Black Water Sister

By: Zen Cho

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke, and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there's only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god - and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it.

Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she'll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.

©2021 Zen Cho (P)2021 Recorded Books

A wild afterlife romp

A dead grandmother inhabits her young adult granddaughter. What could go wrong? Apparently a lot. This book was pretty great, with humor, violence, secrets, cultural observations and consequences of differences, family dynamics, criminal activity, spirits, gods, almost gods.

The main character is from Malaysia, but grew up in the USA. Now she is back in Malaysia with her parents and strange things are happening. You might have to suspend disbelief and just let this be. I loved the book and the narration. I listened quickly because I had to know the ending!

STRUGGLE

I really struggled in the first part of the book that dragged on way too long. I’m really grateful that I hung in there with the story . It eventually hooked me in and the story became entertaining. I hate that it took so long to get to that point of enjoyment because it really is a great story. The narrator was wonderful and probably kept me listening even when I wasn’t invested! Thanks for that Catherine!

Another all-star from Zen Cho

I loved everything about this books- the characters and setting were lush, dynamic and fully realized. The story was both esoteric and approachable- this may be the most identifiable ghost and god story I've ever read. There are also layers to this tale which come together in a delicious tiered cake wrapped in phenomenal narration. Nothing was unnecessary but it never felt sparse, the stakes felt real and the anxiety, helplessness, power and thrills were all beautifully rendered.
I like to go into a familiar author without knowing anything about the story and recommend you not seek spoilers either. This is a 10/10 recommend.

slow start but

It was slow to start but a third or halfway in, I got really into it

Sometimes confusing

I really liked this book, not loved it . Sometimes stuff dragged on. Some scenes were confusing . Good characters

5 Stars across the board!

Couldn’t put this one down! If you’ve even thought in passing of checking this one out, DO IT! Jess moves to Malaysia with her parents, only to wind up possessed by her grandmother’s ghost. Ah Ma was the medium for the god Black Water Sister and is determined to have Jess become the god’s next medium so the god can take revenge on a developer who plans to redevelop her temple. Of course Jess, who spent most of her life in the US, has no idea what she’s agreeing to and quickly gets in over her head. To be fair, she does try to bargain with Ah Ma, but knowing the duplicitous nature of many spirits, we were anticipating betrayal. If only Jess had read the Dresden Files! 😂 Jess must figure out who to trust, while juggling complicated family dynamics, cultural expectations, and a secret lesbian romance. Zen Cho does an excellent job balancing insider and outsider cultural perspectives, making this story accessible to any reader. She keeps the twists coming and the ending is unforeseen, powerful, and satisfying.

Catherine Ho does a brilliant job narrating. So brilliant we’re disappointed she’s not narrating Zen Cho’s upcoming short story collection Spirits Abroad. Emily Woo Zeller, who seems to be Audible’s go-to for female Asian narration, was tapped instead. And Zeller is great. But Catherine Ho really gets the potent combination of emotion, magic, and gritty reality in Black Water Sister and brings it all out for the listener. While she does use accents for some characters, it’s never difficult to understand and all the voices are distinct.

The very first sentence was confusing because it ends in a Hokien word. We weren’t expecting that and at first thought we had misheard. Keep going; the word will be explained. This was the only instance where the experience suffered from being audio, simply because we couldn’t tell it was a non-English word and not terrible narration or our hearing by looking at the text.

A Word to the Wise (Content Warnings)

Major: Sexual assault, homophobia, violence, manipulation/gaslighting, religious abuse.

Moderate: Heteronormativity.

Minor: Brief mention of drugs.

I LOVED this book

Holy cow I LOVED this book. It’s a paranormal story about a woman, her grandmother and gods in Malaysia. It was a ride and I quickly finished this. It often has a humorous tone that resonated with me, but it tackled some heavy issues as well. I didn’t absolutely love the novella I read previously by Cho, but this put them on the radar for me.

Great story

I haven't bothered with writing reviews on Audible before but feel compelled to add my 5 stars to this. Admittedly I am biased being of Malaysian origin and of the same dialect group as described in the story though from the other side of the country, not Penang, but this story is so emblematic of Chinese-Malaysian families. Never mind the ghost aspect, which is funny and not really the main point, the interactions between the protagonists are straight out of the late 20th century SE Asian family playbook. Some film producer shuld snap up the rigts to this book - its funnier than Crazy Rich Asians, more realistic (no tycoon heroes, thank god) and has a more nuanced female central character. Just listen to this !

Generations collide whit ghosts gods and gangs

I really felt the generations colliding in this story and the longer it went on the more my fondness for all the characters grew. I just really enjoyed this, excellent narrator too.

Malaysian fantasy with annoyed gods

Zen Cho’s Black Water Sister is the tale of a recent Harvard grad who returns to her native country of birth, Malaysia, with her parents. Shortly after arriving, she begins to hear the voice of her deceased grandmother in her head. Her grandmother has some unfinished business that involves a dispute be-tween a wealthy real estate developer and a long-standing temple over property rights. Her grand-mother had served as a medium for the temple deity. At the same time, she is looking for employment and dealing with her stateside lover, but also learns that some of her local relatives are involved in organized crime.

Cho crafts an engaging tale of a young woman dealing with quite a lot. While much is made of her lesbianism, that plot element merely serves as angst over her possible parents’ reactions. There is the classic modernity versus ancient adherence to rituals with the interesting twist that the son of wealthy tycoon is more old-fashioned that his father.

The narration is well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is brisk.