Malay Ghosts

[mtvessel]

Mar 2023
Black Water Sister – Zen Cho – Macmillan, 2021
* * * *
In a previous book of this author's that I reviewed, I complained that the Malay elements of the story were short-changed by being yoked to a British setting that didn't quite fit. No such problem with this one, which is a modern-day fantasy set in Penang and featuring deities, temples, vengeful ghosts and some deeply traditional family attitudes.

Jessamyn Teoh, a young Malay American woman with an Indian girlfriend, reluctantly moves back to Malaysia with her parents as they can no longer afford to live in the USA. Apart from lack of cash, her other big problem is that she can hear voices in her head – or more specifically, one voice, that of her forceful grandmother Ah Ma, who won't leave her alone until she performs a certain task for her. Unfortunately this means engaging with a gangster turned property developer and some powerful local deities and their avatars. Which isn't easy when Jess's extended family are constantly poking their noses in.

The cultural referents were largely unfamiliar to me, but the author does a great job of making them comprehensible to western readers. Combined with the feisty and funny family interactions and some nice untelegraphed plot twists, they make for a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy. There is a slight issue with Sherng, the gangster's presentable son, who was evidently the romantic interest in an earlier draft but now has little to do, but otherwise this is a good read, and my favourite of her books so far.