjoys urban fantasy (but can never find any that I like), I thought this was done really well in this book. "Black Water Sister" also had a string of anger running through it particularly about the mistreatment of women by men and the homophobia in our society. These are such important topics to discuss and Cho handled it very well.

My only issues with this book was that there were quite a few plotlines going on but not all were resolved by the conclusion. Jess's girlfriend Sharanya was not the most well rounded character and only popped up a few times throughout the course of the book. I really wish they had communicated more and their bond was more established considering this was an aspect of Jess's life which caused her such stress. However, Queer individuals are not defined by their relationships and I appreciate that Jess chose to focus on bigger issues instead. Finally, the pacing itself was a wee bit off at certain points of the book which slowed down the reading experience ( it wasn't drastic though).

Overall, this was a very entertaining book. It blended culture, fantasy and family secrets into a brilliant tale yet, still included the inner struggles of characters and didn't shy away from serious issues (because as we know those do not dissappear when magic is added into a book.) It wasn't perfect but rarely anything is. Would definitely recommend but mind the trigger warnings before you do so.

Content Warnings