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Black Water Sister
Black Water Sister | Zen Cho
A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy. When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, shes moving back to Malaysia with her parents a country she last saw when she was a toddler. She soon learns the new voice isnt even hers, its the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now shes determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the godand she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not. Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated. Especially when Ah Ma tries to spy on her personal life, threatens to spill her secrets to her family and uses her body to commit felonies. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, shell also need to regain control of her body and destiny or the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.
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review
Lunakay
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Panpan

That was disappointing! It was dragging a lot, MC Jess is seriously missing a personality, and the overall setup didn't make much sense to me (why can't Jess find a job? What did she even study at Harvard? Why can't her father find a new job in the US if he has recovered, since he is described as a well-qualified professional?).
I fought my way through it, but what I liked most is the cover.😅
#foodandlit #Malaysia🇲🇾
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

Texreader What a disappointment!! 1mo
Catsandbooks Completely agree! Glad I wasn't the only one who felt this way 1mo
27 likes2 comments
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Catsandbooks
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Panpan

2/5 ⭐️ Really disappointed with this one for #FoodandLit Malaysia. A young woman and her family move back to Malaysia and the woman becomes a medium for her dead grandma. The grandma has unfinished business and chaos ensues involving gods and criminals. It's a great concept but it could have been executed better. Also the MC read like a teenager instead of a woman in her twenties.

Texreader It does sound good but what a bummer that it just didn‘t live up to it. 2mo
DebinHawaii Oh bummer—I haven‘t started it yet & was hoping it was good! 2mo
Lunakay I was already suspicious when I saw your review (we tend to agree ;)) and I couldn't agree more with it now I finished it too. We can't always win 😅 1mo
Catsandbooks @Lunakay ik so disappointing! 1mo
53 likes4 comments
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thestarlesscasea
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I only have twenty four pages left in When Breath Becomes Air, but I had to put it down again, re-learning that it's not an in-public book. So back to Black Water Sister, which I knew NOTHING about going in and am very much enjoying. May the Sunday Scaries flee my brain and body in fear of the Black Water Sister 🙏🏻📚
What are you reading this lovely Sunday? May the Sunday Scaries leave you be as well! ✨️

14 likes1 stack add
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Soubhiville
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Pickpick

I‘m not sure I‘ve ever read a book set in Malaysia before.

I really liked this dark fantasy/ magical realism. It would be hard to accept that the voice you are hearing in your head is your deceased grandmother. And things just get stranger from there!

I loved the theology that drove the story, with multiple gods, plus the politics that bordered on a mafia feeling.

I‘m glad my bookclub chose this for June.

57 likes4 stack adds
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majkia
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Not sure I'll get to all of them, but I'll give it a try!

#ReadYourKindle @CBee

Bookwomble Not that it's a competition, but I'm currently running 1,181 physical books on my tbr! 🤦It's scary to contemplate! 📚😳📚 6mo
majkia @Bookwomble lol. I understand.... 6mo
Bookwomble Oops! My finger seems to have slipped! I had intended to comment on someone's post who had mentioned their uncontrolled tbr stack - sorry for my seemingly random and unrelated interjection! 🤭 6mo
majkia no worries. My TBR is about the same! 6mo
23 likes4 comments
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TracyReadsBooks
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Pickpick

Ancient gods, old grudges, family secrets & rivalries collide in this contemporary fantasy about a young woman who returns to Malaysia with her family only to find this fresh start isn‘t going to be so easy. Closeted, broke, & unsure of what she wants to do with her life, Jessamyn Teoh chalks up the voice she is hearing to stress but it isn‘t, it‘s her recently deceased grandmother who has a score to settle. A solid read.

Liatrek Sounds good🙂 adding to my TBR 2y
31 likes1 stack add1 comment
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TracyReadsBooks
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Cool view from our home away from home as we do some renovating. The bright lights towards the back of the photo is Wrigley Field all bright and ready to go for opening day. Our neighborhood is a little more wild and wacky during baseball season but it‘s always fun. So today is opening day and a new book, one blurbed by Naomi Novik so it has that going for it.

