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arielzeit 's review for:
Black Water Sister
by Zen Cho
I was initially disappointed by this book feeling that it lacked the whimsical charm of Cho's earlier novels, which are for young adults. This felt like a "new adult" novel, about Jess, a first generation immigrant Malaysian Chinese girl who has just graduated from Harvard and moved back to Malaysia with her parents, who have suffered a reverse in fortunes. Maybe because I was listening to the book, it seemed to take a long time to get to the fantasy part, based on Chinese and Malay folklore, which gives this book its dark power and eventually transforms it into a page turner. Eventually I gave up and read it with my eyes.
So, Jess is being haunted by her formerly unknown grandmother, Ah Mah, who was the semi-willing medium of a minor but still pretty damned powerful local deity known as Black Water Sister. Hence, the name. There is a crooked Malay company trying to destroy the deity's small temple so they can build more condos on the site. There is also a secret about the head of the company.
As with Cho's previous books which also feature magical old women, I was most interested in the magical grandmother, who is tough, funny, street smart, and just sort of irresistible. Cho has a wonderful knack for rendering this kind of character accessible to an outside audience. She portrays them with love and her portrayal has what Brenda Ueland, the author of "If You Want to Write," referred to as "microscopic truthfulness." I would bet money they are all based on someone or some ones in her own life.
I was less interested in Jess's own problems, like how to break it to her parents that she was gay and in a lesbian relationship, and how to get out of Penang without hurting their feelings and how to keep her relationship going. I felt it was unrealistic that such an ambitious and accomplished young woman would hang around Penang endlesslessly because her parents "needed settling in." But maybe that is exactly what will appeal to another reader. You never know.
So, Jess is being haunted by her formerly unknown grandmother, Ah Mah, who was the semi-willing medium of a minor but still pretty damned powerful local deity known as Black Water Sister. Hence, the name. There is a crooked Malay company trying to destroy the deity's small temple so they can build more condos on the site. There is also a secret about the head of the company.
As with Cho's previous books which also feature magical old women, I was most interested in the magical grandmother, who is tough, funny, street smart, and just sort of irresistible. Cho has a wonderful knack for rendering this kind of character accessible to an outside audience. She portrays them with love and her portrayal has what Brenda Ueland, the author of "If You Want to Write," referred to as "microscopic truthfulness." I would bet money they are all based on someone or some ones in her own life.
I was less interested in Jess's own problems, like how to break it to her parents that she was gay and in a lesbian relationship, and how to get out of Penang without hurting their feelings and how to keep her relationship going. I felt it was unrealistic that such an ambitious and accomplished young woman would hang around Penang endlesslessly because her parents "needed settling in." But maybe that is exactly what will appeal to another reader. You never know.