“I only became a Datuk recently, when the old Datuk here moved to another place. If I can run, I’ll run. But what can I do? The humans there” — he pointed at the construction site — “they give me nasi lemak every day. They all are not rich also. They’re construction workers, from Bangladesh. Half of them don’t have permits. You think that Chinaman will pay them a lot? How can I not protect them?”
Ah Ma was taken aback. “They’re Bangladeshi also they pray to you?”
“When you’re scared, you’ll pray to anybody,” said the Datuk Kong. [p. 96]
Jess's life isn't going to plan. Her parents, after years in America, have decided to return to Malaysia, and she's come with them, to a birth country that she barely remembers. She's trying to deal with the loss of 'her beautiful life, with her beautiful girlfriend, her friends, her creative projects, her ambitions' and reinvent her relationship with said girlfriend, Sharanya. Now she's the outsider, the immigrant -- and the novel opens with the ghost of her dead grandmother asking if her parents know she's a lesbian.
Spoiler: they don't.
Black Water Sister is a novel about religion, about family, about homophobia; about wronged women and deified men; about unregulated development, and the clash of ancient and modern; about power, and who has and holds it, and who grants it. It's the story of Jess, under her grandmother Ah Ma's influence, becoming a medium to the local deity known as Black Water Sister, whose temple is threatened by development. And it's about Jess negotiating a place for herself in Malay culture, and in a traditionally-minded family (the most terrifying vision she experiences is that of her family shunning her after she comes out to them), and in a world that has more dimensions, more possibilities and definitely more deities than she'd ever suspected at Harvard.
I really liked Cho's distinctive voice here, the rhythm of Malaysian English, and the surprisingly mundane requests (usually for specific meals) of the deities Jess encounters. The characters are vivid, the setting intriguing, and the dialogue crackling, witty and full of unfamiliar terms -- no glossary, hurrah! but easy to interpret from context. And Ah Ma's frugal habits (using a red pen instead of god's blood to 'open the eyes': "Ah Ku, he always thinks you have to buy special things to do the rituals. He doesn’t listen to me... You don’t need all those expensive things.") reminded me vividly of my mother's 'make do and mend' approach. A fascinating and enjoyable read.
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