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traa
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Pickpick

👍👍

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TracyReadsBooks
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Cazxxx
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🎧 Currently listening 🎧

julesG It's a good one. Especially on audio. 2y
42 likes1 comment
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Dragon
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Pickpick

Just finished listening to this #blameitonLitsy urban fantasy ghost story? It‘s hard to squeeze this one into a box. Jess has grown up in the USA , graduated from Harvard was living the American dream until her father falls ill and the family is forced to move back to Malaysia. Back to a new world of ghosts, gods and gangsters. Jess has secret , her parents have secrets and her Grandmother‘s ghost had secrets. #jumpstart2023 👍💚🐉

Clwojick Sounds intriguing 🧐 I‘ll have to check it out! ⭐️ 2y
Dragon Thanks @Clwojick it‘s very atmospheric and is surprisingly funny at times thanks to Jess‘s observations 💚🐉 2y
Dragon Thanks @Enchanted_Bibliophile 🙏 thanks - it is a great cover 💚🐉 2y
46 likes1 stack add4 comments
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PuddleJumper
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This is a really interesting story about a woman who moves back to Malaysia with her family. She struggles with staying in the closet, being a good daughter, looking for a job, and then being haunted by her grandmother.

Malaysia is vibrantly written and you get a really good sense of the characters turmoil about wanting to be a good daughter but also being herself. It is something a lot of people can relate too. And then ghosts and gods.

Soubhiville It sounds good! And what a vibrant cover! 2y
AllDebooks Loved this ❤️ 2y
25 likes3 comments
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Bellawether

How did the saying go? Lord, grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man.

2 likes1 stack add
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Mogoeg
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Pickpick

SO GOOD. Jess & her parents move back to Malaysia, and it's a lot: being a dutiful daughter, looking for a job, staying in the closet, & now she's being haunted by her grandmother's *extremely* determined ghost. If you are interested in Chinese-SEA ghost lore - or you think you might be (& why wouldn't you be? - it's so cool!) - I urge you to read it. Zen Cho makes her characters come alive in the best way (even when they are already dead).

Zoes_Human Have you read Cho‘s short story collection? It‘s also excellent. 2y
CampbellTaraL I too loved this book! I'm surprised it's not more widely raved about here in Litsy. 2y
75 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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imyril
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#WyrdAndWonder day 8: undergods

…I have a lot of books that focus on dwindling or resurgent deities; Black Water Sister by Zen Cho gets my pick both for its many small gods and just for being a smart, funny delight of a book.

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rachelsbrittain
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A good reading month!

Total books: 19
Pages: 4,297
Longest: A Marvellous Light (377)
Shortest: A Tiger Came to the Mountains (28)
BIPOC: 11
LGBTQ: 10
Women / NB: 18
Favorite(s): The Book Eaters, Cultish, and How Much of These Hills is Gold

Nutmegnc Thais was a killer month for you!! 👏👏👏 3y
mdemanatee This looks like a great month! Lots I‘ve loved—and, of course, even more I‘ve been wanting to get to 😂 3y
55 likes2 comments
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rachelsbrittain
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Pickpick

An excellent supernatural urban fantasy about a recent college grad moving back to Malaysia with her family only to start hearing voices. What she assumes is stress turns out to be the voice of her lage grandmother, Ah Ma. Now she's got to help seek revenge for an angry god her grandmother served as medium for, putting herself in the line of fire against some very dangerous people and spirits.

rachelsbrittain TW: assault, attempted rape, possession, murder, and homophobia 3y
SpeculativeFemale I absolutely loved that one! It was one of those 'read way into the night because I can't put it down' kind of books. 3y
56 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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rachelsbrittain
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Planning to finish this book tonight and then get my first good night of sleep this week

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rachelsbrittain
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"The first thing the ghost said to Jess was:

Does your mother know you're a pengkid?"

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

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PuddleJumper
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Pickpick

Absolutely brilliant book about family, gods, and ghosts. It was a little darker than I expected and it was a slow build but definitely worth the wait

It's my day off so I'm powering through my books and ignoring the large pile of laundry

23 likes1 stack add3 comments
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PuddleJumper
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Ovid is not impressed that I'm staying up late reading when I should be in bed cuddling him. Oops

JoyBlue Hello, #TeamGameSleighers mate—let's do this!!!! 😎 😍

@StayCurious
(edited) 3y
22 likes1 comment
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SpeculativeFemale
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Pickpick

Black Water Sister kept me reading late into the night and pretty much every other chance I got.

Rooted in questions of identity (culture, religion, and sexual orientation all play a part) and grounded in present day Malaysia, this book brings ghosts and gods to life in a surprising and compelling way.

I absolutely recommend this one!

28 likes1 stack add
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SpeculativeFemale
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Sphinx isn't too sure about my latest book pick, but I'm enjoying it so far.

I think he just gets jealous when I get so wrapped up in a book that I forget to pay him what he considers enough attention.

Leftcoastzen So cute! 3y
33 likes1 comment
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CampbellTaraL
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Pickpick

A complex range of intersecting conflicts (generational, regional, racial, familial, etc.) but the author pulls it all together with expert ease. I liked the complicated characters that were both likable and loathsome, it really forced you to look at the situation to empathize with their perspective.

37 likes1 stack add
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Jen2
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Pickpick

Really good!

53 likes2 stack adds
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Larkken
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Pickpick

July book 7:
Really great! It melded the hustle of Asian aunties & conjunction of new+old money/influence/customs as present in Crazy Rich Asians while still allowing for the authenticity of ancient beliefs. Also, tbh, I got tired of the wealth porn in CRA, & found the ppl in BWS to be more human & interesting, esp the MC who navigates her queer+Asianness after newly immigrating to Malaysia from the US with her family #queer #readdiversebooks

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shanaqui

I've enjoyed Zen Cho's writing before, so I got this more or less without knowing anything about it. I'm intrigued so far, though wondering how differently it hits if you know the Malaysian culture it's embedded in!

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Branwen
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I was lucky enough to get some quality reading time at the park before the storm rolled in! 😃💕📚👍

britt_brooke Nice! 3y
60 likes1 comment
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Branwen
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Today consists of: fresh snacks from the farmer's market (yum! 🥐), kitty snuggles, and reading! Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! 💕📚 #catsoflitsy #littenkitten #chaplin

Leftcoastzen 😻 3y
57 likes1 comment
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Maike
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Pickpick

This was a fun contemporary fantasy, the Malaysian setting really felt like a breath of fresh air.

You can read a full review here: https://scepticalreading.com/2021/06/black-water-sister/

32 likes2 stack adds
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julesG
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Another #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"The first thing the ghost said to Jess was: Does your mother know you're a pengkid?"

squirrelbrain How many books have you started today?! 🤪 4y
julesG @squirrelbrain Just the two. Which is one less than I finished last night. 4y
squirrelbrain You‘re on a roll....! 4y
50 likes3 comments
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esurient
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Okay, this one seems more my taste.

#releasedayyay

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Moray_Reads
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Pickpick

This is a story that wears a lot of faces. Coming of age, immigrant story, ghost story, thriller. It's full of Cho's funny, pacy, pugnacious style and Ah Ma is a real hoot. But it also goes to some dark places on homophobia, misogyny and violence against women. I loved it #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 4y
26 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Moray_Reads
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julesG Has this been published already? I keep finding different pub day information. 4y
Moray_Reads @julesG mine is an arc. I think it's out next month? I'm sure it was mentioned in my Goodreads "authors you've read before" emails. I'm only half way through but am happy to recommend it already, I really enjoy Cho's style 4y
julesG I read that the US edition is out May 11th, the UK edition June 10th. 4y
28 likes3 comments